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The Innocence of Father Brown

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The Innocence of Father Brown

By: G. K. Chesterton
Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
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About this listen

Detective fans of all races and creeds, of all tastes and fancies will delight in the exploits of this wise and whimsical padre. Father Brown’s powers of detection allow him to sit beside the immortal Holmes, but he is also "in all senses a most pleasantly fascinating human being", according to American crime novelist Rufus King. You will be enchanted by the scandalously innocent man of the cloth, with his handy umbrella, who exhibits such uncanny insight into ingeniously tricky human problems.

This collection of 12 mysteries solved by Father Brown includes: "The Blue Cross", "The Secret Garden", "The Queer Feet", "The Flying Stars", "The Invisible Man", "The Honour of Israel Gow", "The Wrong Shape", "The Sins of Prince Saradine", "The Hammer of God", "The Eye of Apollo", "The Sign of the Broken Sword", and "The Three Tools of Death".

©1933 G. K. Chesterton (P)1992 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Anthologies & Short Stories Detective Mystery Traditional Detectives Fiction Classic Fiction Mysteries

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Critic reviews

“G. K. Chesterton’s tales [are] of the unassuming Catholic priest who claims that his work at the confessional (where he has to do ‘next to nothing but hear men’s real sins’) puts him in an excellent position to solve the bizarre crimes that come his way in pre–First World War England…. The unassuming cleric, whose humble conviction that his God will eventually triumph over the souls of even the most evil of criminals, is the quiet but insistent heartbeat of these unusual exercises in detective fiction.” ( Sunday Times, London)
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excellent stories, excellent narrator , so good that ivejust downloaded the next by this narrator

very very good

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I quite enjoyed this book but maybe prefer the tv series it was entertaining intriguing and I enjoyed the fact that insight guess the ending which has a good twist

Intriguing murder mystery quite entertaining

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While I love the writing of GK Chesterton, the narrator's voice became grating fairly quickly

Conflicted...

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murder mystery needs some build up xx this just not my thing xx
very well read though xx

short stories chapter each , not the best

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I saw that GK Chesterton’s use of language and the approach of the narrator were a bit much for at least one reviewer. I found the writing and the narration to be a perfect match. This was written more than 100 years ago and it reminds me of Three Men In A Boat, which I loved as a teenager and still do at 68 going on 69. I’m tempted to watch Father Brown on TV, knowing the series might not live up to the high standard set by this audiobook. Then again the TV production might be even better :)

Excellent entertainment!

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Having recently seen the BBC adaption of Fr Brown 2013 I thought I would give the original stories a listen; I was under no illusion that the TV version would be the same as the author had intended. That said I was a little disappointed. The stories do ramble a little and are constructed in an outdated and wordy form of speech which can take some getting used to. It's only to be expected when you consider the date of publication. I personally didn't find the narrator easy to listen to, that's just my little foible. I would be interested if the Beeb did an audible dramatization. Until such a time, I'll not bother with the other books in the series.

Just OK. Not super keen on the narrators voice.

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Disappointed with performance not how I hear Father Brown speak. Some stories better than others

Disappointed

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I love these stories.
The narration and the stories took a while to get used to but they are well worth it. There’s a depth to G. K. Chesterton’s narrative, that for me took time to hear, which you don’t easily find elsewhere. The narrator met the level of the story very well.

Worthwhile persevering

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Some of the short stories are intriguing, while others felt a bit ho-hum. I enjoyed getting to know Flambau, and the stories with really unexpected endings, but there are also a few that's just a clever explanation of scene that was created.

Maybe I'm not a "who dunnit" fan

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I have to say I came to these stories imagining a conservative, mildly entertaining listen. My expectations were immediately undermined by the structure of the first story, which is quite odd and unexpected. Each story has a crime and solution, and they are all held together by the self-depricating Father Brown, whose ability to understand the darker sides of human nature is formed more through is own friendship with criminals than insight from God. Themes and another main character, whom again unexpectedly evolves through the stories, give the whole book a satisfyingly complete feeling. Father Brown, the character, can be quite irritating (though I have a feeling this may be intentional on Chesterton's part), but there is a strand of humour and a lightness to the stories, despite their surprisingly brutal crimes. There is an odd clash of conservatism and liberalism in the stories which I found intriguing. It took me a while to get used to Frederick Davidson's voice (which some may find an acquired taste) but I soon came to really enjoy his reading, and especially enjoyed his use of voices for different characters. If you are new to Father Brown, like me, I really hope you enjoy this book. I am certainly going to listen to or read more.

Intriguing

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