The Incredulity of Father Brown

Eight short stories in which the unassuming Catholic priest, Father Brown, solves often very complex cases. His methods, however, are different from those of most detectives. As Karel Čapek wrote of this literary figure: “Finally, there is the mystical method of Father Brown, the Saint Francis among detectives. His confessional experience helps him to seek out and anticipate the wrong paths a man might take; but his detective sense is essentially different: it is his humility. The good and modest priest, out of sheer simplicity, lowers his eyes and gathers from the dust the small and unnoticed things that another, prouder and more worldly spirit would not deem worthy of attention. And lo, these discarded clues are mysterious ciphers from which the holy father, with God’s help and in a moment of grace, reads the terrible intentions or deeds of erring people.” The book was digitised from the translation by Staša Jílovská from the first half of the 20th century. Only minimal edits were made to the original text.