SOURCE: “Chesterton's Brown and Greeley's Blackie: Two Very Different Detectives,” in Commonweal, Vol. 119, No. 14, August, 1992, pp. 18–25.

In the following review, Sipe and Lamb note significant differences between the two priest detectives in Chesterton's and Greeley's stories.

Monsignor John Blackwood Ryan (formerly Father Blackie, and recently elevated to Bishop Blackie) is a priest-detective created by the Reverend Andrew Greeley and featured in at least nine of his novels. In seven instances Greeley compares Father Blackie to Father Brown, the priest-detective created by G.K. Chesterton. The pains that Greeley has taken to link the two priest-detectives invite serious investigation, an invitation we intend to pursue here. In fact, the two manifest important contrasts in the way they engage a case, in their methods of solving a crime, and in their ultimate goals and objectives. A close scrutiny of the comparison actually reveals more differences than similarities between Father Brown...