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The Wisdom of Father Brown

by G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936)

This is the second of five books of short stories about G. K. Chesterton’s fictional detective, first published in 1914. Father Brown is a short, nondescript Catholic Priest with shapeless clothes and a large umbrella who has an uncanny insight into human evil. His methods, unlike those of his near contemporary Sherlock Holmes, although based on observation of details often unnoticed by others, tended to be intuitive rather than deductive. Although clearly devout, he always emphasizes rationality: despite his religiousness and his belief in God and miracles, he manages to see the perfectly ordinary, natural explanation of the problem. He is a devout, educated and “civilized” clergyman, who is totally familiar with contemporary and secular thought and behavior. His character was thought to be based on Father John O’Connor (1870 - 1952), a parish priest in Bradford, Yorkshire. (Summary by Martin)

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