Twelve short stories which include THE PARADISE OF THIEVES, where in Tuscany, a banker and his daughter seem to be in great danger as they plan to travel mountain roads where brigands are rumoured to attack. Going the same way is an armed, flamboyant poet called Muscari, and Father Brown, who is there when trouble does, indeed, occur. Then, Father Brown is involved in the theatrical world in THE MAN IN THE PASSAGE. A beautiful actress has rival admirers, but when she is stabbed to death, he solves the mystery of who murdered her and how the deed was done.