Colonial Radio Theatre has begun release of its second series of G.K. Chesterton’s legendary crime-solving priest, Father Brown. This latest series of sets will focus on the second book, The Wisdom of Father Brown.

First up is “The Perishing of the Pendragons,” a story featuring Father Brown, Flamebeau, and a friend encountering one of the last surviving members of a supposedly cursed sea-fearing family living on a remote island. There’s a lot of backstory until the mystery gets going but its to Father Brown’s credit that he sees the plot at all.

“The Head of Caesar”-Father Brown stumbles on a proper young lady in a quite improper place fleeing from a blackmailer who has threatened to expose her theft from the family coin collection. It’s an interesting tale with a good solution that includes a thoughtful exploration of the difference between collectors and misers or the lack thereof.

“The Absence of Mister Glass”-Father Brown goes to a super sleuth for help in investigating a young woman’s boyfriend. They find the boyfriend tied up and our super detective has to figure out what happened. He has a brilliant solution—but is it the right one? This is one of the funniest Father Brown stories and Colonial does a superb job performing it.

“Paradise of Thieves” finds Father Brown in Italy in a swirl of intrigue.over tourists and the re-emergence of a romantic bandit. In my opinion, this is one of Chesterton’s weakest stories because he gets so carried away making his points that he gives us a confusing plot where the actions of the villain are puzzling to say the least. Still, Colonial does the best they can with it and manages to capture the best the story had to offer in its atmosphere and a little bit of humor.

Overall thoughts: While all the Father Brown books have their charms, I have to admit The Wisdom of Father Brown is the book I enjoyed least. There were so many stories where mysteries were buried or hard to follow in that particular collection.

Colonial deserves credit for a collection that makes these stories accessible. G.K. Chesterton had a fantastic way with words. One of the best things about the way writer MJ Elliott does in adapting these stories.is to take Chesterton’s beautiful descriptions and commentaries and turn them into dialogue which allows the listener to enjoy the richness of it.

The direction and music are all at Colonial’s usual strong standards, and the acting is mostly very good, although there were a couple of accents that could have been done a bit better.

Still, this is a worthy and welcomed production for fans of Father Brown and the works of G.K. Chesterton.

Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0

Disclosure; I received a free digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

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