The Wisdom of Father Brown - G.K. Chesterton

You have to overcome some very dated attitudes to enjoy Chesterton, and one of the tales here is breathtaking in its racism, even taking into account the mores of his day. However, on the whole a feeling fo amiable fun predominates and Father Brown himself is a charming character, with a pointedly un-Holmesian approach to solving crimes:

"I attach a good deal of importance to vague ideas. All those things that `aren't evidence' are what convince me. I think a moral impossibility the biggest of all impossibilities."