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Father Brown
Father Brown Crime Stories: Twenty Four Short Mysteries
24 of your favorite Father Brown mysteries.
652 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1935
273 people are currently reading
395 people want to read
About the author
G.K. Chesterton
4,653 books5,781 followersGilbert Keith Chesterton was an English writer, philosopher, lay theologian, and literary and art critic.
He was educated at St. Paul’s, and went to art school at University College London. In 1900, he was asked to contribute a few magazine articles on art criticism, and went on to become one of the most prolific writers of all time. He wrote a hundred books, contributions to 200 more, hundreds of poems, including the epic Ballad of the White Horse, five plays, five novels, and some two hundred short stories, including a popular series featuring the priest-detective, Father Brown. In spite of his literary accomplishments, he considered himself primarily a journalist. He wrote over 4000 newspaper essays, including 30 years worth of weekly columns for the Illustrated London News, and 13 years of weekly columns for the Daily News. He also edited his own newspaper, G.K.’s Weekly.
Chesterton was equally at ease with literary and social criticism, history, politics, economics, philosophy, and theology.
He was educated at St. Paul’s, and went to art school at University College London. In 1900, he was asked to contribute a few magazine articles on art criticism, and went on to become one of the most prolific writers of all time. He wrote a hundred books, contributions to 200 more, hundreds of poems, including the epic Ballad of the White Horse, five plays, five novels, and some two hundred short stories, including a popular series featuring the priest-detective, Father Brown. In spite of his literary accomplishments, he considered himself primarily a journalist. He wrote over 4000 newspaper essays, including 30 years worth of weekly columns for the Illustrated London News, and 13 years of weekly columns for the Daily News. He also edited his own newspaper, G.K.’s Weekly.
Chesterton was equally at ease with literary and social criticism, history, politics, economics, philosophy, and theology.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
June 14, 2024
Truly wonderful!
Meet the unlikeliest sleuth you’ll ever see, a ‘very short Roman Catholic priest (who) had a face as round and dull as a Norfolk dumpling (and) eyes as empty as the North Sea!’
His only practical concern in life is the ongoing War between Good and Evil.
He appears to be a nincompoop.
All he has is Faith.
And G.K. Chesterton's energetic prose runs completely counter to the little priest's world - the world of insight into the world’s dissonant duality - the great divide between Innocence and Experience.
Chesterton’s prose is intentionally jumpy and jerky - just like our world. It impels you forward breathlessly, to the Next Important Thing, as if somehow getting to the end of the day is all that matters.
But dear Father Brown, on the other hand, has a nature of the utmost simplicity.
The world bumps into him or speeds by him like a bullet, but he takes no notice.
NOTHING disturbs his placid innocence, his naïve and utter peace.
Do you SEE how Chesterton’s ironic craft achieves its goal?
THIS is the one essential duality of the world. The one truth that the world always tries to hide from you...
The Distinction between Good and Bad.
After you’ve found safe harbour from the Storm of Life in your faith, the world around you will rage and fume as always, in its irreconcilable duality, but you - like Father Brown - will rest at “the still point of the turning world.”
“La tienne si toujours la délice!”
Do you know, though, Chesterton would have been appalled at our sophisticated TV adaptation of his stories!
That poppycock makes Father Brown into another one of us crafty, canny human beings - which of course, he isn’t.
He’s ONLY a Saint.
Nothing else. But isn’t that EVERYTHING?
So go back to Eden - a redeemed Eden where unassuming Innocence always overcomes the Serpent's guile.
A place where you’re in good hands - and the trolls and vamps can’t go.
Go back to the REAL Father Brown.
Meet the unlikeliest sleuth you’ll ever see, a ‘very short Roman Catholic priest (who) had a face as round and dull as a Norfolk dumpling (and) eyes as empty as the North Sea!’
His only practical concern in life is the ongoing War between Good and Evil.
He appears to be a nincompoop.
All he has is Faith.
And G.K. Chesterton's energetic prose runs completely counter to the little priest's world - the world of insight into the world’s dissonant duality - the great divide between Innocence and Experience.
Chesterton’s prose is intentionally jumpy and jerky - just like our world. It impels you forward breathlessly, to the Next Important Thing, as if somehow getting to the end of the day is all that matters.
But dear Father Brown, on the other hand, has a nature of the utmost simplicity.
The world bumps into him or speeds by him like a bullet, but he takes no notice.
NOTHING disturbs his placid innocence, his naïve and utter peace.
Do you SEE how Chesterton’s ironic craft achieves its goal?
THIS is the one essential duality of the world. The one truth that the world always tries to hide from you...
The Distinction between Good and Bad.
After you’ve found safe harbour from the Storm of Life in your faith, the world around you will rage and fume as always, in its irreconcilable duality, but you - like Father Brown - will rest at “the still point of the turning world.”
“La tienne si toujours la délice!”
Do you know, though, Chesterton would have been appalled at our sophisticated TV adaptation of his stories!
That poppycock makes Father Brown into another one of us crafty, canny human beings - which of course, he isn’t.
He’s ONLY a Saint.
Nothing else. But isn’t that EVERYTHING?
So go back to Eden - a redeemed Eden where unassuming Innocence always overcomes the Serpent's guile.
A place where you’re in good hands - and the trolls and vamps can’t go.
Go back to the REAL Father Brown.
June 3, 2018
Father Brown by G. K. Chesterton, is about a short
shabbily dressed Roman Catholic priest who takes on bandits, traitors, and killers. The reason for his success is simple. After years spent in the priesthood, he knows human nature and is not afraid of its dark side. He understands the criminal mind and the motivation behind it. Dramatized for audio by M.J. Elliott from stories by Chesterton. This audio book brings to life eight of these classic stories with a full cast, music, and sound effects by the Colonial Radio Theatre on the Air. Included in this volume are "The Blue Cross," "The Secret Garden," "The Queer Feet," "The Arrow of Heaven," "The Three Tools of Death," "The Flying Stars," "The Point of a Pin," and "The Invisible Man."
I greatly enjoyed this radio production of the Father Brown mysteries. I very much enjoyed the full voice cast. It's productions like this that make me want to listen to more audiobooks.
I've checked out the Father Brown mysteries that had been played on PBS/BBC. The episodes were good there too. In our Goodreads group I've seen that a lot of "us" like radio programs, and this was a radio broadcast with a full voice cast as well. They have wonderful sound effects which really make it seem live. In volume #1, there were eight episodes which I have enjoyed so much. Highly recommend.
shabbily dressed Roman Catholic priest who takes on bandits, traitors, and killers. The reason for his success is simple. After years spent in the priesthood, he knows human nature and is not afraid of its dark side. He understands the criminal mind and the motivation behind it. Dramatized for audio by M.J. Elliott from stories by Chesterton. This audio book brings to life eight of these classic stories with a full cast, music, and sound effects by the Colonial Radio Theatre on the Air. Included in this volume are "The Blue Cross," "The Secret Garden," "The Queer Feet," "The Arrow of Heaven," "The Three Tools of Death," "The Flying Stars," "The Point of a Pin," and "The Invisible Man."
I greatly enjoyed this radio production of the Father Brown mysteries. I very much enjoyed the full voice cast. It's productions like this that make me want to listen to more audiobooks.
I've checked out the Father Brown mysteries that had been played on PBS/BBC. The episodes were good there too. In our Goodreads group I've seen that a lot of "us" like radio programs, and this was a radio broadcast with a full voice cast as well. They have wonderful sound effects which really make it seem live. In volume #1, there were eight episodes which I have enjoyed so much. Highly recommend.
May 4, 2018
Abstract:
This is a collection of some of Father Brown's mysteries which he has solved/deducted based entirely on human psychological traits.
Verdict:
I loved the collection. I was not familiar with the writer or the protagonist of this book, I just happened to find a Bangla translation and thought to myself, "Why not?". Then I realized what a gem I had been missing. Father Brown is an excellent character and you can not place him anywhere near our typical detectives, mostly because he is not a detective. Yet he seems to know everything and solves even the unsolvable mysteries just by breaking down the suspect's way of thinking. His logics are simple but intellectual. How does he do it? Well, according to Father Brown, crooks always confess their crimes to the priests and thus priests know their way around crimes. Interesting theory.
Another thing I noticed in Father Brown's stories is that some characters are repeated in a few stories, thus creating a sense of familiarity among the readers.
Overall, it's a quite good collection, specially for mystery lovers who are likely to find some classic murder mysteries in here.
This is a collection of some of Father Brown's mysteries which he has solved/deducted based entirely on human psychological traits.
Verdict:
I loved the collection. I was not familiar with the writer or the protagonist of this book, I just happened to find a Bangla translation and thought to myself, "Why not?". Then I realized what a gem I had been missing. Father Brown is an excellent character and you can not place him anywhere near our typical detectives, mostly because he is not a detective. Yet he seems to know everything and solves even the unsolvable mysteries just by breaking down the suspect's way of thinking. His logics are simple but intellectual. How does he do it? Well, according to Father Brown, crooks always confess their crimes to the priests and thus priests know their way around crimes. Interesting theory.
