Mr Fortune’s Practice

By H.C. Bailey

'Exceptionally entertaining detective stories... swiftly moving, well-told and ingenious' New York Times 'Never was Reginal Fortune in finer fettle than in the seven cases of his practice this volume records' Boston Transcript 'The most engaging detective invented since Sherlock Holmes' The New Yorker The much-revered crime writer H.C. Bailey's second 'Mr Fortune' crime book This 2024 Spitfire Publishers ebook and paperback edition includes a complete bibliography of Bailey's Mr Fortune crime series The debonair Reggie Fortune is an uncommonly astute physician whose 'practice' is chiefly in aid of Scotland Yard. Mr Fortune's Practice is his second casebook and contains seven ingenious, rare and almost unsolvable crimes. Mr Fortune never did learn what poison kept the Median papers out of the hands of the Turks. But he guessed that a man might murder a cousin to sink a coal mine, or make way with a doctor who discovered his heterotaxy. He even found out why the announcement of an old Lord's engagement caused the theft of a magic stone, and what became of the leading lady. Once he is called in on a case his unusual methods, his intuition, his care , gets results. Much to the relief of Superintendent Bell... About the Author Henry Christopher Bailey was an English crime novelist and one of the Big Five writers of detective fictions in the 'Golden Age' which also included Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, R. Austin Freeman and Freeman Wills Crofts. Hugely popular at the time and adored by critics he is today unjustly rather forgotten. This was at least partly due to tortuous issues regarding his literary estate. His best-known creation was the plump and drawling Reginald Fortune. The medically trained 'Mr Fortune' was a scientific adviser to Scotland Yard's Criminal Investigation Department and starred in twenty-two novels and short story collections. Much praised for his puzzles and characterisation, the Mr Fortune stories have echoes of Lord Peter Wimsey but are much darker, tackling subjects not touched upon by other major writers, including police corruption and murderous obsession. Bailey's other series character was Joshua Clunk, a sanctimonious lawyer who exposes corruption and blackmail but also manages to profit from the crimes he investigates. H.C. Bailey died in 1961. Praise for H.C. Bailey's 'Mr Fortune' 'Clever and entertaining' Boston Transcript 'Mr Fortune is not only brilliant but lovable' New York Times 'The most engaging detective of fiction' The Observer 'Brilliant... his plots have an immense and admirable ingenuity' Times Literary Supplement 'Fortune is a super sleuth who solves problems that are too much for Scotland Yard' New York Times 'It is difficult to find in modern detection, puzzles more elaborately conceived and mystifying' Howard Haycroft 'Mr Bailey is always readable' New Statesman

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0DD4LVWYW
• ISBN13: 9798335813198
• Release Date: August 2024
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 171 Pages
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.4" x 6.0"