"It would not be fair to record the adventures of Father Brown without admitting that he was once involved in a grave scandal. There are still persons, perhaps even in his own community, who would say that there was a sort of blot on his name."

Thus begins "The Scandal of Father Brown," the first story in this collection of eight quietly sensational cases investigated by the high priest of detective fiction. Ingenious, thoughtful, and lyrically written, these stories are full of paradox, spiritual insight, and "Chestertonian fantasy," or seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary.