‘You can’t have order without injustice. You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs – and a lot of eggs happen to be human heads.’

A thrilling collection of detective stories – where solving crime is easy, but dealing with the truth is another matter entirely – by a master of the genre: G.K. Chesterton.

Horne Fisher – a brilliant yet disillusioned amateur detective – has intimate ties to Britain’s political elite: his father is friends with the Prime Minister, his sister is married to the Foreign Minister and the Chancellor of Exchequer happens to be his first cousin. Although unprecedented access to the inner workings of the government has its benefits, Horne finds it more of a curse than a blessing… With his sharp intellect and profound understanding of human nature, politics and power, Horne unravels a series of mysterious events – some of them resulting in murder – only to find himself unable to point to the culprit. In a devastating choice between true justice and the stability of the state as he knows it, Horne has to decide whether the truth or the preservation of the nation is greater. Pacey and unfailingly clever, Chesterton’s short stories blend mystery with a dark commentary on power and the price of knowledge.

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874 – 1936) was an English novelist, philosopher, journalist and critic. A Christian apologist, he is famed for creating the fictional priest-detective Father Brown. His writing was also renowned for his sense of humour: known as ‘the prince of paradox’, Chesterton often turned common sayings upside down. Admired by several of his literary contemporaries, Chesterton’s work is still widely read today.