Father Brown Stories by GK Chesterton

Title: The Complete Father Brown Stories

Author: GK Chesterton (English, 1874-1936)
Originally published: 1911-1936
Page count: 770


2021 book goal progress: 8, x, x, x, and x out of 38

2022 book goal progress: x, 2, x, x, and x out of 20 

2024 book goal progress: x, x, 5, 8, and 10 out of 24 

Reading category: TBR Shelf

Mindful Readers' Bookclub genre: Jan - Mystery

Read my other book reviews for my 2021 goals HERE.

Read my other book reviews for my 2022 goals HERE.

Read my other book reviews for my 2024 goals HERE.

Contents:

This anthology collects all of the Father Brown short stories, except the last one:

    -The Innocence of Father Brown (1911) - 167 pages, 12 stories

    -The Wisdom of Father Brown (1914) - 152 pages, 12 stories

    *The Donnington Affair and Father Brown's Solution (1914) - 26 pages, 2 stories

    -The Incredulity of Father Brown (1926) - 147 pages, 8 stories

    -The Secret of Father Brown (1927) - 135 pages, 10 stories

    -The Scandal of Father Brown (1935) - 135 pages, 9 stories

    *The Mask of Midas (1936) - 10 pages, 1 story, read at Project Gutenberg

Description on back of book:
Father Brown is one of the most quirkily genial and lovable characters to emerge from English detective fiction. GK Chesterton created a kindly cleric in the front rank of eccentric sleuths. These stories represent a quiet wit and compassion which is so different from his moody and caustic predecessor, Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. Father Brown solves his mysteries by a mixture of intuition and sympathetic worldliness in a believable way.

Quotes:
Since there are so many stories, I'm not going to include the first sentences as I usually do. I will instead have some general favorite quotes to go along with each collection. The quote below sums up the idea behind Father Brown and how he has so much insight into crime.

" '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?' "

-The Innocence of Father Brown, The Blue Cross

General review:

I love that the 'main' detective, Father Brown, is a quiet, subtle, kind, and unobtrusive person - very different than Sherlock Holmes. I put 'main' into quotations because he nearly always plays a background or secondary role in the stories than actually being the main part of them. To liven things up a bit, there's Hercule Flambeau, a colorful, French, thief-turned-detective that plays a key role in many of the stories.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles, the first Hercule Poirot book by Agatha Christie, was published in 1920 - 9 years after the first Father Brown collection. I fully believe that Flambeau helped inspire Poirot and that Father Brown helped inspire Miss Marple.

The Innocence of Father Brown (1911) - 167 pages, 12 stories - read 3/14/21-3/19/21
CAWPILE Rating: Overall - 7.4/10 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Favorite quote:
"A Radical does not mean a man who lives on radishes and a Conservative does not mean a man who preserves jam. Neither, I assure you, does a Socialist mean a man who desires a social evening with a chimney-sweep. A Socialist means a man who wants all the chimneys swept and all the chimney-sweeps paid for it."

-The Innocence of Father Brown, The Flying Stars

Mini-review:

This is a collection of 12 short stories ranging from 11-16 pages with an average of 14. Father Brown is in all of the stories. Flambeau is in 9 stories, mentioned in another, and not in the other 2. Of the various mysteries, there are 7 murders, 2 thefts, 1 dual murder/theft, 1 misunderstanding, and 1 involuntary manslaughter. I enjoyed the creativity of each of the crimes, but wish there were fewer murders and more of any other crime.

I do want to note that there are some elements of racism in several of the stories. One story in particular, The Wrong Shape, had a lot of racism, but I think it was intended as a literary tool to make the reader suspect the incorrect person.

The Wisdom of Father Brown (1914) - 152 pages, 12 stories - read 1/22/22-2/2/22
CAWPILE Rating: Overall - 7.3/10 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Favorite quotes:

"You are certainly a very ingenious person, it could not have been better in a book."

-The Wisdom of Father Brown, The Absence of Mr. Glass

"I hope it was not in the Cannibal Islands that he learnt the art of cookery."

