Chesterton, GK - The Secret of Father Brown (1927)

Review by Nick Fuller

5/5

The Mirror of the Magistrate

One of Chesterton's greatest stories, this is the story of the murder of the judge in his garden after returning from a legal dinner. Although the energetic police detecive James Bagshaw arrests the poet Osric Orm, Father Brown, who understands both the psychology of poets and the significance of the broken looking-glass (maestro!), unmasks the surprise villain, whose identity, as it should be, is both logical and utterly unexpected.

The Man with Two Beards

The motive for murder in this tale of robberies in Chisham is "possibly unique in human history" and quite ingenious, but the reader may wonder why the murderer did not merely use gloves rather than resorting to such excesses of black comedy.

The Song of the Flying Fish

An enjoyable but forgettable story about the theft of goldfish by a Chestertonian mystic.

The Actor and the Alibi

A story which ought to be better-known, for this tale of a theatre manager stabbed in his locked ofice while all the suspects are on stage together has a very clever alibi relying on The School for Scandal, and the story contains a villain unique in Chesterton's fiction.

The Vanishing of Vaudrey

One of Chesterton's most memorable and startling stories, the principal situation is the vanishing of Sir Arthur Vaudrey, whose body is found floating in the river: "the most horrible thing I ever saw in my life," remarks Father Brown, who, like Gabriel Gale, recognises the importance of seeing things upside down, and the curious significance of the tobacconist, before bringing to light a truly horrible revenge.

The Worst Crime in the World

Captain James Musgrave, son and heir of Sir John Musgrave, lord of a Northumbrian castle, has committed the worst crime in the world, "something so horrible that he has ceased to be — I will not say a gentleman — but even a human being". The plot is breath-taking in its audacious simplicity and ingenuity.

The Red Moon of Meru

A slight tale, in which a jewel is stolen at a fête, apparently by an Indian mystic, whom Father Brown denounces for his mysticism.

The Chief Mourner of Marne

A short story that vies with "The Sign of the Broken Sword" for the position of Chesterton's masterpiece. Father Brown, faced with the prospect of an anti-clerical newspaper campaign, is forced to investigate the true story of the last duel fought in Britain (on the west coast of Scotland) thirty years before. The solution is genuinely horrible, and there is a very palpable sense of evil and tragedy about the tale.