Father Brown was G K Chesterton's most famous invention, the pudding-faced priest who solves crimes by using his knowledge of human evil and his ability to enter the mind of the criminal. First created in 1910, he was Chesterton's encapsulation of the atmosphere of that age, and his protest against its complacency and materialism. Later stories reflect the tensions preceding the Great War, the brittle sensationalism of the 1920s, and the ideological challenges of inter-war Europe. But the quiet Sussex priest inhabits his own world above all, a world of masterfully created characters and landscapes. His simplicity cuts through the complex and often bizarre puzzles which seem at first to defy all explanation. This edition presents 28 of the stories, chosen and introduced by their finest critic, W W Robson. His work brings together a lifetime's critical appreciation of Chesterton and includes the establishment of new texts for some of the stories. This book is intended for general readers; students from A-level upwards of short story and of early twentieth-century literature.