The Innocence of Father Brown - G.K. Chesterton

This is the first of the collections about Father Brown, the Catholic priest detective who solves crimes in a Holmes-like fashion with less theatre but more theology. Many of the plots make no sense whatsoever, but it would be churlish not to just accept that and get swept along with the simple charm of the tales.

It's always nice to have an Essex man as the hero too.