Father Brown - wikipedia Father Brown For other uses, see Father Brown ( disambiguation ). Father Brown First appearance The Blue Cross Created by G.K. Chesterton Portrayed by Walter Connolly Karl Swenson Alec Guinness Heinz Rühmann Josef Meinrad Kenneth More Leslie French Barnard Hughes Renato Rascel Andrew Sachs J.T. Turner Kevin O'Brien Mark Williams Information Gender Male Occupation Priest Nationality British Father Brown is a fictional Roman Catholic priest and amateur detective who is featured in 53 short stories published between 1910 and 1936 written by English novelist G.K. Chesterton. Father Brown solves mysteries and crimes using his intuition and keen understanding of human nature. Chesterton loosely based him on the Rt Rev. John Monsignor O'Connor ( 1870 -- 1952 ), a parish priest in Bradford, who was involved in Chesterton 's conversion to Catholicism in 1922. Contents 1 Character 2 Interpretations 3 After Chesterton 4 In other media 4.1 Film 4.2 Radio 4.3 Television 4.4 Manga 4.5 Audiobooks 4.6 Other references 5 Compilation books 6 Notes 7 Citations 8 Bibliography 9 External links Character Chesterton portrays Father Brown as a short, stumpy Roman Catholic priest, with shapeless clothes, a large umbrella, and an uncanny insight into human evil. In `` The Head of Caesar '' he is `` formerly priest of Cobhole in Essex, and now working in London ''. He makes his first appearance in the story `` The Blue Cross '' published in 1910 and continues to appear throughout forty - eight short stories in five volumes, with two more stories discovered and published posthumously, often assisted in his crime - solving by the reformed criminal M. Hercule Flambeau. Father Brown also appears in a third story -- making a total of fifty - one -- that did not appear in the five volumes published in Chesterton 's lifetime, `` The Donnington Affair '', which has a curious history. In the October 1914 issue of an obscure magazine, The Premier, Sir Max Pemberton published the first part of the story, then invited a number of detective story writers, including Chesterton, to use their talents to solve the mystery of the murder described. Chesterton and Father Brown 's solution followed in the November issue. The story was first reprinted in the Chesterton Review ( Winter ), 1981, pp. 1 -- 35 in the book Thirteen Detectives. Unlike the better - known fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, Father Brown 's methods tend to be intuitive rather than deductive. He explains his method in `` The Secret of Father Brown '' : `` You see, I had murdered them all myself... I had planned out each of the crimes very carefully. I had thought out exactly how a thing like that could be done, and in what style or state of mind a man could really do it. And when I was quite sure that I felt exactly like the murderer myself, of course I knew who he was. '' Brown 's abilities are also considerably shaped by his experience as a priest and confessor. In `` The Blue Cross '', when asked by Flambeau, who has been masquerading as a priest, how he knew of all sorts of criminal `` horrors, '' Father Brown responds : `` Has it never struck you that a man who does next to nothing but hear men 's real sins is not likely to be wholly unaware of human evil ? '' He also states how he knew Flambeau was not really a priest : `` You attacked reason. It 's bad theology. '' The stories normally contain a rational explanation of who the murderer was and how Brown worked it out. He always emphasises rationality ; some stories, such as `` The Miracle of Moon Crescent '', `` The Oracle of the Dog '', `` The Blast of the Book '' and `` The Dagger with Wings '', poke fun at initially sceptical characters who become convinced of a supernatural explanation for some strange occurrence, but Father Brown easily sees the perfectly ordinary, natural explanation. In