-The Wisdom of Father Brown, The Salad of Colonel Cray

"It is vain to say that he felt as if he had got into a dream; but this time he felt quite certain that he had got into a book. For we human beings are used to inappropriate things; we are accustomed to the clatter of the incongruous; it is a tune to which we can go to sleep. If one appropriate thing happens, it wakes us up like the pang of a perfect chord. Something happened such as would have happened in such a place in a forgotten tale."

-The Wisdom of Father Brown, The Strange Crime of John Boulnois

Mini-review:

This is a collection of 12 short stories ranging from 11-16 pages with an average of 13. Father Brown is in all of the stories and Flambeau is in 9 stories. Of the various mysteries, most are murders and the others are some sort of misunderstanding and/or mistaken identity. The stories and plot twists are clever and unique. I also love the dry humor throughout.

I do want to note, again, that there are some elements of racism in several of the stories - particularly in The God of the Gongs in this collection.

The Donnington Affair (1914) - 26 pages, 2 parts of 1 story - read 3/6/24-3/7/24
CAWPILE Rating: Included below in the rating of The Incredulity of Father Brown.

Favorite quotes:

"You must remember that in a murder case the guiltiest person is not always the murderer."

-The Donnington Affair, Father Brown's Solution

"My friend, I want to tell you and all your modern world a secret. You will never get to the good in people till you have been through the bad in them."

-The Donnington Affair, Father Brown's Solution

Mini-review:

This is a neat round-robin type story, where the mystery was put forth in the first part by Max Pemberton (English, 1863-1950) and then he asked other authors to write the solution to the mystery. GK Chesterton decided to play along and solved the mystery with Father Brown. I will say that this book does include both parts of the story, whereas most publications only include Father Brown's solution and not the background part. The main story is centered on a prison escape, though I don't remember the original crimes, and a resulting murder. The ending was confusing and I'm not sure I fully understand what happened. Flambeau is not in the story, which is a bummer. 

The Incredulity of Father Brown (1926) - 148 pages, 12 stories - read 3/14/24-3/21/24

CAWPILE Rating: Overall - 5.9/10 - ⭐⭐⭐/5

Favorite quotes:

"Don't you talk to me about sticking to the facts. I've stuck to a good many facts before you were born and a few of the facts have stuck to me. I'll give you the facts all right if you've got the sense to take 'em down correctly."

-The Incredulity of Father Brown, The Miracle of Moon Crescent

" 'It's no good, we are dealing with something terrible.'

'Yes,' assented the priest in a low voice, 'we are dealing with something terrible; with the most terrible thing I know, and the name of it is nonsense.' "

-The Incredulity of Father Brown, The Doom of the Darnaways

Mini-review:

Maybe I wasn't in the right frame of mind while reading them, but I did not enjoy this collection as much as I've enjoyed other of the Father Brown collections. This is a collection of 8 short stories ranging from 15-21 pages with an average of 18. Father Brown is in all of the stories and Flambeau is in none - very sad. The stories were all about murder, with flavors of other crimes/mysteries mixed in, such as fraud, blackmail, suicide, curses/occult/vampires, accidents, attempted murder, and framing others. I really wish some of the mysteries wouldn't include murder/death at all. Nonetheless, the endings are clever and unexpected, and I enjoy the continued dry humor. Sherlock Holmes is mentioned in at least 2 of the stories. Once again, there are some elements of racism in many of the stories. 

The Secret of Father Brown (1927) - 136 pages, 10 stories - read 5/15/24-5/22/24

CAWPILE Rating: Overall - 7.0/10 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Favorite quotes:

"He had the dreams of the sort that cling to the emerging mind like the dim tentacles of an octopus."

-The Secret of Father Brown, The Song of the Flying Fish

"Beware of the man you forget, he is the one man who has you entirely at a disadvantage. Beware of the woman you forget, and even more so. A lot of men, especially men like you and your employer, could go on saying for days that something ought to be done, or might as well be done. But if you convey to a woman that something ought to be done, there is always the dreadful danger that she will suddenly do it."

