G. K. Chesterton

With his black hat, huge umbrella, unworldly simplicity and 'beaming but breathless geniality', Father Brown is one of fiction's best-loved amateur detectives. Short and tatty, but with the wisdom and insight to unravel the most wayward of criminal minds, he has entertained generations. In this collection of 13 full-cast dramatisations, the High Priest of detection becomes involved in seven intriguing cases that will tax even his mental powers to the limit.

Best known as the creator of clerical detective Father Brown, G. K. Chesterton was a prolific and talented writer in virtually every area of literature: from novels, poetry and short stories to plays, biographies and essays. A noted thinker, controversialist, raconteur and wit, he has influenced authors from Neil Gaiman to Jorge Luis Borges. This collection comprises his two most famous novels, The Man Who Was Thursday and The Napoleon of Notting Hill, as well as half a dozen tales from his short story collection, The Club of Queer Trades.

The Man Who Was Thursday - Poet turned Scotland Yard detective Gabriel Syme goes undercover in Edwardian London to investigate a secret society of anarchists - all of whom are named after days of the week... Read by Geoffrey Palmer.

The Club of Queer Trades - In these six full-cast comedy crime dramas, retired KC Basil Grant, his brother Rupert and friend Charlie Swinburne explore the extraordinary stories of people who earn their living by some novel and unusual means. Starring David Warner as Basil, Martin Freeman as Rupert and Geoffrey McGivern as Charlie.

The Napoleon of Notting Hill- Written in 1904, Chesterton's comic political satire is set in London 80 years on. The city is still full of horse-buses and hansom cabs, but democracy is dead, and the King is chosen by lottery. No one cares, because none of it matters - until the choice falls on Auberon Quin... This full-cast drama stars Roger Hammond as G. K. Chesterton and David Collings as Auberon Quin, with Kim Wall, Stuart Organ and Paul McGann.

Father Brown, the shrewd and modest clerical detective, encounters miracles, ghosts and prophets in this collection 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 ...

Six crime-solving adventures of a rather unconventional detective. Having accumulated wisdom and empathy from years of listening to the dark confessions of his parishioners, Father Brown is able to solve mysteries in a flash that confound all others.

Father Brown is an eccentric priest with his own particular ways of dealing with crime. This collection of stories, shows the quiet wit and compassion that has endeared him to many, whilst solving his mysteries by a mixture of imagination and a sympathetic worldliness.

In this charming and humorous collection, clerical detective Father Brown finds his skills put to the test, and becomes embroiled in a scandal of his own. From a murdered millionaire to a drowned admiral and an aged man who ends up poisoned, Father Brown confronts all manner of human nature, from passion to superstition, and unravels the truth every time.

There are a series of bizarre, sometimes dangerous mysteries that Father Brown must puzzle out. Some are simple whilst others are devious and chilling.