Uploaded June 2025 | Updated September 2026, 4 days ago
The priest-detective investigates a murder which takes place backstage at a theatre. All the possible suspects are either taking part in a rehearsal in front of multiple witnesses, or in a locked dressing room at the other end of the corridor. Can Father Brown and his actor friend Ashton Jarvis work out the solution...? The story begins at 00:01:20
Narrated/performed by Simon Stanhope, aka Bitesized Audio. If you enjoy this content and would like to help me keep creating, there are a few ways you can support me (and get access to exclusive content):
* Occasional/one-off support via Buy Me a Coffee: buymeacoffee.com/bitesizedaudio
* Monthly support on Patreon: patreon.com/bitesizedaudio
* Donate via PayPal: paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=HMMUWZ7URN26A
* Visit my Bandcamp page to hear more of my performances of classic stories, and you can purchase and download high quality audio files to listen offline: bitesizedaudio.bandcamp.com
* Become a Bitesized Audio Classics member on YouTube, from $1 / £1 / €1 per month:
youtube.com/c/BitesizedAudioClassics/join
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:20 The Actor and the Alibi
00:48:30 Credits, thanks and further listening
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936) was an English author, theologian, philosopher and critic, who produced a wide-ranging output of fiction, poetry and journalism. His writing covered a wide variety of subjects, ranging from crime fiction to Christianity. His most famous novel is probably the "metaphysical thriller" 'The Man Who Was Thursday' (1908), but his most famous fictional creation is surely Father Brown, the Catholic priest-detective who featured in more than 50 short stories published episodically between 1910 and 1936. A complete contrast to his (near) contemporary Sherlock Holmes, Father Brown is quiet, unassuming and solves crimes with instinct, intuition and a deep understanding of human nature.
'The Actor and the Alibi' first appeared in the March 1926 edition of Cassell's Magazine in the UK, and in Harper's Magazine (USA) in the same month. The story was subsequently included in the fourth collection of stories featuring the priest-detective, 'The Secret of Father Brown' (Cassell & Co., 1927).
Recording © Bitesized Audio 2025
The priest-detective investigates a murder which takes place backstage at a theatre. All the possible suspects are either taking part in a rehearsal in front of multiple witnesses, or in a locked dressing room at the other end of the corridor. Can Father Brown and his actor friend Ashton Jarvis work out the solution...? The story begins at 00:01:20
Narrated/performed by Simon Stanhope, aka Bitesized Audio. If you enjoy this content and would like to help me keep creating, there are a few ways you can support me (and get access to exclusive content):
* Occasional/one-off support via Buy Me a Coffee: buymeacoffee.com/bitesizedaudio
* Monthly support on Patreon: patreon.com/bitesizedaudio
* Donate via PayPal: paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=HMMUWZ7URN26A
* Visit my Bandcamp page to hear more of my performances of classic stories, and you can purchase and download high quality audio files to listen offline: bitesizedaudio.bandcamp.com
* Become a Bitesized Audio Classics member on YouTube, from $1 / £1 / €1 per month:
youtube.com/c/BitesizedAudioClassics/join
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:20 The Actor and the Alibi
00:48:30 Credits, thanks and further listening
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936) was an English author, theologian, philosopher and critic, who produced a wide-ranging output of fiction, poetry and journalism. His writing covered a wide variety of subjects, ranging from crime fiction to Christianity. His most famous novel is probably the "metaphysical thriller" 'The Man Who Was Thursday' (1908), but his most famous fictional creation is surely Father Brown, the Catholic priest-detective who featured in more than 50 short stories published episodically between 1910 and 1936. A complete contrast to his (near) contemporary Sherlock Holmes, Father Brown is quiet, unassuming and solves crimes with instinct, intuition and a deep understanding of human nature.
'The Actor and the Alibi' first appeared in the March 1926 edition of Cassell's Magazine in the UK, and in Harper's Magazine (USA) in the same month. The story was subsequently included in the fourth collection of stories featuring the priest-detective, 'The Secret of Father Brown' (Cassell & Co., 1927).
Recording © Bitesized Audio 2025
