The Innocence of Father Brown

This compilation is a classic collection of short-story murder/mysteries. Father Brown is a compelling figure throughout. The collection is large enough to spend days reading, if you like, but arranged in such a way that you can sneak in little bits of Father Brown as you are able.

I do not know if G.K. Chesterton can be matched in all of detective fiction. He combines fascinating plot lines, delicate and humorous characterization, with philosophy, religion, and an intense sensitivity to beauty and to the human spirit. One reads not just for the "knot," but for the discussions and their ideas, the descriptions, and the narrative unveiling of human vices and virtues. And they're fun to read!

The 12 stories herein can of course be found in THE COMPLETE FATHER BROWN, and THE ANNOTATED INNOCENCE OF FATHER BROWN. This is the first Brown collection, which introduces not only Father Brown himself but Flambeau, the daring thief. Father Brown worked on Flambeau during their early confrontations, and eventually persuaded him to give up his life of crime. He became Father Brown's friend and sometime sidekick, and appears in three-quarters of the stories herein, in one capacity or another. "The Blue Cross" - The great detective Valentin knows that Flambeau the thief has selected a little English priest as his target, since the priest has been entrusted with a valuable cross set with sapphires. But when Valentin begins tracking the priest across the city, a very odd pattern of incidents begins to emerge. "The Secret Garden" - Father Brown is a dinner guest in Valentin's home. "The Queer Feet" - 'The Twelve True Fishermen', meeting for their annual fish dinner at a small, exclusive restaurant, saw the usual count of waiters - but one had died hours before! Father Brown (called in earlier for the waiter's dying confession and last rites) unravels a spectacular caper. "The Flying Stars" - Flambeau's last crime (as noted in the 1st paragraph of the story), cited as an example of his love of artistically matching settings with crimes. His confrontation with Father Brown resonates nicely with the preceding story's metaphor of Brown having him on a line like a fish. "The Invisible Man" - Locked-room mystery. The inventor was found murdered in his flat, but witnesses say that nobody could have gone past them without being seen. "The Honour of Israel Gow" - This story actually takes place *after* "The Wrong Shape". The Earl of Glengyle was a hermit - and after finding some very odd circumstances in the Earl's home after his death, Flambeau and Father Brown begin to fear that Satanism is involved. "The Wrong Shape" - The writer was a bad husband and an unpleasant man, and the beautifully penned suicide note seemed almost too good to be true. "The Sins of Prince Saradine" - Flambeau takes Father Brown along to collect on the prince's invitation, sent to him during his criminal career, to visit if he were to become respectable, since he greatly admired Flambeau's stunt of once arranging for one policeman to arrest another, when both were looking for *him*. "The Hammer of God" - The last two Bohuns are the curate, who pursues the beauty of his church, and the colonel, who chases women. But if he managed to catch the blacksmith's wife, it may well have been the death of him. "The Eye of Apollo" - Locked-room mystery. Father Brown came to visit Flambeau, who has taken an office in a new building. Pauline Stacey, a rich idealist in a neighbouring office, fell down the empty elevator shaft that same day - when nobody else, apparently, was in the building. "The Sign of the Broken Sword" - Why has Father Brown taken Flambeau to every monument to the mem

"The Innocence of Father Brown" is the first book of G.K. Chesterton's ingenious, thoughtful and lyrically written mystery short stories featuring the unassuming little priest who solves crimes by imagining himself inside the mind and soul of the criminal and understanding his motives. The stories are full of paradox, spiritual insight, and "Chestertonian fantasy," or seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary.This particular edition is enhanced by Martin Gardner's extensive notes, which are both entertaining and illuminating. He points out that it's worthwhile to take your time in reading GKC's stories so you can savor their many arresting, beautifully worded sentences. And by reading too fast, you might also miss out on some very subtle puns (there's one in the story "The Secret Garden" that would have gone right past me had not Mr. Gardner pointed it out!).At the end, you'll find an index of annotations, plus a comprehensive Father Brown bibliography compiled by Chesterton expert John Peterson. If you enjoy this book, you'll probably also like "The Annotated Thursday," Gardner's edition of GKC's "The Man Who Was Thursday."

A masterpiece. GK Chesterton here introduces his character, and does it with flying colours (first & second short stories are impeccable, and offer two elegant surprises to the reader). Chesterton was the master of paradoxes, and his style ranks him among the greatest British writers of all times. No doubt these are crime stories (or whodounits) but they are also literary masterpieces.