Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

read book* *Different edition

The Innocence of Father Brown (Father Brown #1)

3.9 of 5 stars 3.90 · rating details · 3,908 ratings · 208 reviews

"How in Tartarus," cried Flambeau, "did you ever hear of the spiked bracelet?" -- "Oh, one's little flock, you know " said Father Brown, arching his eyebrows rather blankly. "When I was a curate in Hartlepool, there were three of them with spiked bracelets." * Not long after he published _Orthodoxy, _ G. K. Chesterton moved from London to Beaconsfield, and met Father O'Con...more

Paperback, 232 pages

Published March 1st 2004 by Wildside Press (first published 1910)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

Best Books of the Decade: 1910's

26th out of 134 books — 169 voters

The Collected Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle

A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

The Haycraft-Queen Definitive Library of Crime, Detective and Mystery Fiction

19th out of 181 books — 50 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Oct 16, 2010 Justus rated it 1 of 5 stars

Reading this reminded me all over again why I hate the Agatha Christie style of whodunnit where people commit bizarrely complicated murders for equally bizarre reasons. Let's take the second story in the collection.

M. Valentin is the Chief of Police and also an atheist. He hears a rumor that an American millionaire is going to donate his fortune to the Church of France. Since he is a rabid atheist he sets out to murder the man before he can amend his will. Let's pass over that central absurdity...more

like 7 likes · see review

Mar 08, 2013 Lisa Cindrich rated it 4 of 5 stars

Okay, have actually (hate the phrase, but...) laughed out loud already and only a short way in. Marvelous way with a phrase, but then he's known for that in his theological writings so I guess it carries over nicely to his fiction.

How can you not enjoy this sort of character description:
"The little priest was so much the essence of those Eastern flats; he had a face as round and dull as a Norfolk dumpling; he had eyes as empty as the North Sea; he had several brown paper parcels, which he was qu...more

like 1 like · see review

Feb 01, 2009 Peregrino rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009

Cuando compré este libro, recomendado por Juan Mari, he de reconocer que lo hice sin muchas perspectivas de empezarlo en breve. Había intentado leer una biografía de S. Francisco de Asis del mismo autor, sin superar la página 10.

Sin embargo, he de reconocer que me ha encantado. Me parece un libro muy ameno, inteligente, muy bien escrito, donde se mezclan historias muy sencillas con mensajes más de fondo. Parece que el autor fue publicando las distintas historias del sagaz padre Brown y su amigo...more

like 1 like · see review

Mar 30, 2013 maricar rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: classics, mystery-thriller

A few pages in into this book and I already felt the first stirrings of regret.

Regret for not having read this sooner.

Regret for not having picked up another work by this author right after having enjoyed, “The Man Who Was Thursday,”

…THREE YEARS AGO.

Yes, I regret a lot of things in life. And overlooking this piece of work for so long when it contained these tiny gems of brilliance is a shame I felt keenly long after having turned the last page on another one of Father Brown’s expositions.

Simply...more

like · see review

Feb 11, 2013 Bjoern rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013-reads, ebook, krimi, historical-fiction

I'm a great fan of the rather tame movies with the german actor HEinz Rühmann incorporating Father Brown and playing him with a soft smile and lots of harmless but sympathetic mannerisms. Sadly the original is anything but recognizable in such a depiction.

Chestertons Father Brown IS a genius, as he comes through tiny clues to the conclusion how the murder must have been committed... He is undoubtedly loyal and brave as he more than one time risks his life by confronting a criminal alone without...more

like 1 like · see review

Jan 05, 2013 Nicola rated it 4 of 5 stars

Reason for Reading: I've always wanted to read Chesterton and I've always wanted to read his Father Brown stories. I'm finally getting around to it!

This is the first collection of Fr. Brown stories. All were previously published in magazines before they were collected in book form. While Chesterton is known as a great Catholic theologian, these first stories were written before his conversion. This being my very first time reading Chesterton, I must say I was not entirely impressed with his theo...more

like · see review

Sep 13, 2012 Mysterious Ed rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime, great-britain, mystery, short-stories

