Classic Radio Crime

Father Brown: Collected Cases

Five full-cast BBC Radio dramatisations of short stories by GK Chesterton, starring Leslie French as Father Brown and Willie Rushton as Chesterton. 
 
Short, shabby and unassuming, Roman Catholic priest Father Brown is an unlikely investigator. But his keen mind and understanding of human nature enable him to solve cases featuring a master criminal and a precious silver relic; a theft at an exclusive hotel; a strange tower and an even stranger story; black magic – and white magic; and a murdered judge. 
 
Created in 1910, Father Brown inhabited the pages of over fifty short stories before appearing in adaptations for film, radio, theatre and television, including his recent incarnation in the hit BBC TV series starring Mark Williams in the title role. 
 
The stories in this collection are The Blue Cross (08/05/1974); The Queer Feet (05/06/1974); The Perishing of the Pendragons (26/06/1974); The Dagger with Wings (10/07/1974) and The Mirror of the Magistrate (31/07/1974). Leslie French stars as Father Brown, with Willie Rushton as GK Chesterton and Francis de Wolff as Flambeau. 
 
Classic Radio Crime: presenting vintage detectives for your investigation! 
 
Duration: 3 hours 45 mins approx.

From 1974, five full-cast dramatisations of the short stories by GK Chesterton.

GK Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936) was an English writer, poet, philosopher, dramatist, journalist, orator, lay theologian, biographer, and literary and art critic. Time magazine has observed of his writing style: "Whenever possible Chesterton made his points with popular sayings, proverbs, allegories—first carefully turning them inside out." Chesterton is well known for his fictional priest-detective Father Brown, and for his reasoned apologetics.

The Innocence of Father Brown

With his round face, pipe and umbrella, the shambling, bespectacled priest Father Brown is an unlikely detective - yet his innocent air hides a razor-sharp understanding of the criminal mind. As this first volume of his adventures shows, the wise, worldly clerical sleuth has an uncanny ability to bring even the most elusive wrongdoer to justice.

This is the first volume of Chesterton's brilliant, ingenious Father Brown stories. Ahead of a new series of the popular BBC adaptation starring Mark Williams, all five of the original Father Brown books have been republished with charming and collectible Penguin covers. 
 
With his round face, pipe and umbrella, the shambling, bespectacled priest Father Brown is an unlikely detective - yet his innocent air hides a razor-sharp understanding of the criminal mind. As this first volume of his adventures shows, the wise, worldly clerical sleuth has an uncanny ability to bring even the most elusive wrongdoer to justice. 
 
G. K. Chesterton was born in 1874. He attended the Slade School of Art, where he appears to have suffered a nervous breakdown, before turning his hand to journalism. A prolific writer throughout his life, his best- known books include The Napoleon of Notting Hill (1904), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1922), The Man Who Was Thursday (1908) and the Father Brown stories. Chesterton converted to Roman Catholicism in 1922 and died in 1938.

Chesterton knew how to make the most of a detective story

G. K. Chesterton was born in 1874. He attended the Slade School of Art, where he appears to have suffered a nervous breakdown, before turning his hand to journalism. A prolific writer throughout his life, his best- known books include The Napoleon of Notting Hill (1904), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1922), The Man Who Was Thursday (1908) and the Father Brown stories. Chesterton converted to Roman Catholicism in 1922 and died in 1938.

The Wisdom of Father Brown

The ingenious amateur detective Father Brown is put to the test again in this second collection of stories, which sees him solve cases featuring bandits, traitors, voodoo and murder, wrong-footing his opponents at every turn with his characteristic blend of mischievous humour and uncanny understanding of human foibles.

The second volume of stories featuring the most unlikely detective in literature - now the basis for a major BBC TV adaptation starring Mark Williams. 
 
The ingenious amateur detective Father Brown is put to the test again in this second collection of stories, which sees him solve cases featuring bandits, traitors, voodoo and murder, wrong-footing his opponents at every turn with his characteristic blend of mischievous humour and uncanny understanding of human foibles. 
 
G. K. Chesterton was born in 1874. He attended the Slade School of Art, where he appears to have suffered a nervous breakdown, before turning his hand to journalism. A prolific writer throughout his life, his best- known books include The Napoleon of Notting Hill (1904), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1922), The Man Who Was Thursday (1908) and the Father Brown stories. Chesterton converted to Roman Catholicism in 1922 and died in 1938.

The Incredulity of Father Brown

'That sort of thing may be very well for crypts and cloisters and all sorts of moonshiny places. But ghosts can't get through a closed door in an American hotel.' 
 
Father Brown, the shrewd and modest clerical detective, encounters miracles, ghosts and prophets in this third volume of ingeniously plotted tales. From South America to New York, his keen observation and quiet wisdom are a match for any mystery - even when he finds himself missing, presumed dead, in his own coffin ...

The third volume of stories featuring the cunning clerical sleuth Father Brown. Ahead of a new series of the popular BBC adaptation starring Mark Williams, all five of Chesterton's original Father Brown books have been republished with charming and collectible Penguin covers. 
 
'That sort of thing may be very well for crypts and cloisters and all sorts of moonshiny places. But ghosts can't get through a closed door in an American hotel.' 
 
Father Brown, the shrewd and modest clerical detective, encounters miracles, ghosts and prophets in this third volume of ingeniously plotted tales. From South America to New York, his keen observation and quiet wisdom are a match for any mystery - even when he finds himself missing, presumed dead, in his own coffin ... 
 
G. K. Chesterton was born in 1874. He attended the Slade School of Art, where he appears to have suffered a nervous breakdown, before turning his hand to journalism. A prolific writer throughout his life, his best- known books include The Napoleon of Notting Hill (1904), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1922), The Man Who Was Thursday (1908) and the Father Brown stories. Chesterton converted to Roman Catholicism in 1922 and died in 1938. 
 
'Chesterton knew how to make the most of a detective story' Jorge Luis Borges

The Secret of Father Brown

'You see, I had murdered them all myself ... 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.' 
 
Unassuming super-sleuth Father Brown has such brilliant powers of deduction that he knows more about crime than the criminals themselves. In this fourth volume of stories, the shabby priest unravels the most baffling conundrums involving, among others, a flying fish, a man with two beards and the Worst Crime in the World.

The fourth collection of Father Brown stories featuring the ingenious amateur detective. Ahead of a new series of the popular BBC adaptation starring Mark Williams, all five of Chesterton's original Father Brown books have been republished with charming and collectible Penguin covers. 
 
'You see, I had murdered them all myself ... 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.' 
 
Unassuming super-sleuth Father Brown has such brilliant powers of deduction that he knows more about crime than the criminals themselves. In this fourth volume of stories, the shabby priest unravels the most baffling conundrums involving, among others, a flying fish, a man with two beards and the Worst Crime in the World. 
 
G. K. Chesterton was born in 1874. He attended the Slade School of Art, where he appears to have suffered a nervous breakdown, before turning his hand to journalism. A prolific writer throughout his life, his best- known books include The Napoleon of Notting Hill (1904), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1922), The Man Who Was Thursday (1908) and the Father Brown stories. Chesterton converted to Roman Catholicism in 1922 and died in 1938. 
 
'Chesterton knew how to make the most of a detective story' Jorge Luis Borges

The Scandal of Father Brown

'It would not be fair to record the adventures of Father Brown, without admitting that he was once involved in a grave scandal...It happened in a picturesque Mexican road-house of rather loose repute...' 
 
After many years in the priesthood, Father Brown knows human nature and is not afraid of its dark side. In this fifth and final series of mysteries, the clerical mastermind confronts slander, passion, radical politics, superstition, high crimes and misdemeanours, outwitting some quite extraordinary and villainous adversaries on the way.

'It would not be fair to record the adventures of Father Brown, without admitting that he was once involved in a grave scandal...It happened in a picturesque Mexican road-house of rather loose repute...' 
 
After many years in the priesthood, Father Brown knows human nature and is not afraid of its dark side. In this fifth and final series of mysteries, the clerical mastermind confronts slander, passion, radical politics, superstition, high crimes and misdemeanours, outwitting some quite extraordinary and villainous adversaries on the way. 
 
G. K. Chesterton was born in 1874. He attended the Slade School of Art, where he appears to have suffered a nervous breakdown, before turning his hand to journalism. A prolific writer throughout his life, his best- known books include The Napoleon of Notting Hill (1904), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1922), The Man Who Was Thursday (1908) and the Father Brown stories. Chesterton converted to Roman Catholicism in 1922 and died in 1938. 
 
'Chesterton knew how to make the most of a detective story' Jorge Luis Borges

G K Chesterton

A new selection of the much-loved Father Brown stories, now part of the Penguin English Library 
 
'No man's really any good till he knows how bad he is, or might be' 
 
Shabby and lumbering, with a face like a Norfolk dumpling, Father Brown makes for an improbable super-sleuth. But his innocence is the secret of his success: refusing the scientific method of detection, he adopts instead an approach of simple sympathy, interpreting each crime as a work of art, and each criminal as a man no worse than himself. 
 
With a beautiful new cover design by award-winning designer Coralie Bickford-Smith and presented in the delightful Penguin English Library series, this new selection brings together the very best of the Father Brown stories, inviting new readers to discover one of the most unforgettable characters in literature.

G K Chesterton

Father Brown Selected Stories

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