Another thing I noticed in Father Brown's stories is that some characters are repeated in a few stories, thus creating a sense of familiarity among the readers.
Overall, it's a quite good collection, specially for mystery lovers who are likely to find some classic murder mysteries in here.
May 28, 2025
This is a hard book to rate, and that's likely because it's a collection of short stories. Some of them I loved, some of them not so much. I enjoyed Father Brown's character very much, and I enjoyed the setting and the plot twists of the stories. However, there were things I didn't like as well, especially the portrayal of people of color, Americans, and Protestants. It was interesting seeing how Protestants can get viewed by Catholics, I won't lie, but the inaccuracy did annoy me as well as make me laugh. 😝 Like, the main criticism leveled towards Protestants is the last thing I would ever have expected us being accused of, and it made me question if the author actually knew much about us. However, the perspective in that front was enlightening lol! The portrayal of Americans was the typical British faire, sadly, but what is one to expect? The portrayal of people of color was the most bothersome, but I do realize it was a different time period, and social morals were quite different. I don't agree with it, but it's sadly the way things were back then and we can't pretend they didn't happen.
Then there's the fact that sometimes in some stories I didn't understand at all how anything connected, and I still don't know exactly what happened in The Perishing of the Pendragons! 🤣 I don't blame Chesterton for this, though, since the lexicon has changed since then and he was British to boot. I'll just have to go to Wikipedia to know what happened. (I was also reading it half-asleep, which didn't help matters.)
Content warnings: racism (including the n-word), some very grisly deaths (including beheading), alcohol use and abuse, pagan things (idols, cults, Voodoo, hypnotism, curses, etc.), implied romantic things, and suicide are the main things I remember.
Then there's the fact that sometimes in some stories I didn't understand at all how anything connected, and I still don't know exactly what happened in The Perishing of the Pendragons! 🤣 I don't blame Chesterton for this, though, since the lexicon has changed since then and he was British to boot. I'll just have to go to Wikipedia to know what happened. (I was also reading it half-asleep, which didn't help matters.)
Content warnings: racism (including the n-word), some very grisly deaths (including beheading), alcohol use and abuse, pagan things (idols, cults, Voodoo, hypnotism, curses, etc.), implied romantic things, and suicide are the main things I remember.
November 19, 2022
"Father Brown Crime Stories" encompasses the text of two collections of short stories written between 1910 and 1914, most of them chugged out monthly by author G.K Chesterton. Given the number and short germination periods of the stories, unevenness of quality becomes a given -- and this collection contains both gems and duds. At his worst, Chesterton exhibits more than his share of the gamut of pre-World War I biases: antisemitism, and racism and religious bigotry of every form. Admittedly, his scorn of other religious views may be a reaction to the disdain of England's mainly Protestant readership for the Catholicism that Chesterton was on the road to embracing.
Modern readers may be tempted to brush off defects of Chesterton's stories with an "everybody did it then" shrug. But I'll note that Wikipedia was unable to find publication of some of the most execrable examples prior to their appearance in the collected volume. Magazine editors knew what their readers wouldn't be able to stomach.
Having said that, the best of Chesterton's stories, blending traditional mystery with fantasy, still enchant more than a century later. Father Brown, a mild-mannered Catholic priest, seems relatively free as a character from some of Chesterton's prejudices, which are more often put in the omniscient narrator's voice. The antithesis of a traditional mystery hero, Father Brown is short, meek, and physically clumsy, with less interest in bringing culprits to the dock than in saving their souls -- and skewering the vanity of those who look down on his flock of ex- (and sometimes current) felons, grifters and working-class poor.
Modern readers may be tempted to brush off defects of Chesterton's stories with an "everybody did it then" shrug. But I'll note that Wikipedia was unable to find publication of some of the most execrable examples prior to their appearance in the collected volume. Magazine editors knew what their readers wouldn't be able to stomach.
Having said that, the best of Chesterton's stories, blending traditional mystery with fantasy, still enchant more than a century later. Father Brown, a mild-mannered Catholic priest, seems relatively free as a character from some of Chesterton's prejudices, which are more often put in the omniscient narrator's voice. The antithesis of a traditional mystery hero, Father Brown is short, meek, and physically clumsy, with less interest in bringing culprits to the dock than in saving their souls -- and skewering the vanity of those who look down on his flock of ex- (and sometimes current) felons, grifters and working-class poor.
