Mr. Fortune Speaking

Reggie Fortune

by H.C. Bailey

1st Popular Library 1952 paperback vgIn stock shipped from our UK warehouse -

Genres: Mystery, Short Stories

159 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1929

About the author

Henry Christopher Bailey (1878 – 1961) was an English author of detective fiction. Bailey wrote mainly short stories featuring a medically-qualified detective called Reggie Fortune. Fortune's mannerisms and speech put him into the same class as Lord Peter Wimsey but the stories are much darker, and often involve murderous obsession, police corruption, financial skulduggery, child abuse and miscarriages of justice. Although Mr Fortune is seen at his best in short stories, he also appears in several novels.

A second series character, Josiah Clunk, is a sanctimonious lawyer who exposes corruption and blackmail in local politics, and who manages to profit from the crimes. He appears in eleven novels published between 1930 and 1950, including The Sullen Sky Mystery (1935), widely regarded as Bailey's magnum opus.

Reviews

[Lucy Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Someone called HC Bailey an acquired taste. I have read him on and off for years, and can never remember the plots. The stories (starting in the 20s) verge on the macabre and flirt with the supernatural. The reader is expected to know what a "planchette" is. There is very little scene setting, and absolutely no "fine writing". Relationships between the characters must be deduced, as narrative and dialogue are delivered in a series of short, telegraphic sentences. The style is catching. Mr Fortune has never been turned into a television franchise. Has he even appeared as an audiobook? The elliptical presentation and of-the-moment slang, not to mention classical allusions, might fox any reader. Someone else called the stories "dark" - perhaps this is why they haven't been revived. Mr Fortune has quite a lot in common with Mr Moto, whose adventures are also worth a visit. I shall stick with Mr Fortune - in each story a rather Chestertonian puzzle is untangled, but Mr Fortune is an enigma in himself.

[Sem · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read five in a row. Will this obsession never end?

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another short story collection by the once-prolific Bailey, featuring always his Mr. Fortune character. Mr. Fortune is a scientific consultant to Scotland Yard; he's also a doctor with a particular weakness for the helpless and a loathing of unnecessary physical activity. But he works his way through unexplained incidents which the police haven't yet recognized as crimes, as well as the crimes that he's called upon to explain. A special treat in this book is a visit with his sprightlier sister, the one who married a bishop, when strange events take place in the Cathedral close (someone kisses the Dean's wife in the dark; there's a burglary where nothing is stolen). Many people may find these stories old-fashioned and formulaic; but there's something nonetheless lovable about them, and so I continue to read them.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: another short story collection about Mr. Fortune who is a scientific consultant on criminal matters.