The Complete Father Brown Mysteries by G.K. Chesterton

The Father Brown mysteries a BBC production which are shown in the U.S. on PBS (public television) are entertaining and well cast with Mark Williams as Father Brown, but the Father Brown that G.K. Chesterton envisioned was a little different:
"A Roman Catholic priest from a small Essex village. He had a face as round and dull as Norfolk dumpling; he had eyes as empty as the North Sea; he had several brown paper parcels, which he was quite incapable of collecting, The Eucharistic Congress had doubtless sucked out of their local stagnation many such creatures, blind and helpless, like moles disinterred."
G.K. Chesterton's first story The Blue Cross involves Aristide Valentin, Paris' Chief of Police, and also Flambeau. Although Flambeau is unable to sneak undetected in the short story as he does in the television series. He is a large man of over 6' 4".

The time period and location are also different.  The television series is set in a Cotswold village in the 1950s.

The short stories written in the early 1900s are a great filler in between more lengthy novels and as entertaining as the television series.

The series is also available on BritBox.