The brilliant English author G. K. Chesterton, widely known for his style of blending philosophy and theology into his writing, has taken the classic whodunnit genre and turned it upside down with his collection of mysteries, The Club of Queer Trades.

Filled with Chesterton’s masterful storytelling and his strong held belief of questioning the truth, The Club of Queer Trades is more than just a mystery novel. Instead, Chesterton takes his readers on a lighthearted, but deeply moving journey that cannot easily be forgotten after being put down. This short, yet wild 20th century novel contains six amusing stories which follows a club of eccentric characters, all who have peculiar trades in which they make a living from.

The narrator, “Cherub” Swinburne, is a detective who is tasked with investigating the problems that crop up from the club members’ unique situations. With his friend Basil Grant, a retired judge, the two end up in whacky adventures while trying to solve these queer mysteries, sometimes finding that unquestioned facts can be unreliable. With Chesterton’s genius writing, his delightfully weird characters, and the quirky mysteries that need solving, The Club of Queer Trades is a short, but immeasurably satisfying read.