"Without a Doubt This Was the Sacrilegious Thief"

"Parson and Policeman."
By Victor L. Whitechurch (1868-1933).
First appearance: The Windsor Magazine,  March 1930.
Short short story (9 pages, 3 illos).
Online at Hathi Trust (HERE).

"I almost feel like a detective myself."

If we disregard Father Brown, Rabbi Small, and 358 others of their profession, then it would probably be true to say that men of the cloth like the Vicar of the little village of East Camford seldom get a chance in their everyday lives to capture someone wanted by the police—but, as events will show, here we have a parson who could definitely benefit from some divine inspiration . . .

Comment: . . . and so could the author.

Resources:
- Philip Grosset's Clerical Detectives website does a fine job of keeping up with the rather large field of clergy-sleuths (HERE).

- We tend to associate Victor L. Whitechurch with railway mysteries, and for good reason; see the GAD Wiki (HERE) and one of our posts from about a year ago (HERE).

The bottom line: "I've been a Danish prince, a Texas slave-dealer, an Arab sheik, a Cheyenne Dog Soldier, and a Yankee navy lieutenant in my time, among other things, and none of 'em was as hard to sustain as my lifetime's impersonation of a British officer and gentleman."
— Flashman