G.K. Chesterton

Gilbert Keith Chesterton

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Born: 29 May 1874, London

Died: 14 June 1936 Beaconsfield, UK

Profession: Journalist

Detective: Father Brown

Brilliant and brilliantly written, Chesterton’s detective short stories are in a class of their own. In each tale, he turns the situation upside down, surprising the reader, while making a philosophical or intellectual point.

Father Brown, the little priest from Cobhole, Essex, is one of the best-loved detectives in fiction, seemingly mild and harmless, but his absent-minded gaze conceals an intensity of purpose.

Chesterton was one of the most influential detective writers.  He is the head of the Intuitionist school that includes Agatha Christie and John Dickson Carr, who modelled his impossible crimes and detective on Chesterton.

Works

  1. The Club of Queer Trades (1905; short stories)
  2. The Man Who Was Thursday (1908) *****
  3. The Innocence of Father Brown (1911; short stories)
  4. The Wisdom of Father Brown (1914; short stories)
  5. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1922; short stories)
  6. The Incredulity of Father Brown (1926; short stories)
  7. The Secret of Father Brown (1927; short stories)
  8. The Poet and the Lunatics (1929; short stories)
  9. Four Faultless Felons (1930; short stories)
  10. The Scandal of Father Brown (1935; short stories)
  11. The Paradoxes of Mr. Pond (1937; short stories)