#1 in the series of Father Brown short story collections. Father Brown is widely acclaimed as being one of the world's first true detectives. This 1911 collection contains 12 stories originally published in U.S. and British magazines in 1910 and 1911. This collection is listed in Barzun and Taylor's Classics of Crime Fiction 1900-1950. I waded through the collection but doubt very much if I shall ever read another word written by G.K. Chesterton. The mysteries are ridiculous, the characters impl...more #1 in the series of Father Brown short story collections. Father Brown is widely acclaimed as being one of the world's first true detectives. This 1911 collection contains 12 stories originally published in U.S. and British magazines in 1910 and 1911. This collection is listed in Barzun and Taylor's Classics of Crime Fiction 1900-1950. I waded through the collection but doubt very much if I shall ever read another word written by G.K. Chesterton. The mysteries are ridiculous, the characters implausible, and the deductive reasoning is impossible. Add to this the fact that Chesterton, if you can credit his written word, is a bigot, religiously intolerant, and a racist. Celebrated author Martin Gardner admires the Father Brown stories but says in the afterword to The Wrong Shape: "In my judgement this is the most unsatisfactory tale in the book. It is not just that the events are wildly implausible - all Father Brown stories are implausible - but that Dr James Harris is totally implausible." Further, about The Hammer of God: "No matter. We are in Chesterton's world of bizarre semi-fantasy where improbable events are as commonplace as improbable characters". Gardner continues about The Wrong Shape with the reason I managed to finish the book - "For me its greatest merit is in the cadences of its descriptions: the wind ' creeping up the dim garden path and shuffling the fallen leaves', and the white lightning that 'opened its enormous eye in one wink' before 'the sky shut up again'.

Father Brown series - The 12 stories 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.

Father Brown series - The 12 stories 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.
(less)

like · see review

Aug 16, 2012 Joseph rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: my-ebooks, 2012, recommended

I quite enjoy Father Brown stories. I began reading them a couple years ago...I wanted to get a hold of The Man Who Was Thursday...because I had found it somewhere. In writing each story, the writer inevitably comes by the personage of Father Brown as almost of a side-note, and each story he is introduced again as if it didn't matter that the entire volume of stories were his stories. G.K Chesterton writes very colorfully, in rainbows and spirals, populating his stories with color, extreme weath...more I quite enjoy Father Brown stories. I began reading them a couple years ago...I wanted to get a hold of The Man Who Was Thursday...because I had found it somewhere. In writing each story, the writer inevitably comes by the personage of Father Brown as almost of a side-note, and each story he is introduced again as if it didn't matter that the entire volume of stories were his stories. G.K Chesterton writes very colorfully, in rainbows and spirals, populating his stories with color, extreme weather and landscapes, and eccentric personages--in all cases the figure of Father Brown is an inconspicuous contrasting blot, suggested by his name, which is not only the most uninteresting of colors but also a most common unremarkable name. He is further described as short, having blank little eyes, and face which is sometimes likened to that of a baby. He, however, is quite discerning into man's sinful nature that he is able to see through the superfluity of each crime and discover its core. In each case, Chesterton also seems to be making a theological point (he was a converted, enthusiastic Catholic) the most over arching one perhaps is that of becoming simple--boring even--and clear-headed. Not only do the murderers reveal their natures as bad, but also more subtly, the people around Father Brown reveal their own blindness by their own limited ideas of what actually happened. Over and over again, the Father is the only sincere Catholic, the only one with a path so to say, and each story you see everyone else go astray. Commenting on a new age religion, the priest of which has presumably just committed a crime, Father Brown says, "Yes but can it cure the one spiritual disease?". "And what is that?" his friend asks. "Oh, thinking one is quite well," he replies. He also finds it appropriate to critique those that "read the bible" and simultaneously accusing one person (the suspicion of that person is cleared by having this "good" attribute), by noting that Mormons read the bible and find Polygamy, a type setter reads it and finds errors, a Christian scientist reads it and finds no arms and legs. For Father Brown there is no, no one religion fits all, and thats the delight of reading these stories. His spiritual certainty and depth is strikingly attractive, and familiar to anyone who has fully embraced a religion, and it is perfect to fit it against crime,the largest most gross manifestation of small imperfections of spiritual dispositions.

The only narrative problem with the stories is that he is a Catholic Priest and it becomes harder and harder to believe that would happen to be around went so many deadly crimes occur. This is eased by his friends presence who he always seems to be visiting who is a detective but enough stories occurs where the crime happens in the next room to where they are sitting talking...it becomes more and more harder to believe. The murders and stories are not quite as real life as those say in Sherlock Holmes stories...they are a bit more fanciful, but never being so overblown and symbolic and weird as The Man Who Was Thursday, that being my only critique. (less)

like 1 like · see review

Feb 18, 2012 Johnny rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery, short-stories

I don’t usually like short story anthologies, but I made an exception for The Innocence of Father Brown because of Gilbert Keith Chesterton and his friendship with C.S. Lewis and other scholars/authors of the era. I also like the fact that there is a recurring cast of characters in most of the stories in this collection, so I didn’t feel short-changed when I finished each story. They became more like television episodes of a favorite mystery series. The prose can be a little dense at times, but...more I don’t usually like short story anthologies, but I made an exception for The Innocence of Father Brown because of Gilbert Keith Chesterton and his friendship with C.S. Lewis and other scholars/authors of the era. I also like the fact that there is a recurring cast of characters in most of the stories in this collection, so I didn’t feel short-changed when I finished each story. They became more like television episodes of a favorite mystery series. The prose can be a little dense at times, but the occasionally slow-going usually features a nice pay-off.
The anthology gets its name, I presume, as a pun on events in the first two stories where Father Brown is under suspicion. Since the title proclaims his innocence, I also presume that it won’t be a spoiler to say that he ends up solving both crimes. The following summary suggests what I enjoyed about each story.
The first story has suspects, including a clergyman, engaged in mysterious activities that don’t seem to make sense. The second is a “locked garden” instead of “locked room” mystery, but the issue is essentially the same and the solution is likely easy to deduce for experienced mystery readers. The third mystery hinges on the mystery of two walking styles.

The next was called “The Flying Stars” and dealt with jewels that had been stolen so often that they were christened with the name of the story. The crime involves the English pantomime version of "commedia del arte" and ends with a sermon combined with solution by Brown. In my opinion, it is one of the best stories in the collection. I like Brown’s words to the thief, “I know the woods like very free behind you, Flambeau; I know that in a flash you could melt into them like a monkey, Flambeau. You will sit up in your free forest cold at heart and close to death, and the tree-tops will be very bare.” After a brief interlude, the old priest continues, “Your downward steps have begun. You used to boast of doing nothing mean, but you are doing something mean tonight. You are leaving suspicion on an honest boy with a good deal against him already; you are separating him from the woman he loves and who loves him. But you will do meaner things than that before you die.” In such a way, GKC posits the downward spiral of crime/lack of integrity.

Fifth, is a story that deals with perception or the lack thereof when a murder is committed by an invisible man. This story underscores something I began to realize about halfway through the book. I noticed that Father Brown rarely actually brings the perpetrator to justice, but often toward redemption.

Sixth, there is a cute little macabre story about missing gold, even down to the gilt on illuminated manuscripts. It’s very short and has a nice touch. Seventh, we read GKC's idea of miracle when a phony Indian swami appears to kill the victim by auto-suggestion. The eighth tale is a bit like a "call-back" in comedy in that it refers back to another story, foreshadows the result in this story and pulls it together with an unexpected twist.

I loved the "Hammer of God" story for GKC's parable about needing other people to worship authentically lest we fail to see ourselves as we really are. The priest claims to have known a man “…who began by worshipping with others before the altar, but who grew fond of high and lonely places to pray from, corners or niches in the belfry or the spire. And once in one of those dizzy places, where the whole world seemed to turn under him like a wheel, his brain turned also, and he fancied he was God.” Going further, the priest noted, “He thought it was given to him to judge the world and strike down the sinner. He would never have had such a thought if he had been kneeling with other men upon a floor. But he saw all men walking about like insects.” This is terrific insight on the need for humility in one’s faith.

The one spiritual disease according to Father Brown is to believe oneself well. That is how the mystery around the new Apollo sect begins. Another story deals with the past reputation of a military hero. The exposition was fascinating and not what I was expecting. In yet another story, GKC suggests that people cannot tolerate constant cheerfulness without accompanying humor. What an interesting insight!

In short, I’m not positive I would have read this anthology if I had realized it was an anthology when I first opened it. Yet, I am delighted that I read it. It was stimulating and delightful, much like the books of GKC’s friends that I have also enjoyed.
(less)

like 2 likes · see review

May 05, 2011 Nullifidian rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Members of the BNP and others who long for the days of "Empahr".

Shelves: librivox-audiobooks

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Okay, I admit that I didn't finish the book, but I think reading eight stories out of twelve is all the consideration that Father Brown deserves.

I listened to this as a LibriVox audiobook, and I can highly recommend it for those who can stand Chesterton's unrelenting smugness. I, alas, could not.

