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Audiobooks Narrated by Martin Clifton
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"Can Father Brown solve the mystery of Muscari the poet, Ezza the courier, Montano the King of Thieves and Harrogate, the banker, and his family.?
An enjoyable short mystery"
"A fun-filled little story by Chesterton, the father of the paradox and perhaps as skilled a popular storyteller as any of the Edwardian Era. It is always a delight to read any of these simple Father Brown stories because while they are worthy detective tales in their own right, they are also ingeniously constructed parables which teach us, not too didactically, how not to assume or judge things prematurely. Chesterton's writing is witty and concise and yet also vivid and nuanced and Father Brown himself is a charmingly congenial character worth rooting for every time.
Father Brown is a short, nondescript Catholic Priest with shapeless clothes and a large umbrella who has an uncanny insight into human evil. His methods, unlike those of his near contemporary Sherlock Holmes, although based on observation of details often unnoticed by others, tended to be intuitive rather than deductive. Although clearly devout, he always emphasizes rationality: despite his religiousness and his belief in God and miracles, he manages to see the perfectly ordinary, natural explanation of the problem. He is a devout, educated and 'civilized' clergyman, who is totally familiar with contemporary and secular thought and behavior. His character was though to be based on Father John O'Connor (1870 - 1952), a parish priest in Bradford, Yorkshire."
"Father Brown & Flambeau are in Paris when trouble breaks out between a military man & a pacifist. But are things really as they seem? You won't see the conclusion coming. Enjoy Father Brown!"
"Reporter Calhoun Kidd of the Western Sun is off to interview John Boulnois, a philisopher, at his home, Grey Cottage at the edge of Pendragon Park. But he comes across a murder, but who is the guilty party. Father Brown investigates.
'Mr. Calhoun Kidd was a very young gentleman with a very old face, a face dried up with its own eagerness, framed in blue-black hair and a black butterfly tie. He was the emissary in England of the colossal American daily called The Western Sun—also humorously described as the 'Rising Sunset.' This was in allusion to a great journalistic declaration (attributed to Mr. Kidd himself) that 'he guessed the sun would rise in the west yet if American citizens did a bit more hustling.' Those, however, who mock American journalism from the standpoint of somewhat mellower traditions forget a certain paradox which partly redeems it. For while the journalism of the States permits a pantomimic vulgarity long past anything English, it also shows a real excitement about the most earnest mental problems, of which English papers are innocent, or rather incapable. The Sun was full of the most solemn matters treated in the most farcical way. William James figured there as well as 'Weary Willie,' and pragmatists alternated with pugilists in the long procession of its portraits.'"
"Despite his prosaic appearance and generally practical walk of life, Father Brown was not without a certain streak of romance in his composition, though he generally kept his daydreams to himself, as many children do. Amid the brisk, bright colours of such a day, and in the heraldic framework of such a town, he did feel rather as if he had entered a fairy tale. He took a childish pleasure, as a younger brother might, in the formidable sword-stick which Flambeau always flung as he walked, and which now stood upright beside his tall mug of Munich. Nay, in his sleepy irresponsibility, he even found himself eyeing the knobbed and clumsy head of his own shabby umbrella, with some faint memories of the ogre's club in a coloured toy-book. But he never composed anything in the form of fiction, unless it be the tale that follows:"
"While on holiday, Father Brown and his friend Flambeau come into a Japanese inspired town. While looking over a bandstand Father Brown falls through the floor, does some quick looking around and finds a dead body, seemingly part if a sacrifice. What does it mean and can Father Brown figure it out? Of course he can but the method is intensely his own."
"Father Brown happens to the home of Major Putnam when shots are heard and a shadowy figure is seen. Colonel Cray, having served with Major Putnam seems to be out of his mind as he claims to have shot a burglars but is that really the case?
Apparently one should avoid looking at monkey's tails, double check your salad dressing and be wary of boomerangs passing through your bedroom!"
"'Queen Lucia' (1920) is the first volume of E. F. Benson’s 'Mapp and Lucia' 6-novel series. It is a comedy of manners, set in provincial Riseholme (Lincolnshire). Emmeline Lucas rules local society with the help of her friend Georgie Pillson, a position she fiercely protects from her rival Daisy Quantock. But this very situation is at risk, as a scandal breaks out and a famous Prima Donna arrives in the sleepy old hamlet.
