PERHAPS THE LEAST WELL KNOWN of Chesterton's many published volumes of short stories, The Club of Queer Trades is a collection of six detective stories which was first published in 1905. Each paradoxical tale is thoroughly perplexing until effortlessly solved by Basil Grant, one-time brilliant judge 'who had talked more like a priest or a doctor' until the day when he had seemed to go mad at the bench and had retired.……

Eccentric sleuth, Basil Grant is deftly portrayed by Chesterton: mystic, enigmatic and often considered mad by his brother Rupert - the over-zealous private-eye - and by Charles Swinburne, gullible narrator of the six tales. His methods of detection mystify, but his intuition is sure and invariably leads to the Club of Queer Trades, the existence of which "makes a man feel what a man should feel, that he is still in the childhood of the world".

These ingenious stories are redolent with mystery, humour, and a surreal quality that has timeless appeal.

I The Tremendous Adventures of Major Brown

Ⅱ The Painful Fall of a Great Reputation

Ⅲ The Awful Reason of the Vicar"s Visit

IV The Singular Speculation of the House-Agent

V The Noticeable Conduct of Professor Chadd

VI The Eccentric Seclusion of the Old Lady