fact, he seems to represent an ideal of a devout but considerably educated and `` civilised '' clergyman. That can be traced to the influence of Roman Catholic thought on Chesterton. Father Brown is characteristically humble and is usually rather quiet, except to say something profound. Although he tends to handle crimes with a steady, realistic approach, he believes in the supernatural as the greatest reason of all. Interpretations Father Brown was a vehicle for conveying Chesterton 's view of the world and, of all of his characters, is perhaps closest to Chesterton 's own point of view, or at least the effect of his point of view. Father Brown solves his crimes through a strict reasoning process more concerned with spiritual and philosophic truths than with scientific details, making him an almost equal counterbalance with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 's Sherlock Holmes, whose stories Chesterton read. However, the Father Brown series commenced before Chesterton 's own conversion to Roman Catholicism. In his Letters from Prison, the Italian Marxist theorist Antonio Gramsci made this partisan declaration of his preference : Father Brown is a Catholic who pokes fun at the mechanical thought processes of the Protestants and the book is basically an apologia of the Roman Church as against the Anglican Church. Sherlock Holmes is the ' Protestant ' detective who finds the end of the criminal skein by starting from the outside, relying on science, on experimental method, on induction. Father Brown is the Catholic priest who through the refined psychological experiences offered by confession and by the persistent activity of the fathers ' moral casuistry, though not neglecting science and experimentation, but relying especially on deduction and introspection, totally defeats Sherlock Holmes, makes him look like a pretentious little boy, shows up his narrowness and pettiness. Moreover, Chesterton is a great artist while Conan Doyle was a mediocre writer, even though he was knighted for literary merit ; thus in Chesterton there is a stylistic gap between the content, the detective story plot, and the form, and therefore a subtle irony with regard to the subject being dealt with, which renders these stories so delicious. After Chesterton Like Sherlock Holmes, Lord Peter Wimsey, and Nero Wolfe, tales featuring Chesterton 's priest detective continue to be created even after the original author 's death. John Peterson has written a further forty - four mysteries solved by the indomitable Father Brown. Peterson 's stories are set many decades after Chesterton 's and, in them, Father Brown is a still spry nonagenarian priest attached as associate pastor to St. Dominic 's Catholic parish in Bardo County someplace in the rural American Midwest. Peterson 's stories are shorter than Chesterton 's and, of course, in a much different style than Chesterton 's paradoxical, quirky, and alliterative English, but, in them Father Brown still offers his insights into the criminal mind, serving justice and offering mercy. In other Media Some of this section 's listed sources may not be reliable. Please help this article by looking for better, more reliable sources. Unreliable citations may be challenged or deleted. ( August 2014 ) Film Walter Connolly starred as the title character in the 1934 film Father Brown, Detective, based on `` The Blue Cross ''. Connolly would later be cast as another famous fictional detective, Nero Wolfe, in the 1937 film, The League of Frightened Men and played Charlie Chan on NBC radio from 1932 -- 38. The 1954 film Father Brown ( released in the US as The Detective ) featured Alec Guinness as Father Brown. Like the 1934 film starring Connolly, it was based on Chesterton 's first Brown short story, `` The Blue Cross ''. An experience while playing the character reportedly prompted Guinness 's own conversion to Roman Catholicism. Heinz Rühmann played Father Brown in two German adaptations of Chesterton 's stories, Das schwarze Schaf ( The Black Sheep, 1960 ) and Er kann 's nicht lassen ( He Ca n't Stop Doing It, 1962 ) with both music scores written by German composer Martin Böttcher. In these films Brown is an Irish priest. The actor later appeared in Operazione San Pietro ( also starring Edward G. Robinson, 1967 ) as Cardinal Brown, but the film is not based on any Chesterton story. Radio A Mutual Broadcasting System radio series, The Adventures of Father Brown ( 1945 ) featured Karl Swenson as Father Brown, Bill Griffis as Flambeau and Gretchen Douglas as Nora, the rectory housekeeper. In 1974, to celebrate the centenary of Chesterton 's birth, five Father Brown stories were broadcast on BBC Radio 4, starring Leslie French as Father Brown and Willie Rushton as Chesterton. BBC Radio 4 produced a series of Father Brown Stories from 1984 to 1986, starring Andrew Sachs as Father Brown. A series of 16 Chesterton stories was produced by the Colonial Radio Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts, actor and voice - over artist J.T. Turner played Father Brown ; all scripts were written by British radio dramatist M.J. Elliott. Imagination Theater added this series to their rotation with the broadcast of `` The Hammer of God '' on 5 May 2013. Television Josef Meinrad played Father Brown in an Austrian TV series ( 1966 -- 72 ), which followed Chesterton 's plots quite closely. In 1974, Kenneth More starred in a 13 - episode Father Brown TV series, each episode adapted from one of Chesterton 's short stories. The series, produced by Sir Lew Grade for Associated TeleVision, was shown in the United States as part of PBS 's Mystery !. They were released on DVD in the UK in 2003 by Acorn Media UK, and in the United States four years later by Acorn Media. A US film made for television, Sanctuary of Fear ( 1979 ), starred Barnard Hughes as an Americanized, modernised Father Brown in Manhattan, New York City. The film was intended as the pilot for a series but critical and audience reaction was unfavorable, largely due to the changes made to the character, and the mundane thriller plot. An Italian television miniseries in six episodes, `` I racconti di padre Brown '' ( The Tales of Father Brown ) starring Renato Rascel in the title role and Arnoldo Foà as Flambeau was produced and broadcast by the national TV RAI between December 1970 and February 1971 to a wide audience ( one episode peaked at 12 million viewers ). Ralph McInerny used Father Brown as the spiritual inspiration for his Father Dowling pilot script which launched The Father Dowling Mysteries, a television series that ran from 1987 -- 91 on US television. An anthology of the two detectives ' stories, titled Thou Shalt Not Kill : Father Brown, Father Dowling and Other Ecclesiastical Sleuths, was released in 1992. EWTN produced the Father Brown story `` The Honour of Israel Gow '' as an episode of the television series The Theater of the Word, which first aired in 2009, starring actor and Theater of the Word, Incorporated founder Kevin O'Brien and Frank C. Turner. A German television series superficially based on the character of Father Brown, Pfarrer Braun, was launched in 2003. Pfarrer Guido Braun, from Bavaria, played by Ottfried Fischer, solves murder cases in the ( fictitious ) island of Nordersand ( Northsea - island ) in the first two episodes. Later other German landscapes like the Harz, the Rhine or Meißen in Saxony became sets for the show. Martin Böttcher again wrote the score and he got the instruction by the producers to write a title theme hinting at the theme of the movies with Heinz Rühmann. Twenty - two episodes were made, which ran very successfully in Germany on ARD. The twenty - second episode, which was aired on 20 March 2014, concluded the series with the death of the protagonist. In 2012, the BBC commissioned the ten - episode series Father Brown starring British actor Mark Williams in the title role. It aired on BBC One beginning January 2013, Monday to Friday, over a two - week period in the afternoon. The era and location are moved to the Cotswolds of the early 1950s and used adaptations and original stories. Filming for the series began around the Cotswolds in Summer 2012. Further series ordered aired in 2014 ( ten episodes ), 2015 ( 15 episodes ), 2016 ( ten episodes ) and 2017 ( 15 episodes ). Manga Father Brown, as he appeared in volume 13 of Detective Conan Father Brown was highlighted in volume 13 of the Detective Conan manga 's edition of `` Gosho Aoyama 's Mystery Library '', a section of the graphic novels where the author introduces a different detective ( or occasionally, a villain ) from mystery literature, television, or other media. Audiobooks Ignatius Press published the audio book version of The Innocence of Father Brown in 2008. The book is read by actor and Theater of the Word, Incorporated founder Kevin O'Brien and features introductions to each story written and read by Dale Ahlquist, president of the American Chesterton Society. The book was a winner of the 2009 Foreword Audio Book Awards. Other references In Evelyn Waugh 's Brideshead Revisited, a quote from `` The Queer Feet '' is an important element of the structure and theme of the book. Father Brown speaks this line after catching a criminal, hearing his confession and letting him go : `` I caught him, with an unseen hook and an invisible line which is long enough to let him wander to the ends of the world, and still to bring him back with a twitch upon the thread. '' Book Three of Brideshead Revisited is called `` A Twitch Upon the Thread '' and the quotation acts as a metaphor for the operation of grace in the characters ' lives. They are free to wander the world according to their free will until they are ready and receptive to God 's grace, at which point he acts in their lives and effects a conversion. In the miniseries made by Granada Television adapting Brideshead, the character Lady Marchmain ( Claire Bloom ) reads this passage aloud. Compilation Books 1. The Innocence of Father Brown, 1911 `` The Blue Cross '', The Story - Teller, September 1910 ; first published as `` Valentin Follows a Curious Trail '', The Saturday Evening Post, 23 July 1910 `` The Secret Garden '', The Story - Teller, October 1910. ( The Saturday Evening Post, Sep 3, 1910 ) `` The Queer Feet '', The Story - Teller, November 1910. ( The Saturday Evening Post, Oct 1, 1910 ) `` The Flying Stars '', The Saturday Evening Post, 20 May 1911. `` The Invisible Man '', The Saturday Evening Post, 28 January 1911. ( Cassell 's Magazine, Feb 1911 ) `` The Honour of Israel Gow '' ( as `` The Strange Justice '', The Saturday Evening Post, 25 March 1911. `` The Wrong Shape '', The Saturday Evening Post, 10 December 1910. `` The Sins of Prince Saradine '', The Saturday Evening Post, 22 April 1911. `` The Hammer of God '' ( as `` The Bolt from the Blue '', The Saturday Evening Post, 5 November 1910. `` The Eye of Apollo '', The Saturday Evening Post, 25 February 1911. `` The Sign of the Broken Sword '', The Saturday Evening Post, 7 January 1911. `` The Three Tools of Death '', The Saturday Evening Post, 24 June 1911. 