Uploaded June 2023 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
One of the most celebrated Father Brown stories, an outdoor "locked room" mystery in which a body is discovered in a sealed garden. But with no access to the outside world how did the victim get into the garden – and how did the murderer get out?
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 Secret Garden
00:55:39 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 Secret Garden' reintroduces the character of Valentin, chief of the Paris police, who featured in the first Father Brown story, 'The Blue Cross'. It was first published in the October 1910 issue of The Story-Teller magazine, and the following year as the second story in 'The Innocence of Father Brown', the first of several books which comprise the Father Brown series.
Recording © Bitesized Audio 2020–2023
One of the most celebrated Father Brown stories, an outdoor "locked room" mystery in which a body is discovered in a sealed garden. But with no access to the outside world how did the victim get into the garden – and how did the murderer get out?
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 Secret Garden
00:55:39 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 Secret Garden' reintroduces the character of Valentin, chief of the Paris police, who featured in the first Father Brown story, 'The Blue Cross'. It was first published in the October 1910 issue of The Story-Teller magazine, and the following year as the second story in 'The Innocence of Father Brown', the first of several books which comprise the Father Brown series.
Recording © Bitesized Audio 2020–2023
