Showing results by author "G.K. Chesterton" in All Categories

The Definitive Detective Collection brings together the finest deductive minds in fiction. Join Edgar Allan Poe's Auguste Dupin as he invents the detective genre in the mid-1800s, and follow the logical clues to the most famous detective ever committed to paper, Sherlock Holmes, in Victorian London. Along the way you'll also meet Josephine Tey's formiddable Inspector Alan Grant, as-well as G. K. Chesterton's beloved Father Brown, as they solve crimes in wondorously inventive and ingenious ways.

If you were to meet a mild, hardworking little priest named Father Brown and were to ask him what he thought was the most singular luck of his life, he would probably reply that upon the whole his best stroke was at the Vernon Hotel, where he had averted a crime and, perhaps, saved a soul merely by listening to a few footsteps in a passage.

Der französische Polizeichef - Aristide Valentin persönlich - ist in London. Er verfolgt die Spur des großen Verbrechers Hercule Flambeau. Dieser hält sich in der Millionenstadt auf, um die Besucher eines Kirchenkongresses um Ihr Hab und Gut zu erleichtern, da ist sich Valentin sicher. Wer aber ist dieser einfältige Pater, der ihm im Zug begegnet, und sich anschließend äußerst merkwürdig verhält? Warum wirft er Suppenteller an die Wand, Obststände um und Fensterscheiben ein?

In a London of the future, the drudgery of capitalism and bureaucracy have worn the human spirit down to the point where it can barely stand. When a pint-sized clerk named Auberon Quinn is randomly selected as head of state, he decides to turn London into a medieval carnival for his own amusement. One man, Adam Wayne, takes the new order of things seriously, organizing a Notting Hill army to fight invaders from other neighborhoods. At first his project baffles everyone, but eventually his dedication proves infectious, with delightful results.

Chesterton introduces his shambling, moonfaced little priest-detective, with 12 tales of theft, murder, suicide, obsession, vendetta - and, sometimes, repentance and redemption. This volume includes classic stores such as "The Blue Cross", "The Queer Feet", "The Invisible Man", "The Honour of Israel Gow", "The Hammer of God", and "The Eye of Apollo".

A man has died. But there's really no mystery in that. His heart failed, that's all. But when Father Brown goes into a room to write down the man's final confession, he is distracted by the strange way in which someone is walking outside his door. From the gait of the queer feet, he deduces all.

A grisly collection of despicable crimes told by some of the world's best writers.

The Flying Stars are missing. Three brilliant diamonds, whose fame has spread throughout England, have been purloined during an innocent Christmas pantomime. Can Father Brown discover the culprit before the curtain falls?

Chesterton demonstrates his intense distrust of power and "progressives," railing against Prohibition, vegetarianism, theosophy, and other "dreary and oppressive" forces of modernity. In a spirited response to the government's attempt to curtail alcohol sales, Humphrey Pump (called Hump) a pub owner in the fishing village of Pebblewick takes to the road in a donkey cart. Accompanied by Captain Patrick Dalroy, a crimson-haired giant with a tendency to burst into song, Hump provisions the cart with a cask of good rum, a giant round of cheese, and the signpost from his pub, The Flying Inn.

"The Queer Feet" deals with Flambeau wanting to steal the silverware of the members of the Twelve True Fishermen having their annual club dinner at Vernon Hotel. The Vernon Hotel is an exclusive hotel and a "topsy-turvy product" (Chesterton 1994, p. 51).

"The Blue Cross" is a short story by G. K. Chesterton. It was the first Father Brown short story and also introduces the characters Flambeau and Valentin. It is unique among the Father Brown mysteries in that it does not follow the actions of the Father himself, but rather those of Valentin. It was first published on 23 July 1910, under the title "Valentin Follows a Curious Trail", in the Saturday Evening Post, Philadelphia. Re-titled as "The Blue Cross", publication in London followed, in The Story-Teller magazine of September 1910.

G. K. Chesterton (1874 - 1936) is best known for his fictional priest-detective, Father Brown. In "The Invisible Man", Father Brown is able to solve the mystery of the jilted lover who is able to track his beloved, threaten and attack his rival and yet is never seen by anybody, even those who are specifically on the look-out for him. Can it be that he really is invisible? And when he does manage to murder his rival, how does he make the body disappear too?

"The Tremendous Adventures of Major Brown" is a Story by G. K. Chesterton. First appeared in Harper's Weekly (December 19th 1903) While investigating a case of assault brought by Major Brown, Rupert Grant, the private detective, and his brother Basil stumble upon the Adventure and Romance Agency, Limited, an agency that creates adventures for its clients. The story is notable for prefiguring the concept of the alternate reality game.

"The Hammer of God," readers are surprised to learn from Father Brown that the murderer is not a violent madman but rather a very respected member of the community. The Reverend Wilfred Bohun could no longer stand the scandalous behavior of his alcoholic brother Norman, who blasphemed God and humiliated the Reverend Bohun in the eyes of his parishioners. Chesterton states that Wilfred and Norman Bohun belong to an old noble family whose descendants are now mostly "drunkards and dandy degenerates." Rumor has it that there has been "a whisper of insanity" in the Bohun family.

In a London of the future, the drudgery of capitalism and bureaucracy have worn the human spirit down to the point where it can barely stand. When a pint-sized clerk named Auberon Quinn is randomly selected as head of state, he decides to turn London into a medieval carnival for his own amusement. One man, Adam Wayne, takes the new order of things seriously, organizing a Notting Hill army to fight invaders from other neighborhoods. At first his project baffles everyone, but eventually his dedication proves infectious, with delightful results.

In a London of the future, the drudgery of capitalism and bureaucracy have worn the human spirit down to the point where it can barely stand. When a pint-sized clerk named Auberon Quinn is randomly selected as head of state, he decides to turn London into a medieval carnival for his own amusement. One man, Adam Wayne, takes the new order of things seriously, organizing a Notting Hill army to fight invaders from other neighborhoods. At first his project baffles everyone, but eventually his dedication proves infectious, with delightful results.

G.K. Chesterton is most notable for his creation of Father Brown. This unlooked for, and often unwelcome, detective is actually not a detective. But rather, an individual self-trained to think as criminals think, for he has heard so many of their confessions. He knows how their minds work, and can piece together many things that others cannot.

Isidore Smythe is in danger. He has received threating letters and he does not see a way out. John Angus offers Smythe his help and Smythe is escorted back to his flat. Angus is determined to find out who has sent the letters and he heads out to the former criminal Flambeau and the private detective Father Brown. Before he leaves Smythe’s apartment, he instructs four people to keep an eye on him. Yet when he comes back Smythe is missing and there's a bloodstain on the floor.

Short story The Blue Cross is Chesterton's first Father Brown mystery. It introduces the characters Flambeau and Valentin. It is unique among the Father Brown mysteries in that it does not follow the actions of the Father himself, but rather those of Valentin. Brown has been committing acts to draw the attention of the police (throwing soup, knocking over apples, smashing a window) and leaving an obvious trail for them to follow. Valentin takes this opportunity to emerge from hiding with the policemen and arrest Flambeau. Both Flambeau and Valentin bow to Father Brown's superior detective skills.

At first, The Man Who Was Thursday seems no more than a detective story that also has both poetry and politics, as well. But it soon becomes a mystery that grows more mysterious, until it is nothing less than the mystery of creation itself.