(1911) The Innocence of Father Brown vol. 1
THE BLUE CROSS
“A perfect dome of peacock green sunk into gold amid the blackening trees and deep purple distances. The brilliant green hue was just deep enough to make out a star or two in the tips of the crystal. All that was left of the daylight lay in a golden shimmer on the outskirts of Hampstead…”
In this first Father Brown story, Hampstead Heath on a stormy day is transformed by Chesterton's brilliant and sinister description of the sky, creating a surreal backdrop to this chase story. Chesterton had studied art at the Slade School of Art before turning to writing, and his vivid and detailed descriptions of the landscape in these stories show his keen artistic eye.
This story is unique among the Father Brown mysteries in that it does not follow the actions of the priest himself, who is here the pursued, but rather those of the French detective Valentin, the pursuer.
THE SECRET GARDEN
At a party, a decapitated body is found in a sealed garden – where is the murderer? A skillfully constructed crime that borders on the perfect work of art and in which the medium is blood, it is a tale in the tradition of the French grand guignol, set in Paris, with echoes of Edgar Allan Poe.
QUEER FEET
The Twelve True Fishermen's Club in this story would not have been notable for its eccentricity in early 1900s London, when clubs like The Travelers – whose membership requirements stipulated that members had to have traveled outside the islands British to travel to a given country. a distance of at least 500 miles from London in a straight line – actually existed. Chesterton was a clubbable man and a founding member of the Detective Club in 1929. In his novel The Club of Queer Trades, prospective members must devise a whole new way to make a living.
In this story, the club's ceremonial fish knives and forks are inexplicably stolen right under the noses of its members. Father Brown avoids a crime and perhaps saves a soul simply by listening to a few footsteps in a passage.
THE FLYING STARS
This story is set in a prosaic family home in Putney at Christmas, when the theft of valuable jewelry takes place while an elaborate masquerade or game of hide and seek is played. A Christmas Puzzle for Father Brown, in which Chesterton enjoys portraying leftist John Crook as a socialist (with "an aggressive red tie"). “A socialist,” Crook said, “means a man who wants all the chimneys swept and all the chimney sweeps to pay for it.” » — But who will not allow you, said the priest in a low voice, to possess your own soot. Chesterton himself had flirted with socialism in his youth, befriending George Bernard Shaw. He later changed his mind on this matter, but retained Shaw's friendship for the rest of his life. in fact, Shaw went so far as to describe Chesterton as a "colossal genius."
THE INVISIBLE MAN
In winter, the mundane suburb of Camden Town, north of London, is brought to life by the murder of an inventor by a seemingly invisible man. The body is found surrounded by the grotesque figures of the inventor's robots – were they somehow involved in the murder? This story shows Flambeau in his first outing as a reformed man, ironically practicing the profession of detective. The meek and insignificant Father Brown is there to help him.
THE HONOR OF ISRAEL GOW
Set in the Scottish wilderness at the gothic Glengyle Castle, this story might be based on an old party trick: how to connect a group of disconnected objects. In this case, these are snuff, steel springs, microscopic metal wheels, loose gemstones and unsupported candles. “Ten false philosophies will suit the universe; ten false theories will fit Glengyle Castle,” says Father Brown at the start of this “crime-free investigation”!
By GK Chesterton; read by David Timson
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