The Innocence of Father Brown

Father Brown is always aware of the distinction between people’s outward appearances and their inner realities. In “The Blue Cross,” Flambeau presents himself as a priest, but Father Brown can detect that he is truly a criminal because his theology is faulty. In “The Secret Garden,” Valentin presents the murder in the garden as two separate murders—of a man named Arnold Becker who appeared in the garden mysteriously and of Brayne. Father Brown relies on his understanding of Valentin’s hidden character—his intense distaste for religion—to ascertain that Valentin murdered Brayne himself and replaced his head with one from the guillotine. In “The Queer Feet,” Flambeau disguises himself as a waiter to steal the silver but is discovered by Father Brown. Then, in “The Flying Stars,” Sir Fischer accuses Crook of stealing the Flying Stars because he is a socialist, but Father Brown asserts that “men who would steal diamonds don’t talk Socialism” but rather “denounce it” (54). His understanding of deception leads him to recognize that outward appearances are often misleading: Since Father Brown associates socialism with theft, he surmises that a thief, not wanting to be discovered, would never openly advocate socialism as Crook does. “The Invisible Man” shows Welkin hiding in plain sight as a mail carrier when he is caught, but his reaction to Father Brown, Flambeau, and the police gives him away. In “The Honor of Israel Gow,” Glengyle’s inventory and Gow’s theft of the skull appear sinister and demonic to Father Brown initially, but he realizes that Gow, as Glengyle’s heir, was likely collecting a gold tooth from the skull, a strange but harmless family tradition.

Father Brown is not infallible. At times, his prejudices lead him to misjudge others, though he always remains humble enough to revise his faulty perceptions by the end of the case. In “The Wrong Shape,” Father Brown is initially misled by his colonial racism. He is so unsettled by the unfamiliar South Asian artifacts in Quinton’s house—believing such things to be vaguely and inherently evil—that he suspects Quinton’s Indian friend of having used hypnosis to compel Quinton to take his own life. Instead, the murderer is revealed to be Quinton’s doctor, who wishes to begin a relationship with Quinton’s wife. Once he pieces together the clues, Father Brown realizes that the doctor counted on racist assumptions about Asian cultures to help him get away with the crime. 

“The Sign of the Broken Sword” offers a similarly critical view of British colonialism and the white supremacist arrogance that comes with it. Father Brown and Flambeau discuss the legacy of Sir Arthur St. Clare, famed as a war hero who led a doomed but courageous charge against the Brazilian General Olivier. Father Brown reveals that, far from a hero, St. Clare was a war criminal whose real legacy is “lust, tyranny, treason” and who deliberately led his men to their deaths to cover up his own crimes. Father Brown—a nationalist despite his hatred of cruelty—feels no need to correct the historical record, realizing that St. Clare’s enemy, Olivier, is similarly lionized in Brazil. His faith allows him the consoling belief that the monstrous St. Clare is likely now in hell due to his unrepentant and treasonous behavior. This faith in divine justice is Father Brown’s most fundamental principle: The truth of every person’s character is knowable because God knows it, and if Father Brown’s eye is sufficiently unclouded, he will know it too.