The Man Who Knew Too Much

Chesterton's allegorical masterpiece is a surreal, psychologically thrilling novel that centres on seven anarchists in turn of the century London who call themselves by the names of days of the week. The story begins when poet Gabriel Syme is recruited as a detective to a secret anarchist division of Scotland Yard by a shrouded, nameless person. Syme infiltrates a secret meeting of anarchists who are intent on destroying the world and becomes known as 'Thursday', one of the seven members of the Central Anarchist Council.

Clive Merrison stars as Holmes, with Michael Williams as Watson, in this collection from the unique, fully dramatised BBC Radio 4 canon. These 12 stories range from Holmes' very first case to the epic struggle between Holmes and Moriarty high above the Reichenbach Falls.

Named a "national institution" by George Orwell, Dickens offers his most popular tale, of the orphan who is reared in a workhouse and runs away to London. A novel of social protest, a morality tale, and a detective story.

FNH Audio presents an unabridged reading of The Thirty-Nine Steps. In May 1914 Richard Hannay finds himself caught up in an international intrigue that has the sole objective of starting a world wide war. Hannay's enemies have committed murder and set Hannay up to take the fall. Now he's on the run from the secretive Black Stone and the police, yet he's the only one who can save England!

A Signature Performance: Kenneth Branagh plays this like a campfire ghost story, told by a haunted, slightly insane Marlow.

A BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of the bestselling novel by John le Carré, starring James Fox, Harriet Walter and Julian Rhind-Tutt. Magnus Pym, Counsellor at the British Embassy, is hosting a dinner party at his home in Vienna when he receives an unexpected telephone call that will profoundly affect his life. Once the guests have gone, Pym breaks the news to his wife, Mary: his father, Rick, is dead. In a state of shock, he says something Mary cannot understand - 'After all these years, I'm free.'

The most influential work of the entire Spanish literary canon and a founding work of modern Western literature, Don Quixote is also one of the greatest works ever written. Hugely entertaining but also moving at times, this episodic novel is built on the fantasy life of one Alonso Quixano, who lives with his niece and housekeeper in La Mancha. Quixano, obsessed by tales of knight errantry, renames himself ‘Don Quixote’ and with his faithful servant Sancho Panza, goes on a series of quests.

Flying fish, a man with two beards and the Worst Crime in the World these are just some of the problems for Father Brown to solve. In his inimitable way, this gentle, eccentric, extraordinary cleric-cum-detective sets about unravelling the threads of a colourful skein of mysteries. In the course of his investigations Father Brown travels, in thought if not deed, all over the world and through all walks of life.

James Randolph is murdered early one evening and his body found a few hours later. When the police arrive, they discover that Randolph's safe has been ransacked, and discarded wrapping paper litters his bedroom floor. Perhaps by chance or perhaps by design, Trent seems to have been the last person, other than the murderer, to see Randolph alive. But this is only one aspect amongst many which connect Trent with the murder and stimulate his interest.

Dorothea Brooke is an ardent idealist who represses her vivacity and intelligence for the cold, theological pedant Casaubon. One man understands her true nature: the artist Will Ladislaw. But how can love triumph against her sense of duty and Casaubon’s mean spirit? Meanwhile, in the little world of Middlemarch, the broader world is mirrored: the world of politics, social change, and reforms, as well as betrayal, greed, blackmail, ambition, and disappointment.

Married Eva Griffin has been caught with a prominent congressman, and is ready to pay the editor of a sleazy tabloid hush money to protect the politician. But first Perry Mason tracks down the publisher of the blackmailing tabloid and discovers a shocking secret, which eventually leads to Mason being accused of murder. This is the first Perry Mason mystery and our introduction to secretary Della Street, detective Paul Drake, and the great lawyer himself.

Four gripping dramatisations starring Maurice Denham as Maigret and Michael Gough as his creator Georges SimenonMaigret Goes to School/Maigret and the Old Lady/Maigret Hesitates/The Patience of MaigretThe world’s best-known French detective, Jules Maigret, talks to his creator Georges Simenon about four intriguing cases in these full-cast dramatisations that have been specially adapted for radio from the original novels.

On sabbatical from the Franciscan order, Father Paolo Baldi is working as a philosophy lecturer in Dublin when his life takes an unexpected turn and he finds himself helping the police to solve crimes. Returning for his fifth series, Father Baldi investigates a string of curious murders. Along with Tina, Paolo uncovers the truth behind the killings of several rockabilly band members, as well as delving into the highly competitive world of celebrity chefs and exposing a rift in a community of environmental activists.

Yseut Haskell, a pretty but spiteful young actress with a talent for destroying men's lives, is found dead in a college room just metres from unconventional Oxford don Gervase Fen's office. The victim is found wearing an unusual ring, a reproduction of a piece in the British Museum featuring a gold gilded fly but does this shed any light on her murder? As they delve deeper into Yseut's unhappy life the police soon realise that anyone who knew her would have shot her, but can Fen discover who could have shot her?

On sabbatical from the Franciscan order, Father Paolo Baldi is working as a philosophy lecturer in Dublin when his life takes an unexpected turn and he finds himself helping the police to solve crimes. Returning for his third series, Father Baldi investigates a string of curious murders. Along with Tina, Paolo discovers foul-play among a group of horticultural experts, a murder at a classical music concert and bad sportsmanship at a charity cricket match.