Sat 13 Jun 2026
Archived Mystery Review: H. C. BAILEY – Call Mr. Fortune, by William F. Deeck.
Posted by Steve under Uncategorized[9] Comments
H. C. BAILEY – Call Mr. Fortune. Methuen, UK, hardcover, 1920; Dutton, US, hardcover, 1921. Remploy, UK, hardcover reprint, 1979. Many other reprint editions currently exist.
This is the first collection of Reginald Fortune short stories and, if the problems I had getting a copy are any indication, the scarcest one. Six stories are in this volume, and they range in quality from very good to excellent. There are, I might add, no bad or even poor Fortune short stories in any of the collections.
“The Criminal Investigation Department, solicitors, and others dealing with those experiments in social reform which are called crimes, by continually appealing to his multifarious knowledge and his all-observant eye, turned Dr. Reginald Fortune, general practitioner at Westhampton, into Mr. Fortune of Wimpole Street, specialist in- — what shall we say?- — the surgery of crime. And Reggie Fortune, though richer for the change, was not grateful. He liked ordinary things, and any day would have gladly bartered a murder for a case of chicken-pox. This accounts for his unequalled sanity of judgment.”
Fortune investigates usually with great reluctance and frequent complaints In one case he says, “I believe the beggars get murdered just to bother me” and “They only do it to annoy because they know it teases.” Indeed, at one point he is “elaborating a scheme by which the murder and the cricket seasons should be conterminous.” In those cases where he willingly joins in the chase, children or friends are usually involved.
Fortune is not to everyone’s tastes. He, like most males, hasn’t really matured, only he never pretends that he has. While he is something of a gourmet, he has a penchant for sweets and muffins. He likes to play with puppets and write his own scenarios. Cold and discomfort he complains about bitterly, as would a small boy, particularly when he is taken away from his toys or his lei sure and when he drives an automobile it is with the complete abandon of youth.
Certainly even less mature, however, are Stanley Lomas of the Criminal Investigation Department and the various policemen that Fortune works with. Despite the unfailing accuracy of the Fortune eye and intellect, they continue to scout his ideas and ignore his warnings.
Read this collection, if you can find it, or any of the Fortune short story collections. Each puzzle in all of the books ranges from good to superb And if Reggie irritates you in the beginning, as he did me when I first read him 30 years ago, you may find, as I did, that he grows upon you if he is given a chance.
June 13th, 2026 at 5:44 pm
Bill Deeck, a contemporary reviewer of mine back in the 1970s, had it correct when he said, “Fortune is not to everyone’s tastes,” which is probably even more true now. I think I gave up on him after reading one short story and attempting one novel. Old, stodgy and outdated even 40 years ago, he can’t be at all readable today.
I may have been wrong about that. There is a swarm of reprint edition easily available now, and somebody must be reading them, else the world of economics is turned upside down.
It is too late for me, though. I say that not really intending to do anything about reading Mr. Bailey anew myself. I will allow those younger than I to take up the challenge, if you are so inclined.
June 14th, 2026 at 1:41 pm
Steve:
For those willing “to take up the challenge,” CALL MR. FORTUNE is free online at Project Gutenberg:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/59653
and Standard Ebooks:
https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/h-c-bailey/call-mr-fortune
June 15th, 2026 at 9:52 am
Thanks, Mike. These links are very helpful. Maybe someone will take up the challenge, if challenge it was. But as for me, I found another Reggie Fortune story by Bailey in an old issue of EQMM, and will report back on it when finished.
June 16th, 2026 at 9:12 pm
I have been a big Bailey fan for decades.
He’s an individual, original and nonconformist writer.
This initial collection has merits.
But some later collections are better and better developed.
June 20th, 2026 at 12:04 am
Bailey was a good historical novelist too, mostly of swashbucklers. He and Reggie probably suffered worse of the major Tec series of their error with changing critical opinions, but the stories are well worth rediscovering, and Reggie’s ‘annoying tics’ were often exaggerated by critics.
June 21st, 2026 at 3:57 am
“… of their error,” was a typo, but perhaps a Freudian one considering Bailey’s fallen reputation. Dorothy Sayers was a fan and champion, not surprising considering some of Lord Peter’s pet foibles.
I’ve read some found the Joshua Clunk stories more palatable, and that may be, but I’ve enjoyed many of the Fortune stories, and my only real complaint is Bailey may indulge Reggie’s penchant for saving children more often and more sentimentally than most readers care for. At his worst Reggie and his creator can get a little cloying on that subject however much it is to their credit.
The stories are an acquired taste, and very much of their time period and whether the outstanding examples are worth most modern readers efforts I wouldn’t wager on. The detection can be good, the plots clever, and the antagonist fiendish at their best.
I’ll put it this way, if you like Anthony Gethryn, Dr. Hailey, Mr. Pinkerton, Desmond Merrion, Dr. Priestly or any of the other largely forgotten or neglected Golden Age tecs of that era then Reggie and Bailey are probably worth checking out, and while not nearly as good or as successful, if you Like Sayers and Lord Peter you might have greater patience with Reggie.
In his time Bailey was one of the big names in the genre mentioned in the same breath as Lord Peter, Poirot, Campion, Alleyn, and Appleby.
June 21st, 2026 at 4:22 pm
I agree. But how I’ve decided to sum up Reggie’s popularity (or the lack thereof) today is by saying, it’s complicated. (It works for me.)
June 21st, 2026 at 4:24 pm
And I do wish Bill Deeck were still around and able to have joined in on this discussion.
June 24th, 2026 at 9:02 pm
A point of order is that Reggie Fortune is not a doctor, as the British back then considered it, he was a surgeon. I don’t know what makes that distinction but no one called him a doctor. I found on line copies of about three of his collections and enjoyed them but they are not conventional detective stories. A lot of the actual detective work happens off stage or barely gets mentioned, but the crimes are often ingenious and the solutions often turn on Reggie wide ranging knowledge. I liked them but I can see where not everyone would agree.