The Incredulity of Father Brown

Miss Marple Meets Scooby-Doo

The Incredulity of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton is a collection of short stories in which Father Brown reveals the identities of eight murderers, including his own.

Interesting as a slice of early 20th Century crime fiction, though far too preachy for my taste.

Synopsis

In the last story, “The Ghost of Gideon Wise”, three millionaire businessmen are killed in their homes. They had been plotting to destroy the “Bolshevik” trade unions, and the unionists fought back. Then one of the murdered men returns from the grave as a ghostly apparition. Was he ever dead, and what happened to his two co-conspirators? Father Brown uncovers the truth using flashes of intellect and a sound understanding of people’s desires and motivations.

Review

G.K. Chesterton based his character on his friend, Father John O’Connor. Whilst the two men were walking on Ilkley Moor, the priest disagreed with some of Chesterton’s charitable views of beggars. To make his point, he revealed some of the beggars’ less-than-saintly practices. Chesterton later wrote:

“A man who does next to nothing but hear men’s real sins is not likely to be wholly unaware of human evil.”

The beauty of Father Brown is his unassuming bearing, which hides his intellect and attentiveness. He is an easy man to underrate. As one critic put it, “his most conspicuous feature is his inconspicuousness“. Like Maigret, he solves crimes not by looking for clues but by observing human behaviour.

The plots, however, are a little formulaic and reminiscent of the Scooby-Doo stories of the 1970s. Strange mystical goings-on (curses, ghosts, resurrections from the dead) in out-of-the-way locations (castles and country estates) which, upon investigation, have nothing to do with the occult and everything to do with human greed.

Father Brown led the way in the cosy crime genre — which Miss Marple later dominated — so the collection is an interesting diversion but very moralistic.

Excerpt

Father Brown walked straight into the inner room.  No sound of greetings followed, but only a dead silence; and a moment after the priest reappeared in the doorway.

At the same moment the silent bodyguard sitting near the door moved suddenly; and it was as if a huge piece of furniture had come to life. It seemed as though something in the very attitude of the priest had been a signal; for his head was against the light from the inner window and his face was in shadow.

‘I suppose you will press that button,’ he said with a sort of sigh.

Wilton seemed to awake from his savage brooding with a bound and leapt up with a catch in his voice.

’There was no shot,’ he cried.

‘Well,’ said Father Brown, ‘it depends what you mean by a shot.’

The Incredulity of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton