A Catholic priest known simply as "Father Brown" was, once upon a time, a celebrity in his native England, and his reputation extended even to the United States. Much to his dismay, his genius for helping the police with their most difficult cases gradually found its way into the newspapers. Yet for all his fame, or notoriety, as some called it, he suddenly disappeared from public view. Father Brown made headlines last in 1936 after he exposed an embezzler in one of England's provincial towns. Some of the priest's many acquaintances supposed that he had retired without fanfare to a monastery. Others thought he might have been given a secret assignment in Rome. There were even a few who feared he might have died among strangers while traveling abroad. More than thirty years were to pass before he once again came to public notice; and, as Father Brown was never one to talk much about himself, his activities during the intervening years remain a mystery to this day. Father Brown's whereabouts came to light in 1972 when he changed the direction of several criminal investigations in a small town in the American Midwest. Though in his nineties, the priest had lost none of his mental sharpness and was surprisingly vigorous for his age. he had traded his battered black umbrella for a gnarled wooden cane and spent his days serving as a kind of general assistant to the pastor of St. Dominic's, celebrating Mass, instructing catechumens, and spinning tales for the granddaughter of the rectory's housekeeper. Father Brown would have been quite happy to continue in this anonymous service, and might have done so if his talent for detection had not gradually surfaced and eventually come to the attention of the Bardo County Sheriff's Department. This led to an ever-deepening involvement in the sheriff's business, and it is those stories, in the main, that are reported in the pages that follow. "A jewel, a treasure, a thing
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Delightful and Well-Crafted,
By
This review is from: The Return of Father Brown (Paperback)
These 44 very brief mystery stories featuring G.K. Chesterton's famed priest-detective, now retired and living in the American Midwest, are delightful and well-crafted. I first read and admired the stories as they were published in the American Chesterton Society's Gilbert Magazine, and my admiration for them grew upon rereading them in this wonderful collection.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unforgettable!,
By Therese Warmus (Euclid, MN United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Return of Father Brown (Paperback)
Here is a new collection of stories about that most enterprising crime-solver, Father Brown--not a work "forgotten," as the seller has it. And its author is not G.K. Chesterton but none other than the intrepid John Peterson, senior writer (now retired) for Gilbert Magazine, the journal of all things Chesterton.
That said, I don't know where else you could find such a delightful return to the adventures of Father Brown, now in his nineties and more attuned to the criminal mind than ever, who resurfaces in Bardo County somewhere in the American Midwest. G.J. Meyer (award-winning author of "The Tudors") called this collection a "jewel"; it certainly is that, and readers can find more of Peterson's books at chesterton.org.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Getting Inside the Mind of Fr. Brown and G. K. Chesterton,
By
This review is from: The Return of Father Brown (Paperback)
'Father Brown' detective stories were the bread and butter of British author and journalist, G.K. Chesterton. Allegedly, this beloved detective enabled Chesterton to keep his publication 'The Illustrated London News' up and going. As a famous British author of such intelligent and stimulating books as 'The Everlasting Man,' 'Orthodoxy,' and illuminating biographies of St. Francis of Assisi and St. Thomas Aquinas, Chesterton's famous mystery stories created a beloved legacy about an astute priest who was able to lend his logic and conscience to unlock the most twisted and ingenious criminals and crimes. Like Sherlock Holmes before him, and probably 'Columbo' after him, "Fr. Brown" would catch his criminals when the blind spot of their descent into willful malice would come to the surface in Brown's order of things.
Getting into the mind and heart of Father Brown is about the same labour as getting into the heart and mind of G.K. Chesterton--no small feat. With forty-four short, yet stimulating stories, author John Peterson, has delved into the mind-set of the diminutive priest with surprising skill. Originally published in 'The Mid-West Chesterton News' and, later, in 'Gilbert' magazines, these short shorts--as some have called them--do mine the common sense genius of the protagonist admirably well. There are limitations, however, and Peterson, himself, in his preface, concedes, "Chesterton's witty style is impossible to duplicate." Father Brown may have changed a little, too. He is older now, sporting a cane, and taking his place at St. Dominic's Church in 1972 somewhere in the Midwest. Peterson's stories improve incrementally. There may not be the same "aha" moments where the narrative is weaved with as much skill to catch the criminal, but the character is fully intact and his ability to uncover the "vindictiveness...out of which a mental fog rises up to hide the truth"* shows a Fr. Brown who hasn't lost his step. Noting that many Sherlock Holmes' stories were not penned by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author says that Chesterton's successors have often "missed the mark" of their task by focusing on the social--and not the moral implications--of Chesterton's creations. For those who are afficionados of easily digestible bits of mysterious short fiction, and especially fans of "Fr. Brown" and G. K. Chesterton, 'The Return of Fr. Brown' surely will not disappoint. *John Peterson, from 'The Return of Father Brown,' as penned in his preface
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