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Cover of The Incredulity of Father Brown

Mystery

The Incredulity of Father Brown

The third set of stories of a Catholic priest who is also an amateur detective.

First published
1926
Length
71,314 words
Reading time
About 4 hr 58 min
Language
English (UK)

About the book

Father Brown , full-time Catholic priest and part-time amateur detective, returns in this third collection of short stories.

Unlike the first two collections, this time Father Brown is investigating alone; his sidekick, the former criminal Flambeau, is nowhere to be seen. Father Brown has to solve a murder (including his own!) in each story, and since several also appear to involve the supernatural, he has ample opportunity to elaborate on his thoughts concerning it. As with the first two collections, Chesterton is often as concerned with the moral of the story as with the mystery itself.

Most of the stories were previously published in The Pall Mall Magazine , though one appeared in Cassell’s Magazine and another was written specifically for this collection.

First published 1926; the Read4Max reading text contains approximately 71,314 words arranged in 11 navigable sections.

About the author

G. K. Chesterton

G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) is described by Wikidata as English author and Christian apologist (1874–1936), with citizenship or national association recorded as United Kingdom.

Recorded occupations include journalist, poet, novelist, autobiographer, writer, and screenwriter. Languages recorded for G. K. Chesterton include English. Wikidata lists The Club of Queer Trades, The Man Who Was Thursday, Orthodoxy, The Everlasting Man, The Napoleon of Notting Hill, and Father Brown among G. K. Chesterton's notable works. Open Library identifies Robert Browning as a leading work in its author record. Open Library catalogs 37 works under this author record. The Read4Max catalog currently includes Heretics, Manalive, Orthodoxy, The Club of Queer Trades, The Everlasting Man, The Incredulity of Father Brown, and The Innocence of Father Brown under G. K. Chesterton's authorship.

Reading options

  • A complete text with direct section navigation in the browser reader.
  • A downloadable EPUB for phones, tablets, desktop reading apps, and compatible ereaders.
  • Book and contributor metadata are checked against the source edition before indexing.

Themes and ideas

  • England
  • Clergy
  • Detective and mystery stories, English
  • Catholics
  • Brown, Father (Fictitious character)

Table of contents

Open reader
  1. Dedication
  2. Preface
  3. The Incredulity of Father Brown
  4. The Resurrection of Father Brown
  5. The Arrow of Heaven
  6. The Oracle of the Dog
  7. The Miracle of Moon Crescent
  8. The Curse of the Golden Cross
  9. The Dagger with Wings
  10. The Doom of the Darnaways
  11. The Ghost of Gideon Wise