Book Review: The Incredulity of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton

Despite owning all the Father Brown stories, I'm taking my time reading them because I enjoy them so much. You can find my reviews of Innocence and Wisdom here and here but Incredulity is the third collection and feels as though it goes in a slightly different direction.

Location plays a big part in these stories with Father Brown encountering different cultures and, significantly, several of them are set in America. I like these explorations and it's amusing how Father Brown is never a fish out of water - he blends into the background of any community.

I enjoyed all the stories in this collection. However, some are more enjoyable than others, of course. 'The Resurrection of Father Brown' is the first story and begins with the cleric's death. It's a charming little story, made all the more enjoyable by his irritation at becoming a celebrity. 'The Arrow of Heaven' deals with the murder of a millionaire, a circumstance that 'is, for some reason, treated as a sort of calamity'. Chesterton, naturally, then proceeds to include three dead millionaires in his story. In 'The Oracle of the Dog' I was tickled by the resolution and the peculiar murder of Warren Wynd in 'The Miracle of Moon Crescent' had me completely perplexed for a time. While I enjoyed the sensory details and depictions in 'The Curse of the Golden Cross', that might've been the weakest story in terms of progression, for me anyway. 'The Dagger with Wings' is one of the more atmospheric pieces, although I was slightly disappointed with the ending, probably on grounds of personal preference.

The final two stories in the collection are my favourites. 'The Doom of the Darnaways' takes the old trope of a decaying British manor with a foreign heir and creates a memorable story revolving around a photograph. In that story, the last lines are typical of Father Brown and, perhaps, that's why I enjoyed it so much. Lastly, 'The Ghost of Gideon Wise' really kept me on my toes with an atmospheric look at the murders of another three millionaires. That Chesterton still has the ability to startle me after three volumes of Father Brown stories is delightful.

These are gentle mysteries that visit the hard edges of humanity. If that sounds like a contradiction then that's probably because you're unfamiliar with the central character. There are lengthy dialogue digressions which won't appeal to all but I like being made to think as well as follow a mystery to its conclusion. I'll ration myself again before I read the fourth collection, The Secret of Father Brown.

Book Review: The Wisdom of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton

Coincidentally, I reviewed the first collection of Father Brown stories in June 2013 - obviously I like reading Chesterton's short mysteries in the summer! The thing I enjoyed most about this collection was the eclecticism: Father Brown flits around all over the place, sometimes with his companion Flambeau and sometimes alone. It means that no one story is similar to the one preceding it, something which I greatly appreciated.

The first story is 'The Absence of Mr Glass' which ridicules a doctor's deductions and is quite hilarious. It's brilliant in its simplicity, as is the second story, 'The Paradise of Thieves', which, despite being fairly confident about what was going on, entertained me nonetheless. The fourth story in the collection, 'The Man in the Passage' is both ingenious and a little heartbreaking. It tells of an actress with several suitors in her dressing room and who is mysteriously struck down by a suspect who is described differently by every witness. Father Brown's cross-examination here in this story is downright wonderful.

Story number seven, 'The Purple Wig', is enjoyable for its variation in narrative style as well as the substance of the mystery while 'The Perishing of the Pendragons' is notable for its description of the environment as well as the mystery. Similarly, in the ninth story, 'The God of the Gongs', the desolate descriptions of a seaside town out of season are very evocative.

All of the stories in this collection have something to recommend them but my favourites are probably the last two, 'The Strange Crime of John Boulnois' and 'The Fairy Tale of Father Brown'. The former's characterisation is wonderful and, again, it toys with narrative style at the beginning. It tells of a philosopher accused of murdering his love rival but this philosopher is far too disinterested to lift a finger - he just wants to be left alone with his book. 'The Fairy Tale of Father Brown' is an exploration of a past event by Father Brown and Flambeau. I always love these two together and the tale of a prince who was shot when guns were banned from his kingdom is a wonderful little teaser to conclude on.

I suppose that by this point I'm more adept at spotting where Chesterton is going with his mysteries. However, much to my delight, he still manages to surprise me on occasion and, regardless, his stories are both evocative and clever. However, I do think I should put off reading the next collection for a few months - delay the pleasure!

Book Review: The Innocence of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton

This first collection of Father Brown stories initially caught my eye after I watched the BBC series involving the character. Although I enjoyed it, I was pleasantly surprised to find that these stories followed an altogether different path. Each of them cover one rather compact mystery and are both interesting and evocative. We might not learn too much about Father Brown during them but his sense and talent for unravelling a mystery shine through, making him one of the best detectives I've come across, and certainly my favourite in short fiction.

This collection contains twelve short stories. The first, 'The Blue Cross', is probably the best known, although this focuses more on the detective Valentin than Father Brown himself. It actually works as an ideal introduction to the character and sets up what's to come perfectly. Valentin himself only appears in one more story but the criminal of 'The Blue Cross', Flambeau, reappears time and again, first as Brown's nemesis and then as his friend. This friendship is perhaps the one constant through the latter stories and works extremely well.

Out of these twelve stories a few lingered with me long after I had turned the page. 'The Secret Garden' is the second story featuring Valentin and comes to a dark and surprising - to me, anyway - conclusion. I also appreciated 'The Invisible Man', a story of warring lovers, because of the simplicity of the conclusion. In fact, most of these stories ended with me marvelling at the ingenuity of the author, wrapping up the obvious in the bizarre. It was a pleasure to merely read and not second-guess the outcome.

Atmospherically, my favourite story has to be 'The Sins of Prince Saradine' which begins with Brown and Flambeau on a small boat in the middle of nowhere. The vivid descriptions that haunt the beginning of this story outweigh what is still a very intelligent plot and make this the story that lingers in my mind.

I also enjoyed the difference of 'The Sign of the Broken Sword' which progressed in a manner not usual for this collection, with Father Brown piecing together the distant past instead of the present. The final story in the collection, 'The Three Tools of Death', was a fitting conclusion and one that made me eager to read the subsequent collections of Father Brown stories.