Print List Price:	$12.95
Kindle Price:	$1.10 Save $11.85 (92%)
	includes VAT & free international wireless delivery via *Amazon Whispernet*

Add Audible narration to your purchase for just $3.44

Deliver to your Kindle or other device

Enter a promotion code or Gift Card

Flip to back Flip to front

Audible Narration Playing... Paused You are listening to a sample of the Audible narration for this Kindle book.
Learn more

The Secret of Father Brown (Father Brown 4) Kindle Edition

by G.K Chesterton (Author)

7 customer reviews

See all 48 formats and editions Hide other formats and editions

Amazon Price New from Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$0.99

—

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$21.95

$356.19

Paperback

"Please retry"

$10.55

$10.45

$40.54

Audible, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$21.95

or Free with Audible 30-day free trial

Mass Market Paperback

"Please retry"

—

MP3 CD, Audiobook, MP3 Audio, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$9.99

$5.79

$11.32

Unknown Binding

"Please retry"

—

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

The Incredulity of Father Brown (Father Brown 3)
G.K Chesterton

3

Kindle Edition
$1.10
The Scandal of Father Brown (Father Brown 5)
G.K Chesterton

2

Kindle Edition
$1.11
G. K. Chesterton

67

Kindle Edition
$1.13
The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare
G. K. Chesterton

251

Kindle Edition
$1.13
G.K. Chesterton

518

Kindle Edition
$0.53
The Innocence of Father Brown
G. K. Chesterton

6

Kindle Edition
$1.11

Product Details

File Size: 252 KB
Print Length: 202 pages
Publisher: Fair Price Classics (July 1, 2010)
Publication Date: July 1, 2010
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Language: English
ASIN: B003XYE7YU
Text-to-Speech: Enabled

X-Ray:

Not Enabled

Word Wise: Not Enabled
Lending: Not Enabled
Enhanced Typesetting: Not Enabled
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #606,904 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #7466 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Classics
- #20165 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Classics

Would you like to give feedback on images or tell us about a lower price?

Customer Reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars

5 star		72%
4 star		14%
3 star		14%
2 star		0%
1 star		0%

See all 7 customer reviews

Share your thoughts with other customers

Write a customer review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

One of the best in the series

By A Customer on June 15, 2004

Format: Audio Cassette

THE SECRET OF FATHER BROWN is unique among the Father Brown books because of its unusual integrated structure, which is somewhat reminiscent of the CANTERBURY TALES. The eight stories are framed by a prologue and an epilogue in which Father Brown is seen visiting Flambeau's house in France along with an American traveler, Mr. Chace. Chace wants Father Brown to explain his "method" of detection, the supposed "secret" which has made him famous. Brown attempts to demonstrate that unlike the modern science of criminology, he treats criminals not as remote monsters but as something familiar. Rather than than "inspecting" the criminal from afar, he tries to get "inside" the criminal, to understand what motivates him. This he does by discovering those qualities which he shares in common with the criminal and his own human potential for evil. Father Brown explains that his "method" is really like a religious exercise. The eight tales which follow are actually memories which pass through Father Brown's mind as he sits conversing with Flambeau and Chace, and which demonstrate Father Brown's unique "method". Father Brown fans may find THE SECRET OF FATHER BROWN to be their favorite in the series, for its artful, ingenious structure and its intelligent discussion of the great priest-detective's technique.

Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback. If this review is inappropriate, please let us know.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

Great stories; maybe implausible, but who cares?

By Michele L. Worley on December 12, 2001

Format: Audio Cassette

If you're interested in an unabridged audio edition, I recommend that narrated by Geoffrey Matthews over the David Case version. Matthews, to my way of thinking, has a better voice, produces more distinct characters, and brings the text more vividly to life. (Naturally, his recording seems to be harder to find just now.) David Case is OK - he sounds exactly like the narrator for Aird's 'Cause and Effects' - but I was spoilt by hearing Matthews' reading first.
"The Secret of Father Brown" - In this prologue, Father Brown has come to visit Flambeau, who has long since retired to a castle in Spain. Another visitor asks Father Brown for the secret of how he solves all his cases - and gets a startling answer. The epilogue at the end of the book is supposedly the end of the same evening (all the stories in between having been produced as examples). Don't worry, the narrative style is the same as usual; the prologue and epilogue are just here to tie all the stories together.
The key to coping with Chesterton's stories is to remember the dictum of Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter: "When you've got how, you've got who." If you go haring off after motive in a Chesterton story, all I can wish you is luck; you'll need it. They're good stories, with lovely use of language and settings, but weird things happen for weirder reasons, sometimes. Just sit back and enjoy, and don't worry about whether anybody could *really* hope to get away with some of these crimes. Some stories have multiple crimes, where one crime is committed because of another. If you feel sympathy for some of these 'second' criminals, you might also like to try Chesterton's _The Club of Queer Trades_, even though Father Brown doesn't appear there.Read more ›

Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback. If this review is inappropriate, please let us know.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Entertaining detective stories spiced with a strong dose of philosophy

By Carol Apple on July 13, 2014

Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase

I am not usually a reader of crime fiction, but I like G.K. Chesterton's essays and biographies so I thought I’d give Father Brown a try. I loved this collection of stories and especially enjoyed that each is really a philosophical or theological discussion. But if you are not into philosophy don’t be scared off: These stories are beautifully written, witty, exquisitely plotted, and populated with intriguing characters.

One of Chesterton’s principal philosophical propositions is that while strict materialism is bound by its own definition to rule out all things supernatural, the supernatural is free to include scientific method in its worldview. The quiet unassuming Father Brown, with his combination of sharp observation and incisive knowledge of human depravity, is the fictional personification of this idea, his answer to Sherlock Holmes. I wondered if Father Brown might be a Chesterton alter ego, but Wikipedia says the character is based on someone else – a priest named Father John O’Connor (1870-1952) who was involved in Chesterton’s 1922 conversion to Catholicism.

Father Brown appears in 51 short stories including the eight included in The Secret of Father Brown. These eight stories each illustrate a philosophical point or insight about human nature and are framed by two chapters, beginning with “The Secret of Father Brown” and ending with “The Secret of Flambeau.” Flambeau, a reformed criminal and Father Brown’s long-time friend, has married and settled down on an estate in Spain, and Father Brown has just arrived for a visit. An American neighbor stops by, and having heard of Father Brown’s uncanny ability to solve murder cases, asks him about his secret to solving murder mysteries.Read more ›

Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback. If this review is inappropriate, please let us know.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Brilliant and moody

By Jean E. Pouliot on May 9, 2006

Format: Audio Cassette

Easily the darkest of Chesterton's Father Brown collections, "The Secret of Father Brown" is nonetheless as much of a masterwork of perception into the human condition as his others. The conceit of the book is that it is an exhibition (to an American guest of Flambeau's) of Father Brown's sleuthing style. The collection begins and ends around a woodstove at Flambeau's Spanish castle as Father Brown wearily unburdens himself to the inquisitive guest. Along the way we are treated to the typical impossible crimes and a parade of rogues and saints -- a corpse in shining armor, a thieving mystic, insouciant British aristocrats and a Canadian journalist. We are asked to solve death by duel and pistol shot, and thefts of jewels large and small.

"Secret" betrays Chesterton's pessimism about mankind. In this collection, Father Brown is more inward and is vastly more bothered by human sin and folly than in other books. And Chesterton's annoyance at the greatest theft of precious stone in the world - the dispossession of Catholic churches and abbeys during the Reformation - is particularly bitter. But this is an observation, not a criticism.

The stories in this collection are worth reading (or hearing!) over and over - to see how the plot unfolds, to hear Chesterton's gorgeous and well-informed prose, or to hear the narrator (in this case, the marvelous Geoffrey Matthews) bring life to Chesterton's characters.

Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback. If this review is inappropriate, please let us know.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

See all 7 customer reviews (newest first)

Write a customer review

Most Recent Customer Reviews

A unique detective

The fourth of the Father Brown detective story collections has something the first three did not: a framing sequence at the beginning and end, in which Father Brown explains to a... Read more

Published 20 months ago by Dan'l Danehy-Oakes

Mystery and philosophy - love it

I love Chesterton. The narration is good. It is not just mystery, It is also a bit of philosophy book.

Published 22 months ago by M.G.

Interesting but a slow read

From all I had heard about G K Chesterton made me want to read and understand such a prolific writer. I was very disappointed. Short quck stories with illogical outcomes.

Published on February 5, 2013 by Georgia W. Roessler

.jsOffDisplayBlock { display: block; } .jsOffDisplayInline { display: inline; } .jsOffVisibility { visibility: visible; } .jsOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jsOnDisplayNoneBlock { display: block; } .jsOnDisplayNoneInline { display: inline; } .jsOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jsOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; } .jqOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jqOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jqOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; } .jqOnDisplayNoneBlock { display: block; } .jqOnDisplayNoneInline { display: inline; }