What they want to get their hands on is always the same: not the small change from the collection plate, or the parish office laptops, or even – a loss many churches have suffered in recent years – the lead on their roofs. They slip in after dark, expertly disable the security cameras, force the lock on the vestry door, and then drill their way into the safe. Their modus operandi, in most cases, is remarkably similar. It sounds like a case for Father Brown. What police believe are professional criminals have of late been targeting churches in small towns and villages as far apart as Dorset, Suffolk and Lancashire.