Father Brown: The Blue Cross

Today I couldn't resist myself and bought The Complete Father Brown Stories by G.K. Chesterton. I have been meaning to read up on Father Brown for a really long time now-- he is supposed to be the most famous detective after Sherlock Holmes. In fact, in most of the greatest mystery books's lists, you will not find a single Sherlock Holmes mystery, but you'll definitely find Father Brown.

Father Brown is not as dashing or energetic as the Robert Downey Jr. version, nor is he as striking a personality as the Granada versions's Jeremy Brett. (I'm not going to mention the BBC modern make-over version here, except that I just did.) Father Brown is one of those unassuming, ordinary-looking average men who are more than what they appear on the surface. He carries an umbrella, wears his monkish robes, fumbles and stammers (not sure about this one). He is a man of religion-- a priest sleuth-- though in the mystery genre, the detective is more often, a man of science. But as Father Brown will tell you, a detective need not be a man of religion OR science, but only of reason.

Anyways, the first story I read is The Blue Cross. And what struck me while reading was this little gem of a passage:

"The most incredible thing about miracles is that they happen. A few clouds in heaven do come together into the staring shape of one human eye. A tree does stand up in the landscape of a doubtful journey in the exact and elaborate shape of a note of interrogation. I have seen both these things myself within the last few days. Nelson does die in the instant of victory; and a man named Williams does quite accidentally murder a man named Williamson; it sounds like a sort of infanticide. In short, there is in life an element of elfin coincidence which people reckoning on the prosaic may perpetually miss. As it has been well expressed in the paradox of Poe, wisdom should reckon on the unforeseen."

I found the story to be a small miracle too. You can get it at Adelaide Books.

And here are some mystery-solving tips from Father Brown:

#1 When tailing a criminal, always leave behind a trail of clues for the police to follow.
#2 Always remember-- a thief loves to swap the original with a duplicate.

Stay tuned for more Father Brown!