At first, I, like another reviewer, was briefly surprised and pleased to find Chesterton pairing up Father Brown with an atheist copper. Here might have been a fruitful give-and-take that could have set...more

like 5 likes · see review

Mar 21, 2011 Adam Graham rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Father Brown, as best I can tell is the second among the Great literary detectives, right after Sherlock Holmes. In some ways, Father Brown was a continuation of what Chesterton wrote in his classic Orthodoxy.

The intellectuals of Chesterton's time viewed the orthodox Christian as superstitutious, weak-minded. Chesterton, in Orthodoxy asserted his vision of orthodoxy was something entirely different: It was conscious, sensible, winsome, and wise.

Two years after writing Orthodoxy, he rapped it i...more

like 1 like · see review

May 17, 2010 Surreysmum rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 1984, mystery, short-stories

[These notes were made in 1984:]. Twelve short stories - but arranged progressively. Hence Father Brown's opponent in stories one and three, Flambeau, is his colleague from four onward. His French atheistic counterpart, the detective Valentin, looks like becoming a regular, but commits a crime and then suicide in story two. The mysteries are wild enough, and not terribly plausible; Father Brown solves them by intuition and (we suspect) faith rather than logic. What keeps us interested is (a) the...more

like · see review

Aug 21, 2012 Andrew rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: classic

I must admit I didn't wholly think I would enjoy these books(or would that be holy?)...the idea of a Cassock wearing P.I. was one that I thought might be too much for me..expecially given the amount of criminals now found themselves in religous garb!!
However all prejudice aside I decided to give this book a read and what do you know!!...(you may guess from the rating!!)..I thoroughly enjoyed this book..it's made up of small tales featuring Father Brown,Brown himself isn't overtly pious which I t...more

like · see review

Feb 06, 2010 Jim rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: chesterton

Because the first G.K. Chesterton story I had ever read -- many years ago -- was "The Blue Cross," the story that opens The Innocence of Father Brown, I have been consciously avoiding the Father brown stories and reading just about everything else by GKC that I could lay my hands on. Was it that I didn't like the story? Not at all! It was just that I was saving it for another occasion. Well, that occasion arose this week.

There is a strange disconnect between the characters in the Father Brown my...more

like 2 likes · see review

Mar 25, 2013 Adam Shields rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Short Review: This is the first 12 short stories that GK Chesterton originally published as serials. Father Brown is a priest and wise observer of human behavior. Unlike Sherlock Holmes (who was only about 2 decades before these), Father Brown primarily solves mysteries (almost always murders) by understanding how the nature of sin works in humans. He is still observant and sees what others don't see. But this isn't the same type of scientific observation and deduction that Holmes does. In many...more

like · see review

Oct 10, 2012 Jose Vera rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Lo primero que he leido de Chesterton fue "El hombre que fue Jueves", la cual considero una novela digna y necesaria de ser leida, esto me dio pie a tenerlo como uno de esos autores que se necesita ser leido más a fondo para dar una mejor opinion de su obra.

"El candor del padre Brown" nos presenta a dos personajes totalmente opuestos, uno es un ladrón frances físicamente imponente (que luego se convertira en detective) llamado Hercules Flambeau quien, a lo largo de su carrera criminal, llega a c...more

like · see review

Mar 06, 2012 Isabel rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

He was one of the great humanitarian French freethinkers; and the only thing wrong with them is that they make mercy even colder than justice.

I remember reading some Father Brown stories at least 20 years ago, but possibly as long as 30 years ago. All I remembered was the solution to two of the stories, "The Invisible Man" from this collection, and another story in which people had been seeing monsters at a theatre. I had entirely forgotten about Father Brown's friend Flambeau, and one thing tha...more

like · see review

Dec 14, 2009 Brendan rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009, fiction, mystery

Obviously, I enjoy mystery stories. And I understand that G.K. Chesterton is a revered and honored British writer, and that his father brown mysteries are most enduring and likeable. But they didn’t do much for me.

Don’t get me wrong, they were clever enough, with some nice reparte between the eponymous mystery-solving priest and his quarry, but the action was almost always removed from the story, and the solving of the mystery was as often as not done by F.B. in his mind at some date or place fa...more

like · see review

Jun 11, 2012 Stven rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Judging from this volume, the Father Brown stories follow a formula, and the formula goes like this: A preposterous situation, usually involving a murder, is described in some detail. The innocent-appearing Father Brown enters the scene and unravels the mystery, usually beginning with some remark that sounds off the track but turns out to grab at the loose thread that should have been obvious to everyone puzzling the knot.

