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  • Published: 15 October 2005
  • ISBN: 9780812972221
  • Imprint: Random House US Group
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 288
  • RRP: $32.99

Father Brown

The Essential Tales




Ranking amongst fellow literary sleuths Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie's Poirot, Father Brown uses his deep intuition for the paradoxes of human nature -- gained during his years spent in the church confessional -- to catch killers, foil criminal plots, and uncover the shocking truth of crimes throughout Europe.

G. K. Chesterton’s Father Brown may seem a pleasantly doddering Roman Catholic priest, but appearances deceive. With keen observation and an unerring sense of man’s frailties–gained during his years listening to confessions–Father Brown succeeds in bringing even the most elusive criminals to justice.

This definitive collection of fifteen stories, selected by the American Chesterton Society, includes such classics as “The Blue Cross,” “The Secret Garden,” and “The Paradise of Thieves.” As P. D. James writes in her Introduction, “We read the Father Brown stories for a variety pleasures, including their ingenuity, their wit and intelligence, and for the brilliance of the writing. But they provide more. Chesterton was concerned with the greatest of all problems, the vagaries of the human heart.”

  • Published: 15 October 2005
  • ISBN: 9780812972221
  • Imprint: Random House US Group
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 288
  • RRP: $32.99

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Praise for Father Brown

"[Father Brown] is one of the greatest of all great detective figures...His field of knowledge is human nature, and his skills are observation, reason and common sense." Kingsley Amis

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