Skin o' My Tooth

by Emmuska Orczy

Skin O' My tooth, aka Patrick Mulligan, was created by Baroness Emmuska Orczy (author of the Scarlet Pimpernel series), and appeared in several stories which were collected in Skin o' My Tooth. His Memoirs, By His Confidential Clerk (1928).

Mulligan is an ugly, portly, but particularly sharp Irish lawyer who goes to great lengths (even unscrupulous ones) to get his clients off. Usually this involves him solving the crimes himself. The nickname comes from one client who described Mulligan freeing him "by the skin o' my tooth."

Excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

255 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1928

About the author

Full name: Emma ("Emmuska") Magdolna Rozália Mária Jozefa Borbála Orczy de Orczi was a Hungarian-British novelist, best remembered as the author of THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL (1905). Baroness Orczy's sequels to the novel were less successful. She was also an artist, and her works were exhibited at the Royal Academy, London. Her first venture into fiction was with crime stories. Among her most popular characters was The Old Man in the Corner, who was featured in a series of twelve British movies from 1924, starring Rolf Leslie.

Baroness Emmuska Orczy was born in Tarnaörs, Hungary, as the only daughter of Baron Felix Orczy, a noted composer and conductor, and his wife Emma. Her father was a friend of such composers as Wagner, Liszt, and Gounod. Orczy moved with her parents from Budapest to Brussels and then to London, learning to speak English at the age of fifteen. She was educated in convent schools in Brussels and Paris. In London she studied at the West London School of Art. Orczy married in 1894 Montague Barstow, whom she had met while studying at the Heatherby School of Art. Together they started to produce book and magazine illustrations and published an edition of Hungarian folktales.

Orczy's first detective stories appeared in magazines. As a writer she became famous in 1903 with the stage version of the Scarlet Pimpernel.

Reviews

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had not heard of these stories before, but this is the same author of The Scarlet Pimpernel books, Lady Molly of Scotland Yard stories and the Old Man in the Corner Stories. The stories in this book concern our protagonist, a fat Irish lawyer, nicknamed Skin o' My Tooth known for his remarkable brain and skill for solving complicated investigations and saving clients in what seem like open and shut cases from the gallows or prison. He is a master of disguise and speaks many languages which aids him in his investigations. The stories are told by his confidential secretary, who often hides in the room while the lawyer interviews potential clients and takes notes in shorthand. LOL! So even though these stories are more than a hundred years old, they hold up pretty well today, and I was often surprised by the twists and turns the plots took. Baroness Orczy deserves to be remembered better today than she is. I had this on my Kindle, and only read it off and on, mainly in waiting rooms, which is what took me so long. Since I owned it I could take my time!

[Kate Sheldon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished reading this book and am sorry it is over.

The lawyer who solves the crimes is entertaining and definitely a one of a kind. I guessed the guilty party a couple of times, but it didn't really take away my enjoyment.

I prefer a book to short stories, but sometimes short stories are nice since it isn't as much of a commitment.

[Thor The Redbeard · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Murder in Saltashe Woods 4/10
The Case of the Sicilian Prince 4/10
The Duffield Peerage Case 5/10
The Kazan Pearls 5/10
The Case of Major Gibson 5/10
The Inverted Five 3/10
The Turquoise Stud 4/10
Overwhelming Evidence 5/10
The Case of Mrs. Norris 4/10
The Murton — Braby Murder 3/10
A Shot in the Night 4/10
The Hungarian Landowner 3/10

Overall 4/10

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Twelve little mysteries written in a clear, straightforward fashion all the innocent parties rescued by the skin of their teeth. Quite enjoyable.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dated in a number of ways, the worst of which is that you can tell who is guilty in short order - long before the end. Part of that is attributable to the time period it was written and part is to a stylistic manner in which the author writes. A number of times I had to stop and re-read a passage because it was muddled and unclear, in each case it was a matter of the author trying to intentionally mis-direct the reader with a red herring or tricky wording. From a modern perspective, it feels amateurish in execution. Still, it's not all bad and I think 3 stars should indicate that if this is genre and time period you like that you would enjoy it and probably rate it higher than me. For my part, I would stick to Sherlock Holmes as a better choice.

[Jeff Hobbs]

Read so far:

*The murder in Saltashe Woods--
The case of the Polish prince--
The Duffield peerage case--
The Kazan pearls --
*The case of Major Gibson--
The inverted five --
The turquoise stud --
*Overwhelming evidence --
*The case of Mrs. Norris--
The Murton-Braby murder--
*A shot in the night --
The Hungarian landowner --