The formula, honestly, becomes a little wearisome. But Chesterson is such...more

like · see review

Mar 14, 2012 Susan rated it 2 of 5 stars

The cases of Father Brown are, to quote another famous fictional detective, "not without their points of interest". However, despite of the liberally sprinkled scorn toward all and sundry (read: all classes of society, both genders, on both sides of the British Chanel), there's a prevalence of All Oriental Things Are Monstrous And Evil which made me deeply uncomfortable. To be fair and to the credit of the author, in many cases the evil-doer is not the obvious suspect. Nevertheless, it was...wor...more

like · see review

Sep 07, 2011 Shinn rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, detective, religion, philosophy, britain, mystery

I have no complaints about G.K. Chesteron's ability to construct a good mystery. While the first four stories in this book are a little repetitive when it comes to characters, most of them have nice twists and turns that the reader will enjoy seeing unravelled, even if they are a little improbable at times - with the exception of the second story which is VERY improbable and borders on the ridiculous.

What I had a problem with was the often narrow-minded tone of the book, particularly in The Wro...more

like · see review

Jul 21, 2010 Werner rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Mystery fans

Shelves: mystery-crime-fiction

Chesterton was a contemporary of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; and though he created his principal fictional sleuth, Father Brown, after Doyle had written the bulk of the Holmes canon, he can also claim a formative role (though not nearly so important as Doyle's) in the shaping of the genre. Father Brown is the first --but not the last!-- in a tradition of men and women of the cloth who solve traditional mysteries, the lineal ancestor of such figures as Father Dowling and Brother Cadfael, and the firs...more Chesterton was a contemporary of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; and though he created his principal fictional sleuth, Father Brown, after Doyle had written the bulk of the Holmes canon, he can also claim a formative role (though not nearly so important as Doyle's) in the shaping of the genre. Father Brown is the first --but not the last!-- in a tradition of men and women of the cloth who solve traditional mysteries, the lineal ancestor of such figures as Father Dowling and Brother Cadfael, and the first series sleuth who's an amateur, rather than a professional, detective. Arising and set in the same late Victorian/Edwardian British milieu, the two characters, Brown and Holmes, have some similarities. Both are extremely smart, and have a capacity for minute observation and mental analysis of small but significant details that others tend to overlook. Flambeau, the continuing character in most of these stories, who under Brown's benign influence transitions from thief to honest detective, comes to serve as a Watson-like foil (though not narrator) for the priest detective. The latter even occasionally smokes a pipe -and more rarely (like Chesterton himself, though not like Holmes) a cigar. Like the mysteries of the Holmes canon, these stories are demanding intellectual puzzles, requiring a rationality of which the Neoclassicists would have heartily improved; but they're also steeped in the Romantic tradition, with any number of macabre, exotic or even Gothic elements: the spooky gloom of a Scottish castle as the storm wind howls, a swordfight to the death, a sinister Hindu fakir, a beheaded corpse, a religious cult, madness.

There are also, however, significant differences. Most importantly, Father Brown relies much more on intuition than Holmes does; in this respect, Chesterton sometimes seems influenced more by Henry James than by Doyle. :-) But Brown's intuition is grounded in his understanding of the dark side of human nature, gleaned as a confessor and a moral theologian, just as his knowledge of criminal techniques comes from years in the confessional in crime-ridden urban slum parishes. His priestly calling is thus not incidental to his sleuthing; and it's often the vehicle for serious observations about philosophical and spiritual truth, which are lacking or much less prominent in the Holmes canon (where both Holmes and Doyle have convictions much less definite than Chesterton's, and Brown's). Both men like the intellectual challenge of solving mysteries; but Brown isn't a hired detective, and his main interest is pastoral --he wants the reformation of the offender, not necessarily punishment, and he never takes his knowledge to the police for that reason. (He does usually encourage the culprits to confess -- with mixed success.) Holmes extends a similar mercy in "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle," but it's not his normal operating procedure. Where Holmes is assertive, flamboyant, and proud of his abilities (though not vain), Brown is mild-mannered, humble, and self-effacing. Chesterton's prose is something the reader is much more conscious of than Doyle's: fulsome, orotund, rich in metaphor and similie; and his much more vivid and lovingly detailed descriptions of the world around him are those of a writer who takes actual joy in the creation, founded in an appreciation of its Creator.

