This book is a collection of stories featuring Max Carrados, a fictional blind detective who often stars in a series of mystery stories and books by Ernest Bramah. Carrados makes use of his remaining senses in such a way that his blindness is often not immediately apparent to others. A wealthy, cultured and urbane man, he is an expert numismatist with a large private collection of bronzes, and is a specialist in forgeries. Carrados can read print by finger-touch, uses a typewriter and smokes the most desirable and unobtainable cigars. He has a trusted (sighted) manservant named Parkinson (who is trained to be highly observant but without placing his own interpretations on what he observes) and also a secretary, Mr Greatorex.