G. K. Chesterton

And in the chaos and complexity of those perpendicular streets anything may dwell or happen, and it is in one of them, I believe, that the inquirer may find the offices of the Club of Queer Trades. It may be thought at the first glance that the name would attract and startle the passer-by, but nothing attracts or startles in these dim immense hives.

The Club Of Queer Trades

Simon Elliott Stegall

Written 18 years before his conversion to Christianity and decades before the conception of his most widely read works, GK Chesterton's "The Club Of Queer Trades" is an inchoate, albeit charming book that shows the prolific author early in the developments of his now renown philosophy and rhetoric. Foreshadowing his later masterpieces like "Manalive!", "The Man Who Was Thursday", and most especially the sublime "Father Brown" serial, "The Club Of Queer Trades" follows an ex-judge, Basil Grant, as he solves unusual mysteries with nothing but his infallible intuition and judgement of character. In many ways Basil is the antithesis of Sherlock Holmes; he rejects observation and fact-finding in favor of common sense and moral virility to accomplish his feats of investigation. 
At worst, the book is repetitive, each chapter telling very similar stories of Basil's exploits, but at best it is a witty and charming experiment by an author who would later go on to write several books of similar ethos and hugely greater literary import. While certainly not Chesterton's best, "The Club of Queer Trades" will undoubtedly entertain and delight anyone who is a loyal Chestertonian- and it is to those people that I would heartily recommend this book.

The Club Of Queer Trades

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