The dozen stories here were all written in 1910-1911; most take place in or near Chesterton's native London. A bare majority (seven) are murder mysteries; two actually turn out to involve no crime at all, and the others are daring thefts or attempted thefts. "The Secret Garden" is a noteworthy example of the first group, in that it involves an early variant on the locked-room mystery: the victim was dispatched in a garden attached to a house (belonging to the Paris chief of police, no less!), with no access save through the house, and the house has only one continuously guarded door --so how did the victim get there? A couple of cases turn on the mental inability of the class-conscious British gentry of that era to notice servants/menials as anything more than part of the furniture --a feature that Agatha Christie no doubt borrowed from Chesterton in her Poirot story "The Yellow Irises."

The particular edition I read has extensive annotations by Chesterton scholar Martin Gardner; hence, it's titled The Annotated Innocence of Father Brown (first published in 1988 by Oxford Univ. Press). These are a mixed blessing. Some of them provide interesting background matter, explanations of Edwardian terms, and textual variants, etc.; too many others explain the obvious, and some critical comments miss the boat. I don't agree with Gardner's negative view of "The Wrong Shape" or the reason for it; and while I agree that the reference to "one fat Chinese sneer" in "The Three Tools of Death" is racially insensitive and deplorable, I don't find a similar problem with any other language here. (The successful Jewish hotel owner in "The Queer Feet" isn't portrayed negatively because he's successful; if Chesterton had never mentioned that a character was Jewish, we'd no doubt hear complaints that Jews are "invisible" in his work! And the bracketing of Jews with country squires, in a passing reference in "The Flying Stars" to groups that can be seen as distinct, is no more disparaging to Jews than to country squires --a group Chesterton, given his social thought, probably more admired than the reverse.) For readers interested in Chesterton scholarship, the value of this edition is enhanced by such features as a printing history of the stories here, and an over 20-page comprehensive bibliography of critical works on Chesterton in general and the Father Brown canon in particular.(less)

like 6 likes · see review

Jun 27, 2011 cindy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: cf-crime-fiction, books-in-1-and-0

After reading it about three or four chapters, my first impression is a little confused, who was the main character? By the first few pages, we were introduced to Valentin, a French Head Police who chasing Flambeau, a French grifter, from Paris, to Brussel, and now London. Then following a bizzare trails left by a stumpy priest -namely Father Brown- and his tall friend, he finally can arrest the criminal mind he had been pursuit all along. But, in the second chapter, Head Police Valentin became...more After reading it about three or four chapters, my first impression is a little confused, who was the main character? By the first few pages, we were introduced to Valentin, a French Head Police who chasing Flambeau, a French grifter, from Paris, to Brussel, and now London. Then following a bizzare trails left by a stumpy priest -namely Father Brown- and his tall friend, he finally can arrest the criminal mind he had been pursuit all along. But, in the second chapter, Head Police Valentin became the criminal himself, comitting premeditated homicide in his own back yard. Again, the stumpy priest was the hero detective of the story. After that, in chapter three and four, Flambeau (don't know how he could deflected the law!!) is incidently cross path with Father Brown again, which then lead to his repents in crime. In the next chapters, Father Brown will befriended with Flambeau and partner up in solving various crimes.

The story of detective conduct of Father Brown itself is more like logical deep thought of man with a lot of experiences and conffesions of other man dark sins. More intuitive than psychological (like Poirot or Ms Marplle) or deductive science (like Sherlock Holmes). They were short and without explaination or necessity of whatever happened next. They were about the crimes, not the punishments, just like Father Brown himself is about a confessor and not the judge.

From what I knew, Chesterton writing as almost always reflected his opinion of the world. So, if that was the case with this stories, then they were slightly to "offend" other beliefs, from socialist, capitalist, atheis, pagans, protestant, to merely criminalist and opportunist.

This is my first GKC's book I read --mostly because Gaiman mentioned him in several occasions-- and after reading it, in general, I liked Agatha Christie's Poirot and Sir Arthur Doyle's Holmes better. But still, I could see why his works influence other writer after him.

Note: Read it in free e-text provided by Gutenberg Project www.gutenberg.org and audiobook provided by Librivox www.librivox.org. Thank you.(less)

like · see review

Feb 24, 2011 Aaron rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is the second of Chesterton's works that I've read. I can only describe it as I might Father Brown - quirky genius. Here printed are 12 short tales of murder and mystery, loosely interwoven.