August 2, 2022
Contains stories from two collections: The Innocence of Father Brown, and The Wisdom of Father Brown. Stories were written/set in roughly the 1910s-1930s -- a time of much change in Britain. I recognized some of the stories that were used as the basis of some episodes of the Father Brown TV series (PBS - Mysteries; series set in 1950's). They are interesting puzzles. Father Brown has studied people; he absorbs information, and examines it until pieces fit together. I spread out these collection over time - between books, etc. Will likely reread these at some point.
December 16, 2016
I love the Father Brown series on PBS and while I enjoyed reading this, I think I prefer the PBS series probably because sometimes the British English is so different from American English (how did that happen?). Most of the stories were not shows I have already seen so they were fresh and entertaining. The characters on the TV series seem more affable than those in the book. I love how Father Brown is so clever, sees what no one else seems to see and outwits the police time after time.
June 16, 2017
G.K.Chesterton is one of my literary heros. It was fantastic.
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September 1, 2019CURRICULUM: RR/Classics
November 12, 2019
Just plain fun.
November 16, 2019
This was actually a BBC production of only a few short stories written by G. K. Chesterton. It was enjoyable as I walked. The actors were great and the stories engaging.
August 12, 2024
I've seen a few of the Father Brown TV episodes, so I had some expectation of what I was getting into with these mysteries. I listened to them as an audio book, so I appreciated that they were shorter stories than a standard mystery novel. Father Brown is a character of surprise and delight!
December 5, 2024
I didn't read all the short story type mysteries. But I read several of them, my first experience with G. K. Chesterton mysteries. They are good and I enjoyed them as much as Agatha Christie.
August 11, 2014
Took me almost exactly 2 years to finish this, largely because I was only reading one story at a time - any more may have left me with literary indigestion, partly because of Chesterton's heavily embroidered writing style, and the moralistic overtones of most of the stories. A good collection however, especially on a kindle, where you can read a story at a time in all sorts of places without having to go looking for a bulky anthology. Echo the reservations of others re the casual racism and other non-pc language in some of the stories, but Chesterton was a man of his time.
January 10, 2017
What is notable about the detecting clergyman is his insight into the human mind. Unlike Holmes or Nero Wolf, Father Brown doesn't use his great intellect to figure the mysteries out. Instead, he brings a deep understanding of the brokenness of the human spirit to bear on each case. The other thing that is unusual about the detective is his travels. He turns up as the local priest in the most amazing places! Wherever he goes, man's evil toward other men awaits him.
If you're a fan of Andrew Greeley's Bishop Blackie books, this is the spiritual and detecting ancestor of those stories.
If you're a fan of Andrew Greeley's Bishop Blackie books, this is the spiritual and detecting ancestor of those stories.
December 31, 2015
Nothing like 24 short mysteries for $0.99. Picked this up 2 years ago and forgot I had it.
Only ok. They weren't mysteries in the sense I think of that genre, just short stories really. The casual racism of the time is very hard to stomach, few of the characters felt fully drawn, and mostly Father Brown sees things the reader doesn't or knows things the reader doesn't, so after 2-3 pages of set-up before the reader is really pulled in, he explains things.
Only ok. They weren't mysteries in the sense I think of that genre, just short stories really. The casual racism of the time is very hard to stomach, few of the characters felt fully drawn, and mostly Father Brown sees things the reader doesn't or knows things the reader doesn't, so after 2-3 pages of set-up before the reader is really pulled in, he explains things.
February 26, 2017
I greatly enjoyed this radio production of the Father Brown mysteries. Admittedly, some of the voices got a bit obnoxious, but generally, the characters were diverse and creative and it felt as though they just jumped right out of my CD player. It's productions like this that make me want to listen to more audiobooks. Bravo!
July 16, 2012
Love Father Brown -- classic page turning mysteries in the style of Sherlock with the quirky Catholic priest, formerly of Saint Mungo's.
October 3, 2014
Piqued my interest in Chesterton though! I appreciate him so much.
September 25, 2015
The PBS series got me hooked on these stories. I hardly ever figured out the twists. Plus, Chesterton's observations of human nature and stylish prose are ever fresh.
October 5, 2015
Liked the show and thought I would try to books. They books are awful and just sooo sooo dull.
August 21, 2018
A classic
The stories were often intriguing and had surprise endings. However, some were hard to follow. This book contains classics and I am glad I was able to read them .
The stories were often intriguing and had surprise endings. However, some were hard to follow. This book contains classics and I am glad I was able to read them .
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews