Chesterton, GK - The Incredulity of Father Brown (1926)

Review by Nick Fuller

5/5

One of the best collections — and also the bloodiest. Out of eight short stories, seven involve murder (three of them more than one murder), and the other story, although involving no legal crime, presents the deadliest crime of all: the attempted murder of faith. The unifying theme of the collection is that Chesterton's Catholicism is very much a rational, intellectual religion; as Father Brown says, "the first effect of not believing in God is that you lose your common sense". Father Brown believes in very little in this collection: he does not believe in his own murder, he does not believe in the impossible flight of an arrow, he does not believe that a dog can prophesy his master's death and identify a murderer, and he does not believe in four stories told to him by various murderers. Faked legends, murdererd American millionaires, dubious mystics, artists, poets and storytellers as villains, abound — and it is much to Chesterton's credit that he makes each character and story different in tone, setting and plot, even when using the same ingredients.

The Resurrection of Father Brown

One of the most interesting stories, which features no legal crime, but rather attempts to destroy Christianity. Father Brown, acting as parish priest in a South America beset by "one of those fevers of atheist and almost anarchist Radicalism which periodically break out in countries of the Latin culture", becomes a major tourist attractoin. Although originally very funny, this soon develops into darkness, with Father Brown murdered at the very pinnacle of his fame. At his funeral, he rises from the dead, causing a public sensation among the inhabitants of the town. Yet, ironically, it is Father Brown himself who does not believe in his resurrection, stating that "miracles are not so cheap as all that". The story bears similarities to "The Duel of Dr. Hirsch" and "The Final Problem", at which Chesterton pokes fun, even using it as a clue.

The Arrow of Heaven

A straightforward murder puzzle: the millionaire Brandon Merton, owner of the cursed Coptic Cup, is found dead in a locked room, shot from outside by an arrow which could not have been shot from outside. In the style of John Dickson Carr, the little priest offers various false solutions, before propounding one that reverses "The Wrong Shape", and was reused in Agatha Christie's Death in the Clouds (1935).

The Oracle of the Dog

A classic tale, brilliant in its simplicity and straightforwardness. Colonel Druce is stabbed to death in a watched summerhouse with a dagger that cannot be found; at the same time, the dog howled while fetching sticks in play, and barked furiously at the Colonel's lawyer. While some believe the dog foretold the murder and recognised the murderer, Father Brown, acting as an armchair detective, does not believe in the so-called oracle, but sees it as a clue. He gives one of his best sermons, arguing that "the dog had everything to do with it, as you'd have found out if you'd only treated the dog as a dog, and not as God Almighty judging the souls of men". The other clues are superb, an intricately woven network of psychological and physical facts; the murderer's identity, revealed halfway through, is logical and inevitable; and the method, not disclosed until the end, is more than brilliant.

The Miracle of Moon Crescent

One of the very few Father Brown tales to be set in America, which is used in quite a surreal way. The characters and setting are straightforward, but the events are bizarre. Philanthropist Warren Wynd vanishes from a guarded and inaccessible room, and is found hanged in a tree. The motive is an interesting moral problem, and the solution is vintage Chesterton.

The Curse of the Golden Cross

Similar to "The Dagger with Wings" with its monomaniac desire to possess a relic, here a cross inscribed with a symbol from the arcana of the very earliest church; a second one is found in Sussex. Murder is, of course, committed, and Father Brown provides an ingenoius solution relying on impersonation. The emphasis on archaeology recalls both HC Bailey and Gladys Mitchell, while the menace from the past is handled in such a fashion as to recall M.R. James at his best.

The Dagger with Wings

One of the top five Father Brown stories, explaining why "Father Brown, at one period of his life, found it difficult to hang his hat on a hat-peg without repressing a slight shudder". The priest is asked by a friend to visit Arnold Aylmer, the third and last of three brothers, two of whom have already been murdered by their father's adopted son, John Strake, to diagnose whether Aylmer is mad or not, since Aylmer believes Strake to be both a murderer and a vampire. Everything about the story is perfect: although the story consists of little more than a conversation between Father Brown and Aylmer and one other event (which is why it would make a superb play), the atmosphere is remarkably tense, showing why Chesterton was such a fine story-teller. While the story is simple, the staggering solution shows Chesterton's inventiveness at its best, pulling rabbits out of a hat like a master magician, and devising brilliant illusions and equally brilliant clues with light and colour.

The Doom of the Darnaways

This classic contains Chesterton's parody on the Victorian melodrama. The accursed Darnaways, who are haunted by superstition, live in an old house sinking slowly into a swamp. They all fear that the new heir, returned from Australia, will murder his loved one, and commit suicide, but are bound by tradition. Father Brown stands for common sense and the Catholic belief in free will as opposed to predestination, arguing that "a man isn't fated to fall into the smallest venial sin, let alone into crimes like suicide and murder". Darnway does die, an apparent suicide, as the Doom foretold, but Father Brown, treating the Doom as clue rather than curse, is able to bring about a happy ending and apprehend a fine surprise villain.

The Ghost of Gideon Wise

Good, rather than excellent, and somewhat over-rated. Father Brown is in America (although there is less sense of America than in "The Arrow of Heaven" or "The Miracle of Moon Crescent"), and defends three Bolshevists, one of them an imminent convert, from charges of murdering three millionaires (à la "Arrow of Heaven", which also featured three millionaires and an identical plot twist). These ingredients enable Chesterton to denounce both Bolshevism and Capitalism (indeed, against everything except Distributism!). The alibi is clever, but lacks the brilliance of Chesterton's best tales.