The first volume of the brilliant, ingenious Father Brown stories, published ahead of a new series of the popular BBC adaptation

'Has it never struck you that a man who does next to nothing but hear men's real sins is not likely to be wholly unaware of human evil?'

With his round face, pipe and umbrella, the shambling, bespectacled priest Father Brown is an unlikely detective - yet his innocent air hides a razor-sharp understanding of the criminal mind. As this first volume of his adventures shows, the wise, worldly clerical sleuth has an uncanny ability to bring even the most elusive wrongdoer to justice.