"The Wisdom of Father Brown" (1914) is a collection of twelve stories by G.K. Chesterton, featuring his empathetic detective Father Brown. Sherlock Holmes might be sexier, but GK Chesterton's atmospheric Father Brown stories are the best the genre has ever seen. The 12 stories in this collection are: THE ABSENCE OF MR GLASS THE PARADISE OF THIEVES THE DUEL OF DR. HIRSCH THE MAN IN THE PASSAGE THE MISTAKE OF THE MACHINE THE HEAD OF CAESAR THE PURPLE WIG THE PERISHING OF THE PENDRAGONS THE GOD OF THE GONGS THE SALAD OF COLONEL CRAY THE STRANGE CRIME OF JOHN BOULNOIS THE FAIRY TALE OF FATHER BROWN Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874 – 1936) better known as G. K. Chesterton, was an English writer, lay theologian, poet, philosopher, dramatist, journalist, orator, literary and art critic, biographer, and Christian apologist. Chesterton is well known for his fictional priest-detective Father Brown. Chesterton based the character on Father John O'Connor (1870–1952), a parish priest in Bradford who was involved in Chesterton's conversion to Catholicism in 1922.