Call Mr. Fortune · Chapters
Chapters explained
Chapter companions for Call Mr. Fortune by H. C. Bailey.
Chapter 1
Case I: The Archduke's Tea
Mr. Reginald Fortune, a young doctor with a comfortable life and a lack of zeal, is left in charge of his father's practice. He is called to attend the Archduke Maurice, who has been found unconscious after a motor accident. At the house, he meets the Archduke Leopold and the Archduchess Ianthe. During his examination, Reggie discovers a thin sliver of steel near the Archduke's heart, suggesting an attempted murder. Later, at a tea with the Archduke Leopold, Reggie realizes Leopold is trying to poison him. He switches the cups, and Leopold drinks the poisoned tea and dies. The chapter ends with Reggie being called away to another case.
Chapter 2
Case II: The Sleeping Companion
Dr. Reginald Fortune attends to his patient Birdie Bolton, a music hall performer who complains of troubling dreams. The next morning, Birdie is found murdered, and her companion May Weston is arrested. Reggie investigates the scene, encounters various characters including the solicitor Donald Gordon, and begins to uncover inconsistencies in the case.
Chapter 3
Case III: The Nice Girl
Dr. Reginald Fortune, a reluctant specialist in the surgery of crime, learns of the murder of Sir Albert Lunt via a club tape machine. He is called in by multiple parties, including Scotland Yard's Lomas and a mysterious Cranford. At Prior's Colney, he examines the body and meets Lady Lunt, who fears an innocent man (Cranford) will be convicted. She and secretary Radnor Hall suggest that Sir Albert's brother Victor had motive and opportunity, given recent business friction. Fortune begins his investigation, skeptical of the official police theory.
Chapter 4
Case IV: The Efficient Assassin
Reginald Fortune is drawn into the murder of Stephenson Charlecote, found stabbed outside his son Geoffrey's Chelsea home. The case involves family estrangement, a secret marriage to an Italian singer, and a suspicious will. Fortune uncovers a conspiracy between the family doctor Newton and cousin Herbert Charlecote, leading to Newton's suicide and the resolution of the crime.
Chapter 5
Case V: The Hottentot Venus
Reginald Fortune is drawn into a peculiar case at a girls' school run by Lomas's sister, Miss Evelyn Lomas, after mysterious disturbances and theft of photographs occur. Fortune discovers a Hottentot Venus figurine left behind, linking the incidents to the Prince of Ragusa, who is secretly courting Hilda Crowland (the Princess of Ragusa). Fortune orchestrates a reunion aboard the Prince's yacht, revealing the Prince's feigned injury and securing the figurine as a memento, much to Lomas's dismay.
Chapter 6
Case VI: The Business Minister
Reggie Fortune returns from Spain to a blizzard in London and is immediately drawn into the Great Coal Ramp scandal by Lomas. A faceless corpse is found at Montmorency House, and the investigation reveals connections to Horace Kimball, a civil servant. Reggie uncovers Kimball's motive: a decades-old hatred for his sister's husband, whom he drove to suicide, and later for his nephew, whom he manipulated and ultimately murdered. The case ends with Kimball charged with murder, and Reggie reflects on the pure, diabolical nature of the crime.
Chapter 7
Phase I: The Scandal
Reggie Fortune returns from Spain to a blizzard in London and is immediately drawn into a political scandal by his friend Lomas. The Great Coal Ramp involves insider trading based on leaked government plans to nationalize coal mines. Only the President of the Board of Trade, Horace Kimball, and his private secretary, Sandford, knew the details, leading to suspicion falling on Sandford. Lomas is under pressure to find a culprit but lacks solid evidence.
Chapter 8
Phase II: The Private Secretary
Reggie, Lomas, and Superintendent Bell discuss the mysterious deposit of three thousand pounds into Sandford's bank account, linking him to the Coal Ramp scandal. Horace Kimball, Sandford's chief, is forced to confront Sandford, who denies any knowledge of the payment. The chapter explores Sandford's obscure origins and the growing suspicion against him.
Chapter 9
Phase III: The Man Under the Snow
A faceless corpse is discovered in the well of Montmorency House after the snow melts. Reggie Fortune is called to the mortuary by Superintendent Bell, where he examines the body and determines the cause of death: a blow to the temple followed by the face being battered in, with additional injuries from a fall. The body's clothes have been stripped of identifying marks, suggesting a calculated, cold-blooded murder. The investigation leads to the mysterious tenant Mr. Rand, who has not been seen for days, though his description does not match the corpse. Fortune theorizes they are looking for a rational but mad killer.
Chapter 10
Phase IV: The Charge
Reggie Fortune and Lomas discuss the case as a work of pure art, a crime unstained by greed or sentiment. Lomas and Bell meet with Horace Kimball, whom Reggie questions about a man named Mason (also known as Rand) who was found murdered. Reggie reveals that Kimball visited Mason in a nursing home, and that a snuffbox like Kimball's was found at the murder scene containing cocaine. Lomas refuses to charge Kimball due to weak circumstantial evidence and his status as a Cabinet Minister. Reggie insists on watching Kimball and Sandford, probing their true identities. Bell notes Kimball's clean life but Reggie presses for deeper knowledge, unsettling Lomas with his uncanny insight into men.
Chapter 11
Phase V: The Reply
Reggie Fortune learns that Sandford has traveled to Kimball's estate. Shortly after, news arrives that Kimball has been killed, apparently thrown into a lake by Sandford. Upon investigation, it emerges that Kimball deliberately provoked the incident, intending to be killed and have Sandford hanged for murder. The detectives realize that Kimball's plan was foiled only because they had him under surveillance.
Chapter 12
Phase VI: Jane Brown
Reginald Fortune and Lomas investigate the Kimball case, uncovering the backstory of Horace Kimball's obsessive jealousy over his sister Ellen's marriage to Sandford. Jane Brown, revealed to be actress Joan Amber, provides crucial information about the Kimball family history, including Sandford's disgrace and Ellen's fearful retreat to North Wales. The chapter deepens the mystery of Kimball's motives and his vendetta against Sandford.
