The Wisdom of Father Brown [Paperback]

G. K. Chesterton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 3, 2006

From London to Cornwall, then to Italy and France, a short, shabby priest runs down bandits, traitors, and killers. Why is he so successful?After many years spent in the priesthood, Father Brown knows human nature and is not afraid of its dark side. Thus he understands criminal motivation and how to deal with it.The stories included are "The Paradise of Thieves," "The Duel of Dr. Hirsch," "The Man in the Passage," "The Mistakes of the Machine," "The Head of the Caesar," "The Purple Wig," "The Perishing of the Pendragons," "The God of the Gongs," "The Salad of the Colonel Cray," "The Strange Crime of John Boulnois" and "The Fairy Tale of Father Brown." Newly designed and typeset in a modern 6-by-9-inch format by Waking Lion Press.

Product Details

• Paperback: 202 pages
• Publisher: Waking Lion Press (August 3, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1600964273
• ISBN-13: 978-1600964275
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #507,527 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Kind little Father Brown, April 23, 2011

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Wisdom of Father Brown (Father Brown Mystery) (Kindle Edition)

Most book detectives are either professional, or they don't have jobs and do detective work in their spare time. G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown is a little different -- a kindly, sweet little priest.

In Chesterton's second Father Brown book, "The Wisdom of Father Brown," we get a series of bizarre, sometimes dangerous mysteries that Father Brown must puzzle out. Some of the crimes are simple once Brown explains them, but others are devious, chilling things that are wrapped in Chesterton's poetic prose.

We're introduced to Father Brown when he comes into a famous criminologist's waiting room, and tells the man, "You see, her mother won't let her get engaged." The criminologist reluctantly assists the little priest in investigating a bizarre crime, involving a hat, a tied-up man, and a mysterious person called "Mr. Glass." The answer is a lot simpler than the criminologist believes.

In the stories that follow, the priest investigates many other mysteries: a sinister voodoo cult, a nobleman with a deformed ear, a gang of Italian thieves, a lie-detector with one major problem (the operator), a girl who is blackmailed for a crime nobody knows she committed, a burning tower, a murder that may be suicide, and a man who is under a horrible death curse.

G.K. Chesterton liked to write mysteries that were a lot simpler than they appeared to be, or else had some sort of bizarre twist at the end. Both kinds of mysteries show up in this collection of short stories, but only occasionally can readers guess what is going on, until Father Brown spells it out with some little detail of human nature.

And Father Brown is a likable little guy, who looks like an "innocent goblin" and doesn't have to overwork himself to solve mysteries. It's his shrewd brain and rather childlike straightforwardness that carries him through, as well as his uncanny knowledge of human nature ("The reliable machine always has to be worked by an unreliable machine.... I mean Man").

If there's a flaw, it's the rather dated racial descriptions, although those were typical of the time. Chesterton's writing is absolutely exquisite, like poetry rendered down into prose ("Over the black pine-wood came flying and flashing in the moon, a naked sword"), especially in the story where Father Brown and his pal take a cruise through the older areas of England.

"The Wisdom of Father Brown" is a lot like the kindly priest who does the detective -- brilliant, unassuming, and very intriguing. Definitely a must for mystery buffs.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting collection of short mystery stories, April 13, 2011

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SDD - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Wisdom of Father Brown (Father Brown Mystery) (Kindle Edition)

The Wisdom of Father Brown is an intriguing collection of mystery short stories centered around none other than Father Brown. These stories are normally fairly well set up, and inlcude good twists at the end that mystery readers would come to expect from good mystery authors. However, Chesterton takes quite a bit of time in setting up the story, which can amount to a bit of tedious reading sometimes. Yet, these vignettes end well and I am impressed with Chesterton's imagery and use of suspense. It also helps that this book is free. Overall, I would recommend this to any detective book fan.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars OK set of short stories, May 7, 2011

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Jetpack - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Wisdom of Father Brown (Father Brown Mystery) (Kindle Edition)

This is a set of short stories, starring, shocking as it is, Father Brown, an English Catholic priest.

The stories aren't your normal run of the mill mysteries, though it does start out well with Father Brown making a professional detective look quite stupid.

The stories are interesting, but didn't have a big hook for me. Perhaps I would have enjoyed a full length novel more. Father Brown definitely notices things about people, leading to his conclusions.