Introduction

G.K. Chesterton published the short story "The Hammer of God" in the 1911 anthology The Innocence of Father Brown. "The Hammer of God" is a mystery story presenting an impossible murder that is solved by the unassuming yet brilliant Father Brown. Tales like this one offer readers a puzzle, a set of observations and evidence, and an invitation to try their skills at deduction. Most mystery stories, including this one, also solve the puzzle; in this case, readers may be somewhat surprised by exactly what and who caused the mysterious death.

"The Hammer of God" is set in Bohun Beacon, a small English village intended to be a typical representation of such places. It is contemporary to its publication in the second decade of the 1900s, and its characters exhibit the common traits of their time and place and many timeless and universal human characteristics that Chesterton explores as he presents and solves a fascinating mystery.

Plot Summary

The story opens with a contrast between two brothers. Reverend Wilfred Bohun is the local Anglican curate, a prim and proper man devoted to solitary prayer and Gothic architecture. His brother, Colonel Norman Bohun, on the other hand, devotes himself to drinking, staying out all night, and seducing women. His "wolfish pursuit of pleasure" could not be more different from his brother's piety.

The two brothers, the last members of an old, aristocratic family, meet in the village square one morning. Wilfred is on his way to church; Norman is on his way to visit the blacksmith's attractive wife. Wilfred warns his brother about the judgment of God and the wrath of the blacksmith, who is "the biggest and strongest man" in the area, but Norman only scoffs and shows Wilfred his armored hat.

Wilfred enters the church to pray and encounters "Mad Joe," the "village idiot," who is just leaving. Wilfred then goes up to the gallery, where Gibbs, the cobbler and an atheist, comes to get him sometime later. The reverend goes down to find his brother lying dead, his skull shattered. The blacksmith's wife, an inspector, the doctor, the Presbyterian minister, and a Catholic priest are all nearby.

Gibbs is certain that the blacksmith must have killed Norman, for only he has the strength to cause such damage. But Simeon Barnes, the blacksmith himself, is coming up the road with two friends. He is not sorry that Norman is dead, but he tells the inspector that he could not have committed the crime since he was in the neighboring village, and there are plenty of witnesses to attest to that. His hammer would have had to fly across the country to do the job.

The Catholic priest, Father Brown by name, is fascinated by the murder weapon, a small, light hammer. He discusses the matter with the doctor, who thinks the blacksmith's wife may be the culprit until Father Brown reminds him that she could not have struck such a blow. Wilfred hurries to blame Mad Joe, knowing that he could not be hanged for the crime because he lacks mental capacity.

Meanwhile, Father Brown looks and thinks as Barnes, the blacksmith, claims that God Himself struck the blow. Father Brown then gives the doctor two hints: first, that the crime can be solved by science and, second, that perhaps the idea of a flying hammer is not so much a fairy tale. Then Wilfred and Father Brown go inside the church, and Wilfred shows the priest around, leading him up to the top balcony.

It is here that Father Brown confronts Wilfred with the truth. Wilfred, he says, threw the hammer that killed his brother. Carried by gravity, the small hammer did significant damage.

Wilfred moves to throw himself off the church, but Father Brown stops him. He intends to say nothing, leaving Wilfred's decision about what to do next. Wilfred descends and turns himself into the inspector for the murder of his brother.