G K Chesterton

The Innocence of Father Brown G K Chesterton

Chesterton portrays Father Brown as a stumpy Roman Catholic priest, with shapeless clothes, a large umbrella, and an uncanny insight into human nature. His ability to uncover the truth behind the mystery continually surpasses that of the people around him, who are fooled by his unimpressive outward appearance. He explains his detective approach in these mystery stories as follows: "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."