Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 4 days ago
Max Carrados, the blind detective, investigates a case of burglary in which a young couple have lost their family silver, but he soon finds himself distracted by a more outré and inexplicable puzzle concerning the lady's shoes... The story starts at 00:00:58
Narrated/performed by Simon Stanhope, aka Bitesized Audio. If you enjoy this content and would like to help me keep creating, there are a few ways you can support me (and get access to exclusive content):
* Occasional/one-off support via Buy Me a Coffee: buymeacoffee.com/bitesizedaudio
* Monthly support on Patreon: patreon.com/bitesizedaudio
* Donate via PayPal: paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=HMMUWZ7URN26A
* Visit my Bandcamp page to hear more of my performances of classic stories, and you can purchase and download high quality audio files to listen offline: bitesizedaudio.bandcamp.com
* Become a Bitesized Audio Classics member on YouTube, from $1 / £1 / €1 per month:
youtube.com/c/BitesizedAudioClassics/join
00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:58 The Curious Circumstances of the Two Left Shoes
01:06:33 Credits, thanks and further listening
If you'd like to hear more stories featuring Max Carrados, I've previously recorded seven stories, including 'The Coin of Dionysius' and 'The Missing Actress Sensation', available here: youtu.be/uq_pBiYFfmI
Or for a selection of other Victorian and Edwardian detective stories, do take a look at the "Rivals of Sherlock Holmes" playlist:
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLi95qAoufCZL5tiXECltwXUI2QDDFrDHD
About the author: Ernest Bramah (1868–1942) was born Ernest Bramah Smith, probably in or near Manchester, where he attended grammar school. An intensely private man, very little information is known about his personal life. His early career included a stint as assistant to Jerome K. Jerome; his first success as a writer came as a contributor of humorous sketches somewhat in the manner of Jerome, to newspapers and periodicals, and he later became editor of one of Jerome's magazines. As an author he is best remembered for creating two characters: Kai Lung, a Chinese storyteller who appeared in a number of humorous stories from 1900; and Max Carrados, the blind detective, created in 1913. He also wrote science fiction, and his 1907 novel 'What Might Have Been' (also known as 'The Secret of the League') is a dystopian story which was acknowledged by George Orwell as a major influence on his own 'Nineteen Eighty-four'. Orwell was also a great admirer of the Max Carrados stories, bracketing them with Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and Freeman's Dr Thorndyke as "the only detective stories since Poe that are worth re-reading". The character of Carrados appeared in more than 25 short stories and novels between 1913 and 1934, and by the 1920s was more popular than Sherlock Holmes (whose later cases appeared alongside Carrados in The Strand Magazine). His blindness proves no obstacle to his detective skills; indeed his other senses are heightened and he regularly outwits criminals and fellow detectives alike.
Ernest Bramah Smith died in June 1942, aged 74, in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. He was survived by his wife Lucy Smith.
'The Curious Circumstances of the Two Left Shoes' first appeared in 'The New Magazine' in May 1926. It was subsequently reprinted as part of the third collection of Carrados stories to appear in book form, entitled 'Max Carrados Mysteries', published by Hodder & Stoughton in 1927.
Recording © Bitesized Audio 2025
Max Carrados, the blind detective, investigates a case of burglary in which a young couple have lost their family silver, but he soon finds himself distracted by a more outré and inexplicable puzzle concerning the lady's shoes... The story starts at 00:00:58
Narrated/performed by Simon Stanhope, aka Bitesized Audio. If you enjoy this content and would like to help me keep creating, there are a few ways you can support me (and get access to exclusive content):
* Occasional/one-off support via Buy Me a Coffee: buymeacoffee.com/bitesizedaudio
* Monthly support on Patreon: patreon.com/bitesizedaudio
* Donate via PayPal: paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=HMMUWZ7URN26A
* Visit my Bandcamp page to hear more of my performances of classic stories, and you can purchase and download high quality audio files to listen offline: bitesizedaudio.bandcamp.com
* Become a Bitesized Audio Classics member on YouTube, from $1 / £1 / €1 per month:
youtube.com/c/BitesizedAudioClassics/join
00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:58 The Curious Circumstances of the Two Left Shoes
01:06:33 Credits, thanks and further listening
If you'd like to hear more stories featuring Max Carrados, I've previously recorded seven stories, including 'The Coin of Dionysius' and 'The Missing Actress Sensation', available here: youtu.be/uq_pBiYFfmI
Or for a selection of other Victorian and Edwardian detective stories, do take a look at the "Rivals of Sherlock Holmes" playlist:
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLi95qAoufCZL5tiXECltwXUI2QDDFrDHD
About the author: Ernest Bramah (1868–1942) was born Ernest Bramah Smith, probably in or near Manchester, where he attended grammar school. An intensely private man, very little information is known about his personal life. His early career included a stint as assistant to Jerome K. Jerome; his first success as a writer came as a contributor of humorous sketches somewhat in the manner of Jerome, to newspapers and periodicals, and he later became editor of one of Jerome's magazines. As an author he is best remembered for creating two characters: Kai Lung, a Chinese storyteller who appeared in a number of humorous stories from 1900; and Max Carrados, the blind detective, created in 1913. He also wrote science fiction, and his 1907 novel 'What Might Have Been' (also known as 'The Secret of the League') is a dystopian story which was acknowledged by George Orwell as a major influence on his own 'Nineteen Eighty-four'. Orwell was also a great admirer of the Max Carrados stories, bracketing them with Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and Freeman's Dr Thorndyke as "the only detective stories since Poe that are worth re-reading". The character of Carrados appeared in more than 25 short stories and novels between 1913 and 1934, and by the 1920s was more popular than Sherlock Holmes (whose later cases appeared alongside Carrados in The Strand Magazine). His blindness proves no obstacle to his detective skills; indeed his other senses are heightened and he regularly outwits criminals and fellow detectives alike.
Ernest Bramah Smith died in June 1942, aged 74, in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. He was survived by his wife Lucy Smith.
'The Curious Circumstances of the Two Left Shoes' first appeared in 'The New Magazine' in May 1926. It was subsequently reprinted as part of the third collection of Carrados stories to appear in book form, entitled 'Max Carrados Mysteries', published by Hodder & Stoughton in 1927.
Recording © Bitesized Audio 2025
