The character of Father Brown is based on a man of the cloth G.K. Chesterton met on one of his ramblings. Hearing confessions of criminal types in urban settings of great need, the "innocent" priest absorbed the motives and methods of his wayward flock. With no outlet for the intake of crime (all confidential, you know) his goal was repentance, conversion, and reformation of his flock rather than earthly justice and restitution.

Spiritually, Father Brown knows human nature, man's dark side and the effects of his victimizations. Philosophically, he is steeped in the virtues of humility, contemplation, logic, and reason. An apologist for Christian doctrine, the author, through his main character, highlights reason over superstition as one of the first principles. "The Universe physically is infinite but bound to the laws of reason." Father Brown's plodding logic is claimed by the author as fixed in the spiritual rather than secular world.

THE INNOCENCE OF FATHER BROWN tells twelve mystery tales with seven stories of murders, two absent of any crimes, and the others involving attempted or resolved robberies. Chesterton's prose is more like Wharton or James' rather than the more linear style of Doyle. Readers are delivered a novel with a mystery rather than a mystery as it's core offering.

There are similarities to the now templete of the mystery genre begun by Poe in 1841, but there is enough variation through the character of Father Brown and his self-effacing approach to solving the mystery, and his secondary presence in the story to make the reading feel singular and new. Though most take place in London, locales shift with gothic settings in a Scottish castle. Incidences of secret societies, beheadings, swordfights, and insanity transport the reader to an earlier time of gore and unknown threatenings.

Later renderings of the clerical challenging the criminal are Father Dowling and Brother Cadfael, as the truisms of Chesterton continue to resonate. Highly Recommended.