Showing results by author "G.K. Chesterton" in All Categories

The Napoleon of Notting Hill is a satirical novel blending humor, adventure, and political philosophy. When London’s boroughs are thrown into medieval-style warfare, a seemingly ordinary man becomes a revolutionary leader. A witty and thought-provoking tale of power, pride, and the absurdity of nationalism.

This book is meant to be a companion to "Heretics," and to put the positive side in addition to the negative. Many critics complained of the book because it merely criticised current philosophies without offering any alternative philosophy. This book is an attempt to answer the challenge. It is the purpose of the writer to attempt an explanation, not of whether the Christian Faith can be believed, but of how he personally has come to believe it. The book is therefore arranged upon the positive principle of a riddle and its answer.

A short story from the British Library Crime Classic collection The Edinburgh Mystery. Father Brown joins his friend, amateur detective Flambeau, at Glengyle Castle in Scotland to investigate the mysterious death of the earl, and the mysterious behaviour of his servant, Israel Gow.

Aristide Valentin holds a dinner party in his secret garden, which only has one main entrance. Many people are invited. Julius K. Brayne, one of Valentin’s rivals, is of the party as well. Everything goes as planned until one group of guests finds a beheaded corpse and the dinner turns into an investigation. Many questions begin to arise: How could someone be killed in a closed back garden without anyone noticing? Who is the victim? Who is the murderer? Where is the head? Find out the answers in "The Secret Garden". B. J.

It is the day after Christmas. Colonel Adams and his daughter are throwing a party. The neighbor, the girl’s uncle, her godfather and the local priest Father Brown are invited. The uncle comes up with a plan: they are going to arrange a masquerade play with costumes. It seems like a very good idea, until the three diamonds the girl’s godfather had brought her as a gift disappeared from his pocket. Luckily Father Brown is there and he will try to solve this case as quickly as possible.

The Twelve True Fishermen are going on their annual dinner at an exclusive club where fifteen waiters are going to serve the guests. The fishermen are refined and insist on using their own ornate silver knives and forks, which are shaped like fish and have a pearl in the handles. The dinner goes as planned until the silver cutlery disappears. Have some of the waiters stolen it? Father Brown will find out. B. J. Harrison started his Classic Tales Podcast back in 2007, wanting to breathe new life into classic stories.

Father Brown, an amateur detective, takes up his first case ever. He has to find the infamous criminal Flambeau. The task is however very difficult because Flambeau is a master of disguise and nobody knows what he really looks like. The detective finds out that Flambeau is planning to head out to an international conference in London, most probably intending to steal some religious articles. So Father Brown decides to cross Flambeau’s path. What the detective had not expected is a police inspector from Paris to be crossing his path.

Isidore Smythe is in danger. He has received threating letters and he does not see a way out. John Angus offers Smythe his help and Smythe is escorted back to his flat. Angus is determined to find out who has sent the letters and he heads out to the former criminal Flambeau and the private detective Father Brown. Before he leaves Smythe’s apartment, he instructs four people to keep an eye on him. Yet when he comes back Smythe is missing and there's a bloodstain on the floor.

"The Man Who Knew Too Much" tells the story of Horne Fisher and the burden he had to carry throughout his whole life. He knew too much about politicians and aristocracy, about corruption and covered crimes. The prime minister of England was a friend of his father, the foreign minister married his sister. Without even intending to, he found out many things about the private life of politicians, which is very different from what is presented to the people. The question is, what is Fisher going to do with all this information? B. J.

"The Noticeable Conduct of Professor Chadd" is a Story by G. K. Chesterton. First appeared in Harper's Weekly (June 25 1904). Basil Grant finds out why Professor Chadd insists on dancing. Basil Grant had comparatively few friends besides myself; yet he was the reverse of an unsociable man. He would talk to any one anywhere, and talk not only well but with perfectly genuine concern and enthusiasm for that person's affairs.

"The Singular Speculation of the House-Agent" is a Story by G. K. Chesterton. First appeared in Harper's Weekly (June 11 and 18, 1904). Basil Grant investigates the mystery of Lieutenant Keith, whose house, "The Elms", Buxton Common, cannot be found.

"The Eccentric Seclusion of the Old Lady" is a Story by G. K. Chesterton. First appeared in Harper's Weekly (July 9 & 16, 1904). Rupert Grant rescues a lady from her kidnappers but cannot understand why she refuses to be rescued. The answer leads to the final unveiling of the mystery of The Club of Queer Trades.

"The Awful Reason of the Vicar's Visit" is a Story by G. K. Chesterton. First appeared in Harper's Weekly (May 28 & June 4, 1904) "Cherub" Swinburne is asked to investigate the mysterious assault on the Vicar of Chuntsey (in Essex). It is a mystery when a distressed reverend begins his tale of a monstrous outrage committed against him.

The Club of Queer Trades is a collection of stories by G. K. Chesterton first published in 1905. Each story in the collection is centered on a person who is making his living by some novel and extraordinary means (a "queer trade", using the word "queer" in the sense of "peculiar"). To gain admittance one must have invented a unique means of earning a living and the subsequent trade being the main source of income.

"The Painful Fall of a Great Reputation" is a Story by G. K. Chesterton. Basil Grant investigates Wimpole, the great raconteur.: Basil Grant and I were talking one day in what is perhaps the most perfect place for talking on earth - the top of a tolerably deserted tram-car. To talk on the top of a hill is superb, but to talk on the top of a flying hill is a fairy tale.

"The Tremendous Adventures of Major Brown" is a Story by G. K. Chesterton. First appeared in Harper's Weekly (December 19th 1903) While investigating a case of assault brought by Major Brown, Rupert Grant, the private detective, and his brother Basil stumble upon the Adventure and Romance Agency, Limited, an agency that creates adventures for its clients. The story is notable for prefiguring the concept of the alternate reality game.

The shadow of Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes would inevitably fall across much of the crime fiction that followed that most famous of detectives. However, in 1910, G.K Chesterton's unassuming, devout, and unprepossessing Father Brown made his first appearance and proved no less of a fascinating figure who would stands firmly on his own two ecclesiastical feet. Head Stories presents the first in a series of the complete Father Brown, read by Simon Hester with original music.

This brief, but quite remarkable, look at the life and work of Tolstoy includes a critical analysis of his novels, as well as his ethical philosophy. Includes a judicious selection of photographs....

This collection of short essays by G.K. Chesterton is as applicable in 2020 as it was when it was written in 1923 during the first "Progressive Era". He saves his most subtle and cutting humor for commentary to skewer his favorite targets: feminists, vegetarians, modernists, journalists, social reformers, psychologists, and "sophisticated" people in general.

Ecco come Gilbert Keith Chesterton descrive il fortunato personaggio letterario uscito dalla sua penna: ''La prima caratteristica di Padre Brown è di non avere caratteristiche; la sua importanza, di non apparire importante; e che la sua qualità cospicua quella di non essere cospicuo, e il suo ordinarissimo esterno vuole essere in contrasto con la sua attenzione e la sua intelligenza insospettate. Non è trasandato, ma piuttosto accurato; non è impacciato, ma molto delicato ed accorto".