Michael O'Brien's Reviews > The Complete Father Brown Stories

One of my favorite TV series is "Father Brown" so ably played as the lead character by actor Mark Williams and a stellar supporting cast. That spurred me to read the mysteries upon which the show's episodes are based, "The Father Brown Stories" by G. K. Chesterton

Father Brown and Sherlock Holmes both solve mysteries that to others are seemingly intractable to grasp. Yet, whilst Holmes extols and practices to highest level the art and science of deduction, I think that Father Brown is less logical but more intuitive. While none of the stories directly makes the linkage, Father Brown seems to gain his unique insights to the inner workings of the mind of the perpetrator from his experience as a priest and a confessor.

I have heard said in my own Orthodox faith tradition that, for priests who have been confessors for many years, there's nothing you can say to them in confession they've not likely heard before from someone else, no matter how deeply personal, shameful, or unflattering it may seem to you. I do think that to be true --- and with respect to his role as a Catholic priest, Brown seems to have insights to human nature from such experience such that he can see situations from a spiritual and psychological perspective escaping others involved in the mysteries.

To be honest, Chesterton has a writing style that I would characterize as typically Victorian --- he tends to be verbose and, as such, if reading too quickly, it can be possible to overlook seemingly minor details that loom larger and more importantly later in the story. Also, Chesterton often makes cultural and literary references that likely would have been understood by the well-educated reader of 100-120 years ago, but are obscure today [Note: to that end, Penguin Books has helpfully included footnotes for these at the back of the book such that the reader can read what is meant by them. Recommend using them for best results!] I don't much care for the writing style itself such that, for that reason, I docked this book a star.

Nevertheless, I love the underlying idea of a crimefighting priest -- who better to understand the inner workings variously of the mind of the righteous, the misunderstood, the criminal, and the penitent?

So, if you don't mind Chesterton's style of writing, like reading mysteries, and like seeing a detective protagonist like Sherlock Holmes -- but different --- than I recommend this book for you.