The Innocence of Father Brown

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Father Brown is a fictional character created by English novelist G. K. Chesterton, who stars in 51 detective short stories (and two framing vignettes), most of which were later compiled in five books. Chesterton based the character on Father John O'Connor (1870–1952), a parish priest in Bradford who was involved in Chesterton's conversion to Catholicism in 1922. The relationship was recorded by O'Connor in his 1937 book Father Brown on Chesterton.

[Interpretations and criticism]

Father Brown was the perfect vehicle for conveying Chesterton's view of the world and, of all of his characters, is perhaps closest to Chesterton's own point of view, or at least the effect of his point of view. Father Brown solves his crimes through a strict reasoning process more concerned with spiritual and philosophic truths rather than scientific details, making him an almost equal counterbalance with Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, whose stories Chesterton read and admired. However, the Father Brown series commenced before Chesterton's own conversion to Catholicism.

[The Innocence of Father Brown]

1.The Blue Cross
2.The Secret Garden
3.The Queer Feet
4.The Flying Stars
5.The Invisible Man
6.The Honor of Israel Gow
7.The Wrong Shape
8.The Sins of Prince Saradine
9.The Hammer of God
10.The Eye of Apollo
11.The Sign of the Broken Sword
12.The Three Tools of Death