Dale, Alzina Stone. _The Outline of Sanity: A Biography of G. K. Chesterton_. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company: Grand Rapids, Michigan. 1982.

"The negations of Christion asceticism--the innocence and denial of experience symbolized by celibacy--are exageratted in the clumsy figure and absent-minded actions of the dumpy priest. But these negations lead to knowledge. The innocent man sees, the humble man perceives things in the right perspective. An eccentric like Sherlock Holmes cannot judge human problems because he is not himself placed in the center of humanity. That is why Holmes must measure and magnify the trivial deposits of man's passage."
(Wills 124)

"Social satire, comedy, and debate give the complication necessary to detective stories; but the secret at the core is simple, as it must be in all such mysteries. The priest is only a marionette, but the puppets act out entertaining and deeply significant parables. By giving a moral significance to the action, Chesterton avoided the anti-climax and mere dispersal of interest which is the danger of the detective novel's concluding pages."
(Wills 125)

". . . every good detective novel is built on paradox. Suspense must go against _doxa_, betraying suspicion. Furthermore, the technique of such tales is one of progress through negations to assertion. Elimination of possibilities is the ddetective's method, and it is a lively parable of the fact that truth can be found by a process of destruction."
(Wills 122)



"Father Brown's secret is that he knows he is a criminal, and can therefore sympathize with the sinner in the full sense of practically commiting the sin."
(Wills 164)

Wills, Garry. Chesterton: Man and Mask. Sheed & Ward: New York 1961

the o'connor and 2 grad story-blue cross genesis
(Chesterton 338-339) autobiography

"One accepts, as one must of all detectives, the done'e of the hero's presence at the scene of the crime. What is tedious is the ease with which the hero solves his cases on the basis of intuition. The recurrent formula soon becomes wearisome: a number of suspects are paraded before the reader, clues are given or withheld, and Father Brown after some discussion announces that he knows--and has always known--the identity of the criminal. The particualr psychological insight or theological maxim is then displayed for the reader's edification, and the story ends.
(Clipper 124)

"Father Brown, who prefers intuition of the truth, which depends on a deep knowledge of the human heart instead of methodical observation."
(Clipper 123)

"For Chesterton, who was himself addicted to reading detective stories, this popular genre was not merely escapist amusement for the masses but a powerful vehicle for transmitting the moral, religous, and political ideals of society."
(Clipper 120)

Clipper, Lawrence J. _G. K. Chesterton. Twayne Publishers, Inc. New York 1974