The Knight's Cross Signal Problem

After a shocking train disaster, blind amateur private detective, Max Carrados is called upon to uncover the truth. Was the driver at fault, or did the signal-man get it wrong?

As Max investigates, it soon becomes clear to him - if not to his friend Louis Carlyle - that something much more nefarious is going on...

Read by Arthur Darvill.

Max Carrados first featured in a series of mystery books in 1914. Carrados also shared top billing alongside Sherlock Holmes in 'The Strand Magazine". The character often boasts how much his blindness means his other senses are heightened.

Ernest Bramah excelled in his detailed writing and uncovering of clues. The beneficiary of a large inheritance from an American relative, Carrados is foremost a gentleman who undertakes sleuthing only as an avocation. Though equipped with a keen observer in the perfect manservant Parkinson, Carrados doesn't just sit around deducing. He makes his own observations with ears, nose and fingertips.

Abridged by Paul Kent.

Producer: Neil Gardner

Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Ladbroke Radio Productions and first broadcast in 2011.