"The Blue Cross" was one of my favorites. The simple inconspicuous deep cunning of Father Brown was most blatantly exhibited for us here. It was like witnessing a feather render an anvil unto powder. Here we first meet our two most important reoccurring characters - the brilliantly creative criminal Fla...more

like 1 like · see review

Feb 19, 2011 Badarudheen Kunnathodi rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: detective-fiction, favorites

Yes, it's a weird work if you look at the plausibility of the story. But it is not so bad as to say implausible and difficult to imagine. Especially people like myself, who is used to reading sci-fiction novels.

It contains many short stories, with Father Brown as the protagonist. His character very much reminds one of Hercule Poirot of Agatha Christie books. In fact, I think, Agatha Christie must have been inspired by Father Brown. The reason why I enjoyed this very much must also be related to...more

like · see review

Aug 23, 2012 Fiona rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012, gentleman-detectives, favourites, kindle-books, highbrow-literachoor

Oh, Gilbert Keith, I adore you and you are wonderful.

I read this collection of short stories in between deadlines, a story or two at a time first thing in the morning to help myself wake up. As far as I am concerned, a Father Brown short story is a perfect amuse bouche for the mental faculties. I guessed almost all of the answers before the big reveals, and many of them were ludicrously far-fetched, but that doesn't matter. That wasn't why I was reading it.

Father Brown is a fantastic main charac...more Oh, Gilbert Keith, I adore you and you are wonderful.

I read this collection of short stories in between deadlines, a story or two at a time first thing in the morning to help myself wake up. As far as I am concerned, a Father Brown short story is a perfect amuse bouche for the mental faculties. I guessed almost all of the answers before the big reveals, and many of them were ludicrously far-fetched, but that doesn't matter. That wasn't why I was reading it.

Father Brown is a fantastic main character, who occasionally comes out with absolute gems. He's religious, and clearly a vehicle for Chesterton's religious views. Fortunately, he's also marvellous:

"How in blazes do you know all these horrors?" cried Flambeau.

The shadow of a smile crossed the round, simple face of his clerical opponent.

"Oh, by being a celibate simpleton, I suppose," he said. "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? But, as a matter of fact, another part of my trade, too, made me sure you weren't a priest."

"What?" asked the thief, almost gaping.

"You attacked reason," said Father Brown. "It's bad theology."

Father Brown, as many people have pointed out, is an excellent counterpoint to my other favourite detectives, Poirot and Holmes, who deal in deduction and Cold Hard Facts. These are stories with a heart and a lot of strong morality. They don't preach, but the morality is just the foundation of the whole premise, and I found that very interesting, especially in contrast with the Fact!fetishising of other classic detectives.

Plus, the turn of phrase, oh my goodness:

Flambeau had stocked [his boat] with such things as his special philosophy considered necessary. They reduced themselves, apparently, to four essentials: tins of salmon, if he should want to eat; loaded revolvers, if he should want to fight; a bottle of brandy, presumably in case he should faint; and a priest, presumably in case he should die.

These stories are utterly, unashamedly absurd, not too taxing and fantastic fun to follow. There is duelling and pantomime and messing about in boats and jewel theft. I need them in my life. Gilbert Keith, I adore you, don't ever change.(less)

like · see review

Dec 24, 2012 Nan Silvernail rated it 3 of 5 stars

A little man. An unassuming Priest. Mild and quiet, but with a mind sharp as an obsidian knife. He can pierce to the heart of the darkest mysteries and murders using psychology, insight and the resources of a flock which is wide and steeped in sins and he will turn all to the Good.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SPOILERS

Very clever!
The language is a little ornate in spots. But some turns of phrase are just priceless.
The first story was marvelous.

I have to admit the second story was rather hard. I h...more

like · see review

Apr 03, 2012 Lindsay Nichols rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: library-books, classics, gothic-stylings, mysterious-mysteries

I like the Sherlock Holmes stories, so I thought I would like Father Brown. Murder, mystery, thought experiments, old school sleuthing - what could be more fun and fast paced? Not Father Brown. I found myself bored and slightly frustrated by the little Catholic priest.