2. The Wisdom of Father Brown ( 1914 ) `` The Absence of Mr Glass '', McClure 's Magazine, November 1912. `` The Paradise of Thieves '', McClure 's Magazine, March 1913. `` The Duel of Dr Hirsch '' `` The Man in the Passage '', McClure 's Magazine, April 1913. `` The Mistake of the Machine '' `` The Head of Caesar '', The Pall Mall Magazine, June 1913. `` The Purple Wig '', The Pall Mall Magazine, May 1913. `` The Perishing of the Pendragons '', The Pall Mall Magazine, June 1914. `` The God of the Gongs '' `` The Salad of Colonel Cray '' `` The Strange Crime of John Boulnois '', McClure 's Magazine, February 1913. `` The Fairy Tale of Father Brown '' 3. The Incredulity of Father Brown ( 1926 ) `` The Resurrection of Father Brown '' `` The Arrow of Heaven '' ( Nash 's Pall Mall Magazine, Jul 1925 ) `` The Oracle of the Dog '' ( Nash 's ( PMM ), Dec 1923 ) `` The Miracle of Moon Crescent '' ( Nash 's ( PMM ), May 1924 ) `` The Curse of the Golden Cross '' ( Nash 's ( PMM ), May 1925 ) `` The Dagger with Wings '' ( Nash 's ( PMM ), Feb 1924 ) `` The Doom of the Darnaways '' ( Nash 's ( PMM ), Jun 1925 ) `` The Ghost of Gideon Wise '' ( Cassell 's Magazine, Apr 1926 ) 4. The Secret of Father Brown ( 1927 ) `` The Secret of Father Brown '' ( framing story ) `` The Mirror of the Magistrate '' `` The Man with Two Beards '' `` The Song of the Flying Fish '' `` The Actor and the Alibi '' `` The Vanishing of Vaudrey '' ( Harper 's Magazine, Oct 1925 ) `` The Worst Crime in the World '' `` The Red Moon of Meru '' `` The Chief Mourner of Marne '' ( Harper 's Magazine, May 1925 ) `` The Secret of Flambeau '' ( framing story ) 5. The Scandal of Father Brown ( 1935 ) `` The Scandal of Father Brown '', The Story - Teller, Nov 1933 `` The Quick One '', The Saturday Evening Post, Nov 25, 1933 `` The Blast of the Book / The Five Fugitives '' ( Liberty Aug 26, 1933 ) `` The Green Man '' ( Ladies Home Journal, November 1930 ) `` The Pursuit of Mr Blue '' `` The Crime of the Communist '' ( Collier 's Weekly, Jul 14, 1934 ) `` The Point of a Pin '' ( The Saturday Evening Post, Sep 17, 1932 ) `` The Insoluble Problem '' ( The Story - Teller, Mar 1935 ) `` The Vampire of the Village '' ( Strand Magazine, August 1936 ) ; included in later editions of The Scandal of Father Brown 6. Uncollected Stories ( 1914, 1936 ) `` The Donnington Affair '' ( The Premier, November 1914 ; written with Max Pemberton ) `` The Mask of Midas '' ( 1936 ) Most collections purporting to be The Complete Father Brown reprint the five compilations, but omit one or more of the uncollected stories. Penguin Classics ' 2012 edition ( ISBN 9780141193854 ) is the only truly complete one, including ' The Donnington Affair ', ' The Vampire of the Village ' and ' The Mask of Midas '. The Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton, vols. 12 and 13, reprint all the stories including the three not included in the five collections published during Chesterton 's lifetime. Notes Jump up ^ Chesterton also made 19 illustrations of the Sherlock Holmes stories, then not published and recently printed for the first time. Citations ^ Jump up to : Rosemary., Herbert, ( 2003 - 01 - 01 ). Whodunit ? : a who 's who in crime & mystery writing. Oxford University Press. p. 24. ISBN 0195157613. OCLC 252700230. Jump up ^ Chesterton, G.K ( 1987 ). Smith, Marie, ed. Thirteen Detectives. London : Xanadu. ISBN 0 - 947761 - 23 - 3. Jump up ^ LeRoy, Panek ( 1987 ), An Introduction to the Detective Story, Bowling Green : Bowling Green State Univ. Popular Press, pp. 105 -- 6. Jump up ^ G.K. Chesterton 's Sherlock Holmes, Baker Street Productions, 2003. Jump up ^ Gramsci, Antonio ( 2011 ), Letters from Prison, 1, Columbia University Press, p. 354, ISBN 978 - 0 - 231 - 07553 - 4. Jump up ^ Peterson, John ( 2011 ), The Return of Father Brown, ACS Books, ISBN 0 - 9744495 - 1 - 2. Jump up ^ Cox, Jim ( 2002 ), Radio Crime Fighters, Jefferson, NC : McFarland, p. 9, ISBN 0 - 7864 - 1390 - 5. Jump up ^ `` How Father Brown Led Sir Alec Guinness to the Church ''. Catholic culture. Retrieved 21 August 2014. Jump up ^ Sutcliffe, Tom ( 7 August 2000 ). `` Sir Alec Guinness obituary ''. The Guardian. London. Retrieved 28 February 2007. Jump up ^ Hail devil man ( 29 December 1967 ). `` Operazione San Pietro ( 1967 ) ''. IMDb. Jump up ^ Terrace, Vincent ( 1999 ). Radio Programs, 1924 -- 1984 : A Catalog of Over 1800 Shows. Jefferson, NC : McFarland. ISBN 0 - 7864 - 0351 - 9. Jump up ^ `` J.T. Turner ''. Retrieved 21 August 2014. Jump up ^ Chesterton, G. K, The Complete Father Brown Stories : Books 1 -- 7, Classics, Starbooks. Jump up ^ A Walter 1 ( 23 April 1979 ). `` Sanctuary of Fear ( TV Movie 1979 ) ''. IMDb. Jump up ^ `` Ralph McInerny ''. The Daily Telegraph. London. 