The Father Brown Mysteries

The first books I read by G.K. Chesterton were the Father  Brown Mysteries.  When I read them, 30 - 40 years ago, I didn't really realize that he had written anything else.  Being an avid classic mystery reader, the Father Brown stories were right up there with Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers.  In fact, I think I saw the stories on PBS Mystery Theater before I read them.

Father Brown is a fictional character based on a real friend of Chesterton's -  Father John O'Connor who was a parish priest in Bradford, England.  At one time G.K. was writing an article about an upswing in crime and showed it to the priest.  Father O'Connor said that he thought that the article was going in the wrong direction, and proceeded to tell Chesterton about how real evil was.  G.K. was shocked by what the priest told him and was surprised that someone as unworldly as Father O'Connor would have that knowledge.  This eventually appealed to Chesterton's love of paradox and, even though he himself was an Anglican, he decided to write mysteries about a priest/detective who was quiet, humble, and probably the last person who would be thought knowledgeable about crime.  In "The Blue Cross", when asked by the criminal Flambeau, who has been masquerading as a priest, how he knew of all sorts of criminal "horrors," Father Brown responds: "Has it never struck you that a man who does next to nothing but hear men's real sins is not likely to be wholly unaware of human evil?"

Father Brown is a short and stumpy , "formerly of Cobhole in Essex, and now working in London", with shapeless clothes and a large umbrella, and an uncanny insight into human evil. He makes his first appearance in the story "The Blue Corss" and continues through the five volumes of short stories, often assisted by the reformed criminal M. Hercule Flambeau.   He was something new and intriguing at the time of his literary appearance. The mystery genre was then dominated by Sherlock Holmes and many, many, imitations. Unlike Sherlock, Father Brown's methods tend to be intuitive rather than deductive.. He explains his method in 'The Secret of Father Brown': "You see, I had murdered them all myself... I had planned out each of the crimes very carefully. I had thought out exactly how a thing like that could be done, and in what style or state of mind a man could really do it. And when I was quite sure that I felt exactly like the murderer myself, of course I knew who he was."

The stories normally contain a rational explanation of who the murderer was and how Brown worked it out. He always emphasizes rationality: some stories, such as "The Miracle of Moon Crescent", "The Oracle of the Dog", "The Blast of the Book" and "The Dagger With Wings", poke fun at initially skeptical characters who become convinced of a supernatural explanation for some strange occurrence, while Father Brown easily sees the perfectly ordinary, natural explanation. In fact, he seems to represent an ideal of a devout, yet considerably educated and "civilized" clergyman.

The stories were originally compiled into five volumes with 8-12 stories each:

• The Innocence of Father Brown  (1911)
• The Wisdom of Father Brown  (1914)
• The Incredulity of Father Brown  (1926)
• The Secret of Father Brown  (1927)
• The Scandal of Father Brown  (1935)

There are now several one-volume books containing all the stories.  A two volume set adapted for younger readers is also available.

"Things are not always what they seem to be" is a favorite theme of G.K. Chesterton.  We owe the creation of favorites such as Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, and Columbo to those who caught onto that theme.  In 1930, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, G.K. Chesterton, Edmund C. (Clerihew) Bentley, and many others,  formed the 'Detection Club'.  GKC was it's first president  (1930-1936).  They had a fanciful initiation oath made by either Dorothy Sayers or GK  and held regular dinner meetings in London. 

In addition to meeting for dinners and helping each other with technical aspects in their individual writings, the members of the club agreed to adhere to a code of ethics in their writing ( The Rules of Fair Play) to give the reader a fair chance at guessing the guilty party.  The club still meets, but the 'rules' have been relaxed.

Alec Guiness as Father Brown