Short stories about mysterious deaths and enigmatic puzzles should move quickly and be satisfying when you reach the end. I felt like I was stumbling through all these tales. Clues are left out of the telling, confessions are suppo...more

like · see review

Feb 11, 2012 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars

The first story in this volume is quite possibly the most perfect short story ever written. I loved reading it to my older children, simply to relive the joy of a first meeting with Father Brown.
All of the stories evidence Chesterton's erudition and cleverness, his masterful command of the English language, and his appreciation of the incomprehensible paradoxes of the Christian faith. But the first story is special--its cheeky confidence in upending the reader's values and expectations, its quie...more

like · see review

Dec 28, 2012 Bill rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery

12 short detective stories featuring the unobtrusive but brilliant Catholic priest Father Brown. I love G.K. Chesterton's writing style, scene descriptions, character sketches and especially his understated one line social commentary. I agreed with most but not all of the subtle social critique -- perhaps because society has changed in the last 100 years (anarchists, socialists and calvinists come in different form today), perhaps because a strong Catholicism is the primary reference point of hi...more

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

combine
Other Editions (115)

More editions...

Genres

Mystery

184 users

Classics

39 users

Short Stories

32 users

Mystery > Crime

24 users

Christian

12 users

Mystery > Detective

11 users

Religion > Christianity

9 users

European Literature > British Literature

8 users

Literature

8 users

Literature > 20th Century

8 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About G.K. Chesterton

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) cannot be summed up in one sentence. Nor in one paragraph. In fact, in spite of the fine biographies that have been written of him (and his Autobiography), he has never been captured between the covers of one book. But rather than waiting to separate the goats from the sheep, let’s just come right out and say it: G.K. Chesterton was the best writer of the twent...more Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) cannot be summed up in one sentence. Nor in one paragraph. In fact, in spite of the fine biographies that have been written of him (and his Autobiography), he has never been captured between the covers of one book. But rather than waiting to separate the goats from the sheep, let’s just come right out and say it: G.K. Chesterton was the best writer of the twentieth century. He said something about everything and he said it better than anybody else. But he was no mere wordsmith. He was very good at expressing himself, but more importantly, he had something very good to express. The reason he was the greatest writer of the twentieth century was because he was also the greatest thinker of the twentieth century.

Born in London, Chesterton was educated at St. Paul’s, but never went to college. He went to art school. 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. (To put it into perspective, four thousand essays is the equivalent of writing an essay a day, every day, for 11 years. If you’re not impressed, try it some time. But they have to be good essays, all of them, as funny as they are serious, and as readable and rewarding a century after you've written them.)

Chesterton was equally at ease with literary and social criticism, history, politics, economics, philosophy, and theology. His style is unmistakable, always marked by humility, consistency, paradox, wit, and wonder. His writing remains as timely and as timeless today as when it first appeared, even though much of it was published in throw away paper.

This man who composed such profound and perfect lines as "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried," stood 6’4" and weighed about 300 pounds, usually had a cigar in his mouth, and walked around wearing a cape and a crumpled hat, tiny glasses pinched to the end of his nose, swordstick in hand, laughter blowing through his moustache. And usually had no idea where or when his next appointment was. He did much of his writing in train stations, since he usually missed the train he was supposed to catch. In one famous anecdote, he wired his wife, saying, "Am at Market Harborough. Where ought I to be?" His faithful wife, Frances, attended to all the details of his life, since he continually proved he had no way of doing it himself. She was later assisted by a secretary, Dorothy Collins, who became the couple’s surrogate daughter, and went on to become the writer’s literary executrix, continuing to make his work available after his death.

This absent-minded, overgrown elf of a man, who laughed at his own jokes and amused children at birthday parties by catching buns in his mouth, was the man who wrote a book called The Everlasting Man, which led a young atheist named C.S. Lewis to become a Christian. This was the man who wrote a novel called The Napoleon of Notting Hill, which inspired Michael Collins to lead a movement for Irish Independence. This was the man who wrote an essay in the Illustrated London News that inspired Mahatma Gandhi to lead a movement to end British colonial rule in India. This was a man who, when commissioned to write a book on St. Thomas Aquinas (aptly titled Saint Thomas Aquinas), had his secretary check out a stack of books on St. (less)

More about G.K. Chesterton...

Books by G.K. Chesterton

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About The Innocence of ...

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

Quotes from The Innocence of Fathe...

“Humility is the mother of giants. One sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak.” — 11 people liked it

“Where does a wise man hide a leaf? In the forest. But what does he do if there is no forest? He grows a forest to hide it in.” — 6 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: The Innocence of Father Brown
avg rating	preview: The Innocence of Father Brown Goodreads rating: 3.90 (3908 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/184591.The_Innocence_of_Father_Brown?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347744501l/184591.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/184591.The_Innocence_of_Father_Brown?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Innocence of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton[/url]

The Innocence of Father Brown (Father Brown #1)

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website