The Paradoxes of Mr. Pond is collection of short mystery stories by G. K. Chesterton, revolving around the adventures of the titular Mr. Pond. Mr. Pond is a government employee most notable for his distinct resemblance to a fish and for his habit of occasionally interjecting bits of apparent nonsense seamlessly into the middle of his ordinarily sensible conversation. But behind every one of those nonsense statements lies a complex and interesting tale.
Tropes appearing in this series include:
- Animal Motifs: Mr. Pond is frequently compared to a fish, due to his slightly pronounced eyes, general air of reserve, and his habit of opening and shutting his mouth when surprised.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Dr Campbell spends most of "When Doctors Agree" wearing down his student's faith in religion and the Ten Commandments in order to get him to concede that murder can, in fact, be justified. He eventually succeeds — but unfortunately, his student has developed a murderous hatred towards him...
- Did Not Think This Through: Dr Campbell in "When Doctors Agree" fails to consider that his numerous arguments for why the Ten Commandments are bunk and murder can, in fact, be justified in order to rid society of an evil presence can also be applied to him until it's much, much too late.
- Giant's Knife; Human's Greatsword: In "A Tall Story", part of the mystery around a certain filing clerk's murder is the enormous Oddly Shaped Sword found impaling him. Mr. Pond's "Eureka!" Moment comes when he realizes that the sword in question is actually a kitchen knife sized for use by a giant. Actual giants being in short supply in WWII-era England, this identifies the murderer as the actor playing a giant in a local pantomime.
- Heroic Heelization Speech: The climax of "When Doctors Agree". Doctor Campbell spends the story destroying his student's Presbyterian faith, in order to get him to agree that it's justifiable to commit murder for the good of society. Once he's convinced his student, he then admits that he's committed at least one murder in accordance with this philosophy. His student promptly and fatally removes him from society.
- Hypocrite:
- Captain Gahagan is a uniquely Chestertonian twist on this: a man who pretends to be worse than he is because he is unwilling to give up the pleasure of being slandered and knowing it for slander.
- Explicitly averted in "When Doctors Agree"; while James Haggis is widely hated by the society he lives in for his religious-based objections to much-needed reforms, it is conceded that he is nevertheless being entirely true to himself and his beliefs, and is acting not out of some malicious desire to cause suffering but because he genuinely believes what he is doing is right. So does his murderer, Dr Campbell, genuinely believe that he is right to murder Haggis because he considers Haggis' views evil — and unfortunately for Campbell, so too does Campbell's student believe this when Campbell eventually convinces him of the righteousness of his position...
- It Makes Sense in Context: The unifying theme of the series. Near the beginning of each chapter, Pond will make a statement that does not appear to make any sense (such as "as there was nothing to drink, they all naturally got drunk immediately"), and the rest of the story will be devoted to providing the context necessary to explain what Pond was talking about.
- The "The" Title Confusion: The first story, "The Three Horsemen of Apocalypse", is often mistakenly referred to with an extra "the" before "Apocalypse".
- Urban Legend Love Life: A plot element in several of the stories: Captain Gahagan is generally regarded as a rake and scoundrel, despite only being shown to sleep with two women (one while he was on leave from war long before the rest of the stories, the other being the woman he eventually marries).
