Call Mr. Fortune · Chapters
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Chapter companions for Call Mr. Fortune by H. C. Bailey.
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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.
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