H. C. Bailey


Henry Christopher Bailey was an English author of detective fiction.

Life

Bailey was born in London. He studied Classics at Oxford University, earning a B.A. in 1901. Bailey began working as a journalist for The Daily Telegraph, writing war journalism, drama reviews, and editorials for the newspaper.
Bailey retired from writing in 1950, and spent the last years of his life living in North Wales.

Fiction

Bailey wrote mainly short stories featuring a medically qualified detective called Reggie Fortune. Fortune's mannerisms and speech put him into the same class as Lord Peter Wimsey but the stories are much darker, and often involve murderous obsession, police corruption, financial skulduggery, child abuse and miscarriages of justice. