The Strange Crime of John Boulnois

Apr 28, 2025 8:54 PM

Author:G K Chesterton

The colossus of crime leaned over to the little rustic priest with a sort of sudden interest.

'You have heard of it?' he asked. 'Where have you heard of it?'

'Well, I mustn't tell you his name, of course,' said the little man simply. 'He was a penitent, you know. He had lived prosperously for about twenty years entirely on duplicate brown-paper parcels. And so, you see, when I began to suspect you, I thought of this poor chap's way of doing it at once.'

'Began to suspect me?' repeated the outlaw with increased intensity. 'Did you really have the gumption to suspect me just because I brought you up to this bare part of the heath?'

'No, no,' said Brown with an air of apology. 'You see, I suspected you when we first met. It's that little bulge up the sleeve where you people have the spiked bracelet.'

'How in Tartarus,' cried Flambeau, 'did you ever hear of the spiked bracelet?'

'Oh, one's little flock, you know!' said Father Brown, arching his eyebrows rather blankly.

One of detective fiction's most idiosyncratic and best-loved characters, G. K. Chesterton's Father Brown is both a diminutive, genial clergyman and a master sleuth. In these two stories involving the ingenious, unobtrusive priest, a murdered man denounces his killer with his dying breaths, and a brilliant French inspector follows a trail of gentil carnage across London.

This book includes The Strange Crime of John Boulnois and The Blue Cross.

Reviews

Andrew Porter's fiction is thoughtful, lucid and highly controlled . . . He has the kind of voice one can accept as universal - honest and grave, with transparency as its adornment

—— Marilynne Robinson

An exquisite collection. . . [With] hard-won grit and imagination to spare

—— Time Out New York

A true master of the short story, a writer of honesty and plainspoken poetry who knows the human soul in all its light and shadow and harnesses every sentence to the purpose of revealing it

—— Kevin Brockmeier

Luminous . . . Porter's writing [is] in direct dialogue with the work of John Cheever and Raymond Carver . . . A memorable debut that honors the history of the short story form while blazing a new trajectory all its own

—— Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The brilliance of the conceits and the complex economy that shapes the best of these tales, match and surpass any of Helen Simpson's earlier writing

—— Stevie Davies , Guardian

Together with the biting humour, there is aching sadness and real tenderness, making this collection up there with the best of this genre

—— Michelle Stanistreet , Sunday Express

Constitutional is Helen Simpson fourth collection of short stories and shows some fine developments in one of the Short Story forms more accomplished practitioners

—— Helen Simpson , NB

A writer of dizzying ambition and variety, each of his stories is a fresh adventure into the possibilities of fiction

—— Guardian

Rose Tremain is a prolific and much lauded writer but here she is at her best

—— Rebecca Newman , Daily Telegraph

Painful moments of self-revelation are expertly drawn

—— Sunday Herald

Striking collection of stories

—— Sunday Telegraph

As you would expect, the stories in this collection involve a certain amount of cultural tourism to the lower depths, undertaken with black humour... Welsh's relish for degradation covers up a strong sentimental streak

—— Victor Sebestyen , Sunday Times

Welsh's transcription of Scots dialect is brilliant... Welsh also has a fabulous sense of the absurd... The overall vibe of these stories is dark and grim. And fierily, fiercely funny

—— Brandon Robshaw , Independent on Sunday

Previous Article：The Theory of Light and Matter Next Article：More Far Eastern Tales

Comments

Welcome to zzdbook comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.