Call Mr. Fortune
By H. C. Bailey
3/5
()
About this ebook
When father is away, Reggie Fortune is left in charge of his quiet country medical practice. A young doctor with a sluggish work ethic and a passion for sweets, Fortune is at his happiest when tending to an old man’s illness or curing a poor boy’s broken leg. When a call comes in alerting Fortune that the archduke has been found unconscious in the road, he hurries no more than he would for a regular patient. But as he discovers when he inspects the lord, this is a most irregular case. The archduke lives—but another man has been murdered in his name.
This collection of six puzzling stories introduced the world to Reggie Fortune, a remarkable detective whose rotund frame conceals a razor-sharp mind and a fighting spirit. A true champion of the oppressed, Fortune will never let a murderer escape justice—whether his victim was royalty or the lowest of the low.
Ths ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.
H. C. Bailey
H. C. Bailey (1878–1961) was an English author of mysteries. He took to writing early, publishing My Lady of Orange (1901) during his senior year at Oxford, and spent many years as a journalist and author of romantic fiction before he began writing detective novels. Call Mr. Fortune (1920) introduced the world to Reggie Fortune, a brilliant investigator with a knack for solving chilling murder mysteries, who would become one of the most popular sleuths of the English golden age of detective fiction.
Read more from H. C. Bailey
The Cases Of Detective Reggie Fortune: Mr. Fortune's Practice collection of mystery tales Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Lady of Orange (Historical Novel): Historical Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMr. Fortune's Practice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMr. Fortune's Practice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCall Mr. Fortune Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Lady of Orange: Historical Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Moor of Milan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnder the Fleur-de-Lis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Lady of Orange: Historical Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Highwayman Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Lady of Orange Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Lady of Orange Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Lady of Orange: The Story of William of Orange and the Dutch Revolution - Historical Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCall Mr. Fortune Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Call Mr. Fortune
Related ebooks
The Golden Slipper, and Other Problems for Violet Strange Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhat's in the Dark? Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Mr. Fortune's Practice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHelen Vardon's Confession Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Devil's Cook Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Tragedy of Z Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Master of Mysteries Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsK Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Blue Movie Murders Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Golden Goose Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Appleby Talks Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Grell Mystery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhat Timmy Did Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The D'Arblay Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Woman in His Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWife or Death Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Kiss and Kill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Drury Lane's Last Case Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMurder with a Past Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Copper Frame Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Suicide Murders Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Tragedy of Y Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crime de Luxe: A Benvenuto Brown Mystery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLucian the Dreamer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Riddle of the Purple Emperor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Killer Touch Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Deadly Joke Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5A Good Year For Murder: Albert J Tretheway Series Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Holiday for Inspector West Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Mystery For You
The Stories of Ray Bradbury Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complete Short Stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Hunting Party: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Still Life: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5None of This Is True: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pretty Girls: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hallowe'en Party: Inspiration for the 20th Century Studios Major Motion Picture A Haunting in Venice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pale Blue Eye: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Flight: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murder Under a Red Moon: A 1920s Bangalore Mystery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Paris Apartment: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pieces of Her: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Daughter: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pharmacist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Life We Bury Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Woman in the Library: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Write a Mystery: A Handbook from Mystery Writers of America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5False Witness: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Devil in a Blue Dress (30th Anniversary Edition): An Easy Rawlins Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Big Sleep Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kept Woman: A Will Trent Thriller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jack Reacher: A Mysterious Profile Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Finlay Donovan Is Killing It: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Club: A Reese's Book Club Pick Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Did I Kill You?: A Thriller Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Dark Side: A Collection of Mysteries & Thrillers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Call Mr. Fortune
19 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Exceedingly pleasant tales, despite some bloody content, of a wealthy British physican-turned-detective, Reggie Fortune, who solves cases pretty much for his own amusement, while usually working with the police. The stories often have similarities that detract from them, such as too-obvious efforts to frame someone for a crime. They also seem to rely on coincidence and the fact that Reggie Fortune knows a little about everything--and usually more than a little. But it is his manner, as he drifts semi-detached throughout the proceedings, always doing more than it appears he is on the surface, that makes these stories entertaining and very readable. There is usually a neat twist near the end that lifts the whodunit at the center of each tale a bit above the ordinary.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5In his day, H. C. Bailey (1878-1961) was highly regarded - considered, apparently, one of the half-dozen best practitioners of the Golden Age of English mystery writing. He still has admirers. I am not among them. This is not for want of trying - I have frequently tried to wade through his books - but because I find his hero Reggie Fortune so unlikable I just don't want to spend any time in his company. If you want to know why that is, just read mmyoung's excellent review from December 2010: it sums up my feelings exactly!
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A collection of short stories about Mr Reginald ("Reggie") Fortune. Reggie is a surgeon, hence "Mr" Fortune in British usage, and also a semi-amateur detective. In the first two stories he is a practicing physician whose patients are murdered, but in the other four he is more of a police consulting surgeon. Historically, leading critics like Ellery Queen, Howard Haycraft, and Julian Symons have considered him important in the development of the detective story. Hence, when I was looking for a 1920 ebook I landed here. The thing is, Reggie and his colleagues talk in a sort of slangy manner that's hard to get 100 years later. They actually call each other "old thing" and the like. The narration overall is a little elliptical and hard to follow. And I'm sorry, but fair play was not really in evidence. Inevitably, Reggie throws out some facts when explaining the solution that were withheld from the reader. On the other hand, I actually found myself growing fond of Reggie as I read on. Some past reviewers have found him conceited or unlikeable; I think this may be the British classism of 100 years irritating modern readers.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Before the reader opens an H. C. Bailey book they may wonder why his name is not well remembered even by those who have a particular liking for English fiction written in the “golden era” of murder mysteries. After reading just a few pages this puzzle is solved. Bailey’s writing style is pedestrian, his characters caricatures and his plotting nonsensical. Coming across writers of this ilk helps the reader to understand the treatment book reviewers gave Christie, Allingham and Sayers. In addition to infelicities of style, structure and plotting, this particular volume reads as though it was at best cursorily edited with sentences of various tenses packed together into the same paragraph. Although not every character is imbued with the same voice there are fewer voices than there are characters. Fortune, the surgeon/private detective, is obnoxiously self important without, apparently, Bailey being aware of that fact. Fortune is able to solve cases because the police are incompetent: Fortune is aware of information he does not share with them and occasionally he simply intuits the truth. Yes, Bailey indeed uses the oldest trick in the book to make his protagonist outwit the police by have the police having little wit to better. In the occasional case, such as “The Business Minister” Fortune is actually shown in some detail inspecting the possible scene of the crime. And it is here that one can see, lain bare, the method by which Bailey had his amateur detective outdo the professional police. The police, one sees, are barely able to fulfill the most basic aspects of their jobs. They do not even call upon their own coroner to inspect the corpse. They follow Fortune about as he inspects the likely scene of the murder. Having looked in the living room and the bedroom Fortune suggests they move on to the bathroom “‘We haven’t seen the bathroom,’ said Reggie. Bell looked and him and shrugged. ‘Not likely to be much there, sir,’ said the Inspector. ‘There could be,’ said Reggie gravely, and led the way.” Yet, in comparison to such incompetence Fortune is still able to shine only dimly given Bailey’s leaden prose and incoherent plotting.