The famous detective stories created by Chesterton appeared between 1910 and 1935. After the writer's death in 1936, they were collected in five volumes: The Innocence Of Father Brown; The Wisdom Of Father Brown; The Incredulity Of Father Brown; The Secret Of Father Brown; The Scandal Of Father Brown.
Later, in the 1980s, other stories appeared that were included in The Secret of Father Brown, although in the manuscript of The Midas Mask, the author made it clear: “Do not publish”. In his Autobiography, Chesterton speaks of “innocent wisdom”, he recalls how he was inspired by hearing two Cambridge students, in an inn, speak ill of the clergy, because they lived locked up in their cloister and knew nothing of life. Chesterton found the remark “a colossal and overwhelming irony” and realized that his friend Father O'Connor knew far more about life than the two students who “knew as little about solid Satanism as two babies in the same baby carriage”.
Thus was born a detective-priest who was able to explain the cosmos and at the same time solve a murder. The simplicity of the approach pleased and amused the public. A mixture of simplicity, innocence and profound wisdom. In the end, the motto and the way of life of Chesterton himself, for whom, in order to see clearly, innocence is necessary; in a way, this was the real secret of Father Brown.