The Innocense of Father Brown

In 1911 G. K. Chesterton published this first collection of twelve short stories featuring Father Brown a priest turned detective who combines philosophical and spiritual reasoning with scientific observation to solve crimes. Father Brown as he is referred to by Chesterton is a short stumpy Roman Catholic priest with shapeless clothing a big umbrella and an uncanny insight into the criminal mind. Characteristically humble and usually rather quiet except to say something profound Father Brown relies more on intuition than deduction to solve mysteries. Unlike other writers of his time who concocted outlandish crimes and intricate puzzles for the protagonist to solve Chesterton pioneered the cozy mystery narrowing the scope of the investigation to limited time limited space and a limited number of suspects with all of the clues revealed to the reader as well as to the detective. Chesterton is highly regarded as a biting social commentator and his humorous and insightful comparisons leave readers reeling. The tales in this collection are short easy reads with strong plots all connected by the clever detective with an above-average understanding of human nature.