The Wisdom of Father Brown

By: G. K. Chesterton

Narrated by: John Graham

Length: 5 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

Father Brown, G. K. Chesterton's lovable little Norfolk priest, has an uncanny knack of unraveling mysteries that leave lesser mortals floundering. His sympathetic understanding of human nature never deserts him, even when he himself is touched by a breath of scandal, thanks to the hasty conclusions of a crusading newspaperman. In this collection, Father Brown uses his distinctive style of deduction to solve the seemingly insoluble.

The stories included 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", and "The Fairy Tale of Father Brown".

Public Domain (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Abridged: missing the last 4 stories

Great stories and great reader, but sadly lacking the last 4 stories of the collection. Those that are there are, in fact, unabridged.

My first Father Brown book

I’ve seen the BBC show but have never read the books. The differences are interesting. Still very enjoyable. I’ll be looking for the next one to listen to.

Wonderful Narration

This is an excellent audiobook. The reader enunciates clearly and wields a wide range of voices for the characters. My only problem, so far, is with the chapters. Some seem to be set up at random and do not correspond with various stories.

Incomplete - missing 5 of 12 stories

The 7 stories included are complete and well-read, and the recording quality is good.

However, since 5 of the stories are omitted, this audiobook is, most certainly, abridged.

Actually, just eight of the twelve stories

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

If it had been truly, as your listing proclaimed, "unabridged."

What about John Graham’s performance did you like?

Graham's performance is superb -- giving each character his or her own distinct voice, but not so much that it annoys (as happens all too frequently on audiobooks, where readers sometimes break into jarringly exaggerated accents). Also, judging by the words Graham chooses to emphasize in each sentence, he seems, at least, to be gratifyingly familiar with the stories.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

The audiobook was a disappointment because it contains only eight of the dozen stories that make up "The Wisdom of Father Brown." For the record, here are the contents of the audiobook:
1 The Absence of Mr Glass
2 The Paradise of Thieves
3 The Duel of Dr Hirsch
4 The Man in the Passage
5 The Head of Caesar
6 The Purple Wig
7 The Perishing of the Pendragons
8 The Mistake of the Machine
(Let me note, too, that this last story is the fifth story in the collection, so why it's been moved to the end on this version is ... well, a mystery.)

Abridged!

Watch out! This version, like many, is missing several stories from the original: "The God of the Gongs", "The Salad of Colonel Cray", "The Strange Crime of John Boulnois" and "The Fairy Tale of Father Brown." Note that it is labelled "unabridged". A lie!