The Secret Garden by G. K. Chesterton. Short summary

5 seconds

At a dinner party, Father Brown discovers that the host, an anti-religious fanatic, murders a church patron. To cover up the crime, he swaps the head of the patron’s corpse and the body of the convict.

1 minute

At the home of the French detective Valanthene, guests gathered, including the millionaire Brain, who finances religious sects and Father Brown.

Suddenly the corpse of an unknown man is discovered in the garden. The head is separated from the body.

The police arrive and report that another corpse with a severed head has been found in the river and is brought to the Valantean house.

The bodies are placed in a room. Millionaire Brain cannot be found. Father Brown rearranges the severed heads and everyone sees that the head of the corpse from the river belongs to the millionaire.

The priest explains that Brain was the murderer’s target, and to prevent the crime from being solved, he swapped the heads of the millionaire and the executed criminal.

The murderer was Valantean, a fanatical fighter against religion, who learned that the rich man would finance the French church. Valantin commits suicide.