-The Secret of Father Brown, The Song of the Flying Fish

"If you want to know what a lady is really like, don't look at her; for she may be too clever for you. Don't look at the men around her, for they may be too silly about her. But look at some other woman who is always near to her, and especially one who is under her. You will see in that mirror her real face."

-The Secret of Father Brown, The Actor and the Alibi

Mini-review:

These stories are a better collection than the one I previously read. This collection has 8 short stories ranging from 14-17 pages with an average of 15. It includes 2 mini-stories at the beginning and end, which do not tell a mystery story at all. These mini-stories explain why Flambeau has been absent from the stories and what method Father Brown uses to solve mystery cases. I enjoyed the insight of the mini-stories. 

Father Brown is in all of the stories and Flambeau is only in the 2 mini-stories - very sad. Sherlock Holmes was mentioned at least twice. Of the 8 mystery stories, 5 centered around a murder, 2 centered on robbery, and 1 was a murder/robbery combo. I continue to wish there was more to the mysteries than just murder. About half of the stories got into metaphysical aspects, which seemed a bit odd and didn't fit in with Father Brown to me. About half of them had racist elements, with 1 of them actually using the n-word. Three of the stories were meh, but I really liked the other five. The ones I liked best were: 

The Mirror of the Magistrate

The Song of the Flying Fish

The Actor and the Alibi

The Vanishing of Vaudry

The Worst Crime in the World 

The Scandal of Father Brown (1927) - 136 + 9 pages, 9 + 1 stories - read 5/30/24-6/8/24

CAWPILE Rating: Overall - 7.7/10 - ⭐⭐⭐/5

Favorite quotes:

"When a man is told something that turns things upside-down; that the tail wags the dog; that the fish has caught the fishermen; that the earth goes round the moon; he takes some little time before he even asks seriously if it is true. He is still content with the consciousness that it is the opposite of the obvious truth."

-The Scandal of Father Brown, The Scandal of Father Brown

"You said that the first man you saw had an indescribable air of authority and dignity. And you said to yourself, 'That's the Trust Magnate, the great merchant prince, the ruler of markets.' But when I heard about the air of dignity and authority, I said to myself, 'That's the actor; everything about this is the actor.' You don't get that look by being President of the Chain Store Amalgamation Company. You get that look by being Hamlet's Father's Ghost, or Julius Caesar, or King Lear, and you never altogether lose it"

-The Scandal of Father Brown, The Pursuit of Mr. Blue

Mini-review:

These stories are an OK collection. I'm also including The Mask of Midas in this review, even though it is an uncollected story that was published the year GK Chesterton died. This collection has 9 short stories ranging from 12-18 pages with an average of 15 and Mask of Midas has 9 pages. Father Brown is in all of the stories and Flambeau is only in 1 of the stories - very sad (but I'm glad he came back at all!). Of the 10 mystery stories, 6 centered around a murder, 2 centered on robbery, and 2 had no crime committed at all. There also were elements of mistaken identity, romance, politics, religion, suicide, blackmail, elaborate distractions, and disappearances.

I continue to wish there was more to the mysteries than just murder, though they were all clever and brought back a little of his earlier dark humor. Shakespeare was mentioned at least three times. About half of them had racist elements, with 2 of them actually using the n-word. Five of the stories were meh, but I really liked the other five. The ones I liked best were: 

The Green Man

The Point of a Pin

The Insoluble Problem (Flambaeu!)

The Vampire of the Village

The Mask of Midas

Now I'm off to read another book... but since a review should be more about the author of the book than about the writer of the blog, I will let GK Chesterton have the last words:

" 'Do you believe in doom? asked the restless Prince Saradine suddenly.

'No,' answered Father Brown. 'I believe in Doomsday.'

'What do you mean?' asked the prince.

'I mean that we here are on the wrong side of the tapestry,' answered his guest. 'The things that happen here do not seem to mean anything; they mean something somewhere else. Somewhere else retribution will come on the real offender. Here it often seems to fall on the wrong person.' "

-The Innocence of Father Brown, The Sins of Prince Saradine