The Scandal of Father Brown: 7 Unabridged Stories

Rating:
Summary: Some similarities to some of Chesterton's other stories
Review: Flambeau, Father Brown's great friend and sometime sidekick, appears in only one of the stories herein.

"The Scandal of Father Brown" - A beautiful (and married) rich woman has taken up with a distinguished poet - and Father Brown, rather than reacting as expected, appears to be providing active assistance.

"The Quick One" - Old John Raggley is a law unto himself - spending his life writing to newspapers in protest, drinking only cherry brandy because of the poor quality of all other drinks sold - but he died of poisoned brandy, all the same. Early in the story, Raggley insults a Moslem's religion to his face, when the man's teetotaler companion makes a nuisance of himself - and is overjoyed when the stranger takes him seriously, and throws a dagger at him. This closeness between enemies, when they respect each other for having principles even though they're opposites, is fleshed out more fully in Chesterton's novel _The Ball and the Cross_.

"The Blast of the Book" - Professor Openshaw, who devotes his time to investigating psychic phenomena, and thoroughly enjoys exposing fraudsters, is confronted with a singular incident resulting in the disappearance of his own clerk.

"The Green Man" - The Admiral, tricked out in his most elaborate formal uniform, is found drowned in a pond near his home.

"The Pursuit of Mr. Blue" - A private detective fails to prevent the murder of a millionaire, who's been pursued to a seaside resort. A police inspector recommends that he visit the renowned amateur, Father Brown, who sifts some interesting information from the detective's story of the pursuit. A racist epithet, thrown in casually while setting the opening scene, mars the story; the actual dismantling of the puzzle is handled cleverly.

"The Crime of the Communist" - Two philanthropists, invited to dinner at the university since they're about to endow a new chair of Applied Economics, are found poisoned in the garden after dinner - and the chief suspect is the chair of Political Economy.

"The Point of a Pin" - Father Brown, currently being awakened every morning by the start of work on a nearby construction site, is interested professionally because of a labour dispute brewing therein.

"The Insoluble Problem" - A case wherein Flambeau, in his respectable retirement from his first profession, is in pursuit of a team of jewel thieves, and brings in his old friend Father Brown.