The Secret of Father Brown

Easily the darkest of Chesterton's Father Brown collections, "The Secret of Father Brown" is nonetheless as much of a masterwork of perception into the human condition as his others. The conceit of the book is that it is an exhibition (to an American guest of Flambeau's) of Father Brown's sleuthing style. The collection begins and ends around a woodstove at Flambeau's Spanish castle as Father Brown wearily unburdens himself to the inquisitive guest. Along the way we are treated to the typical impossible crimes and a parade of rogues and saints -- a corpse in shining armor, a thieving mystic, insouciant British aristocrats and a Canadian journalist. We are asked to solve death by duel and pistol shot, and thefts of jewels large and small. "Secret" betrays Chesterton's pessimism about mankind. In this collection, Father Brown is more inward and is vastly more bothered by human sin and folly than in other books. And Chesterton's annoyance at the greatest theft of precious stone in the world - the dispossession of Catholic churches and abbeys during the Reformation - is particularly bitter. But this is an observation, not a criticism. The stories in this collection are worth reading (or hearing!) over and over - to see how the plot unfolds, to hear Chesterton's gorgeous and well-informed prose, or to hear the narrator (in this case, the marvelous Geoffrey Matthews) bring life to Chesterton's characters.

THE SECRET OF FATHER BROWN is unique among the Father Brown books because of its unusual integrated structure, which is somewhat reminiscent of the CANTERBURY TALES. The eight stories are framed by a prologue and an epilogue in which Father Brown is seen visiting Flambeau's house in France along with an American traveler, Mr. Chace. Chace wants Father Brown to explain his "method" of detection, the supposed "secret" which has made him famous. Brown attempts to demonstrate that unlike the modern science of criminology, he treats criminals not as remote monsters but as something familiar. Rather than than "inspecting" the criminal from afar, he tries to get "inside" the criminal, to understand what motivates him. This he does by discovering those qualities which he shares in common with the criminal and his own human potential for evil. Father Brown explains that his "method" is really like a religious exercise. The eight tales which follow are actually memories which pass through Father Brown's mind as he sits conversing with Flambeau and Chace, and which demonstrate Father Brown's unique "method". Father Brown fans may find THE SECRET OF FATHER BROWN to be their favorite in the series, for its artful, ingenious structure and its intelligent discussion of the great priest-detective's technique.

If you're interested in an unabridged audio edition, I recommend that narrated by Geoffrey Matthews over the David Case version. Matthews, to my way of thinking, has a better voice, produces more distinct characters, and brings the text more vividly to life. (Naturally, his recording seems to be harder to find just now.) David Case is OK - he sounds exactly like the narrator for Aird's 'Cause and Effects' - but I was spoilt by hearing Matthews' reading first."The Secret of Father Brown" - In this prologue, Father Brown has come to visit Flambeau, who has long since retired to a castle in Spain. Another visitor asks Father Brown for the secret of how he solves all his cases - and gets a startling answer. The epilogue at the end of the book is supposedly the end of the same evening (all the stories in between having been produced as examples). Don't worry, the narrative style is the same as usual; the prologue and epilogue are just here to tie all the stories together.The key to coping with Chesterton's stories is to remember the dictum of Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter: "When you've got how, you've got who." If you go haring off after motive in a Chesterton story, all I can wish you is luck; you'll need it. They're good stories, with lovely use of language and settings, but weird things happen for weirder reasons, sometimes. Just sit back and enjoy, and don't worry about whether anybody could *really* hope to get away with some of these crimes. Some stories have multiple crimes, where one crime is committed because of another. If you feel sympathy for some of these 'second' criminals, you might also like to try Chesterton's _The Club of Queer Trades_, even though Father Brown doesn't appear there."The Mirror of the Magistrate" - Agatha Christie's Poirot once asked Hastings to mention 'chocolate box' to him if he ever needed to be humbled with a reminder of failure. This case is the closest that Father Brown came to that - he refers to this case in later stories whenever his terse comments divert the authorities in the wrong direction in an investigation. I take comfort that *somebody* felt guilty about all those red herrings... :)"The Man with Two Beards" - This case is sometimes referred to as the Moonshine murder. Michael Moonshine is a legendary burglar, who "stunned people - and bound and gagged them," but who made it a point of honour never to kill anyone. Now he's apparently in the neighbourhood - but someone died during this robbery. What really happened? (Incidentally, for Moonshine-style burglary, let me recommend Looking Glass Studios' game _Thief_.)"The Song of the Flying Fish" - Locked-room theft (that is, a locked-room mystery which is a theft rather than the traditional murder). The rich man's favourite toy, an antique glass bowl of solid gold fish, gave him his favourite joke when meeting new people: "Have you seen my gold fish?" Now somebody, upon seeing them, has caused them to disappear."The Actor and the Alibi" - Locked-room murd