The Town of Odyssey

I’ve recommended this to people who have messaged me about books from time to time and it finally dawned on me that I should just post about it so I can recommend it to everyone at once. Because I believe every person should read this at least once, it works your mind in amazing ways.

The Father Brown mysteries by G.K Chesterton is the greatest mystery series I have ever read. The stories are so complex, yet simple, it’s incredible. And as I said the way of thinking it uses is marvelous. What’s also great is that they’re short stories, so it’s not a big ordeal to jump in and read one or two when you feel like it. And that adds to the testament of how great the writing is, that they can be such fantastic plots in so few words.

So yes, I highly recommend that everyone who likes reading mysteries or a good exercise in twisting your mind around check this series out.

If you want to get into them do be aware though that some of the stories can be a bit obscure at first read. The combination of Chesterton’s sophisticated writing style and the dated elements in some of the stories can make them confusing, but if you think it over it should clear up eventually.

Also of note is the fact that there is an order to read these in. It’s not extremely important, but it’s nice because there’s a little bit of character crossover between a few of the stories.
The easiest way to make sure you get them in order is to read from one of the complete compilations where all the stories are gathered into one book. They will be in order in those. Depending on the publisher it will be titled either The Father Brown Omnibus or The Complete Father Brown.
If you can’t find that then the order for reading the stories in their individual book collections is as follows:
The Innocence of Father Brown, The Wisdom of Father Brown, The Incredulity of Father Brown, The Secret of Father Brown, The Scandal of Father Brown

If anyone decides to check these out, or has already, please let me know what you think!

I have read all of Father Brown and agree with Bookworm. The stories draw you in and keep you guessing. You feel great though when you call it ahead of time. Great to read before bed.

I've read most of these (in fact, a collection of stories was required reading in my school curriculum). I remember them being quite good, though I agree they are a bit confusing at first. I think the stories with Flambeau (not sure how it's spelled) are the best. Especially the first story, the Blue Cross.

The moment I saw who they were by, you had my interest. I'll have to check these out.

I would likewise recommend these, though it has unfortunately been a number of years since I have read them.

I have always meant to read at least some of the Father Brown mysteries, and I think I even checked a book out from the library years ago with that in mind, but I never actually read any. My sister bought me an audio theatre CD set with several (three or four, I think) Father Brown mysteries, and they were pretty good. Since I haven't read the original stories, I can't say how accurate they were, but it seemed like the kind of thing that would have been quite close to the original.