Victor Lorenzo Whitechurch (b. Norham, Northumberland 12 March 1868 – d. Buxton, Derbyshire 26 May 1933) was a Church of England clergyman and author. He wrote many novels on different themes. He is probably best known for his detective stories featuring Thorpe Hazell, which featured in the Strand Magazine, Railway Magazine, Pearson's and Harmsworth's Magazines. Hazell was a vegetarian railway detective, whom the author intended to be as far from Sherlock Holmes as possible. Another character was the spy Captain Ivan Koravitch. He also wrote religious books, novels set in the church and his autobiography – Concerning Himself, The story of an ordinary man (1909). Whitechurch's stories were admired by Ellery Queen and Dorothy L. Sayers for their "immaculate plotting and factual accuracy: he was one of the first writers to submit his manuscripts to Scotland Yard for vetting as to police procedure." The BBC produced a series of five adaptations of short stories from Thrilling Stories of the Railway which were read by Benedict Cumberbatch. Career Whitechurch was educated at Chichester Grammar School and Chichester Theological College. After various positions as curate he became vicar of St. Michael's, Blewbury in 1904. In 1913 he became Chaplain to the Bishop of Oxford, and an honorary canon of Christ Church. In 1918 he became Rural Dean of Aylesbury. Works The Chronicle of St George (1891, editor) The Course of Justice: A Novel (1903) The Canon in Residence (1904) – see summary below The Locum Tenens: A Novel (1906) The Canon's Dilemma (1909) Concerning Himself: The Story of an Ordinary Man (1909) Off the Main Road: A Village Comedy (1911) Thrilling Stories of the Railway (1912) Left in Charge (1912) A Downland Corner (1912) Three Summers: A Romance (1915) Parochial Processions: Their Value and Organisation (1917) The Templeton Case (1924) A Bishop Out of Residence (1924) Downland Echoes (1924) The Adventures of Captain Ivan Koravitch (1925) Concerning Right and Wrong: A Plain Man's Creed (1925) If Riches Increase (1923) The Dean and Jecinora (1926) The Truth in Christ Jesus (1927) The Crime at Diana's Pool (1927) Shot on the Downs (1927) Mixed Relations (1928) First and Last (1929) Murder at the Pageant (1930) Murder at the College (1932) Mute Witnesses: Being Certain Annals of a Downland Village (1933) Short stories "Peter Crane's Cigars" (Thorpe Hazell) "The Tragedy on the London and Mid-Northern" (Thorpe Hazell) "The Affair of the Corridor Express" (Thorpe Hazell)