18 February 2010. Jump up ^ `` EWTN ''. Retrieved 21 August 2014. Jump up ^ `` Theater of the Word, Inc. ( TV Series 2009 -- ) ''. IMDb. Jump up ^ `` Kevin O'Brien ''. IMDb. Jump up ^ `` Frank C. Turner ''. IMDb. Jump up ^ Eames, Tom ( 22 June 2012 ). `` ' Harry Potter ' Mark Williams cast in BBC drama ' Father Brown ' ''. Digital Spy. Retrieved 3 August 2012. Jump up ^ `` Ignatius Press ''. Retrieved 21 August 2014. Jump up ^ `` The word ''. Retrieved 21 August 2014. Jump up ^ `` Chesterton.org ''. Retrieved 21 August 2014. Jump up ^ `` Books of the year awards ''. Retrieved 21 August 2014. Bibliography Gardner, Martin, The Annotated Innocence of Father Brown, Oxford University Press, 1987, ISBN 0 - 19 - 217748 - 6 ( Notes by Gardner, on Chesterton 's stories ). External links Wikisource has original text related to this article : Father Brown Bibliowiki has original media or text related to this article : Father Brown Omnibus ( in the public domain in Canada ) The Complete Father Brown at eBooks@Adelaide G.K. Chesterton 's Works on the Web The Innocence of Father Brown at Project Gutenberg The Innocence of Father Brown 1911 First Edition at Open Library The Wisdom of Father Brown at Project Gutenberg The Wisdom of Father Brown 1914 First Edition at Open Library Review of UK DVD of the 1974 TV series Father Brown stories out of copyright in Australia Works by or about Father Brown in libraries ( WorldCat catalog ) Papers of Monsignor John O'Connor the model for Father Brown at the University of St. Michael 's College at the University of Toronto Works by G.K. Chesterton Bibliography Poetry The Ballad of the White Horse ( 1911 ) Lepanto ( 1911 ) The Rolling English Road ( 1913 ) A Ballade of Suicide ( 1915 ) Novels The Napoleon of Notting Hill ( 1904 ) The Man Who Was Thursday ( 1908 ) The Ball and the Cross ( 1909 ) Manalive ( 1912 ) The Flying Inn ( 1914 ) Short stories The Club of Queer Trades ( 1905 ) `` The Blue Cross '' ( 1910 ) `` The Hammer of God '' ( 1911 ) The Man Who Knew Too Much ( 1922 ) The Paradoxes of Mr. Pond ( 1936 ) Non-fiction Heretics ( 1905 ) Orthodoxy ( 1908 ) The New Jerusalem ( 1920 ) The Everlasting Man ( 1925 ) Adaptations Father Brown, Detective ( 1934 ) The Adventures of Father Brown ( 1945 ) Father Brown ( 1954 ) The Black Sheep ( 1960 ) Er kann 's nicht lassen ( 1962 ) Father Brown ( 1974 ) Pfarrer Braun ( 2003 -- 2014 ) Father Brown ( 2013 -- ) Others Father Brown The Chesterton Review Flambeau G.K. 's Weekly Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Father_Brown&oldid=805102832 '' Categories : Characters in British novels of the 20th century Fictional British people Fictional English people Fictional amateur detectives Fictional characters introduced in 1910 Fictional priests and priestesses G.K. Chesterton Locked room mysteries Hidden categories : EngvarB from August 2016 EngvarB from September 2013 Use dmy dates from August 2016 Articles lacking reliable references from August 2014 All articles lacking reliable references Articles with Wikilivres links Talk Contents About Wikipedia Wikiquote Català Deutsch Español Esperanto Français Hrvatski Italiano Lietuvių Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Polski Русский Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Svenska Українська 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 13 October 2017, at 02 : 08. About Wikipedia

Question: who wrote the 'father brown' crime stories
Answer: G. K. Chesterton