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Edward Frederic Benson (1867-1940) was a British archeologist and author, who wrote under the pen name E. F. Benson. Originally from Berkshire, he studied at Cambridge University and published his first novel 'Dodo' in 1893. It was an instant success. He was a prolific novelist, and wrote in a blend of satire, science-fiction, supernatural and romantic melodramas, and has been admired by later authors such as H. P. Lovecraft. He was also a reputed memoirist, and wrote amongst others a biography of Charlotte Brontë. Benson was a very discreet character but it is widely assumed that he was homosexual, of which traces can be found in the circles he kept as well as in his fiction. He never married and passed away in 1940 at age 72."
"The First Father Brown Collection includes two collections of short stories featuring Father Brown.
Father Brown is a fictional Roman Catholic priest and amateur detective who is featured in 53 short stories published between 1910 and 1936 written by English novelist G.K. Chesterton. Father Brown solves mysteries and crimes using his intuition and keen understanding of human nature. Chesterton loosely based him on the Rt Rev. Msgr. John O'Connor (1870-1952), a parish priest in Bradford, who was involved in Chesterton's conversion to Catholicism in 1922.
Included in this collection:
1. The Innocence of Father Brown (1911): The Blue Cross / The Secret Garden / The Queer Feet / The Flying Stars / The Invisible Man / The Honour of Israel Gow / The Wrong Shape / The Sins of Prince Saradine / The Hammer of God / The Eye of Apollo / The Sign of the Broken Sword / The Three Tools of Death
2. The Wisdom of Father Brown (1914): 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"
"This is a selection of short stories recounting, with gentle satire and tolerant good humour, the small town provincial life at the end of the nineteenth century, based around the six towns in the county of Staffordshire, England, known as the Potteries. Arnold Bennett chose to fictionalize these towns by changing their names and omitting one (Fenton) as he apparently felt that “Five Towns” was more euphonious than “Six Towns”. The real town names which are thinly disguised in the novel are: Hanley, Longton, Burslem and Tunstal, the fifth, Stoke, became “Knype”.
Arnold Bennett (1867-1931) was born in Hanley, the eldest child of a pawnbroker who subsequently became a solicitor. Bennett’s father wished him to become a solicitor too, but he failed his university entrance examination and instead became a solicitor's clerk, at first in his father's office and, from 1889, in London.
He showed early promise as a writer winning a writing competition in a local newspaper as a boy. In London he began to see his writing published in popular magazines and he joined the staff of ‘Woman’ magazine in 1893.
His first novel to be published, A Man from the North, appeared in 1898 and its success allowed him to give up other work to concentrate on writing. His first short story (A Letter Home) was written in 1893 and appears in Tales of the Five Towns. (Summary by Martin Clifton)"
"At turns humorous, poignant, gripping, and occasionally tragic, this collection of short stories is peopled by a rich cast of characters. No one is all good or all bad in this volume, which includes 'A Letter Home', Bennett’s first short story. 'Tales of the Five Towns' delves further into the lives of the residents of the fictional 'Five Towns', based on Bennett’s native Stoke-on-Trent, that Bennett also explores in novels like 'Anna of the Five Towns' (1902) and 'The Clayhanger Family' (1925).
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Arnold Bennett (1867-1931) was a British novelist, playwright, critic, and essayist and a key literary figure of his time. His most famous works include 'The Old Wives' Tale' (1908), 'The Clayhanger Family' (1925), and 'The Card' (1911). He also wrote a series of self-improvement books."
"This personal anthology is my choice of speeches from Shakespeare that I enjoy reading (that I would like to have had by heart years ago!) and that seem to me to illustrate his unsurpassed use of language. He was a man who seemed to know everything about human nature and as Orson Welles said 'he speaks to everyone and we all claim him'. I know that it has been said that 'it is impossible to be a great Shakespearian actor without an idiosyncratic and extraordinary voice' and this may be so, but that does not preclude ordinary mortals from reading, hearing and enjoying Shakespeare. (Summary by Martin Clifton)"
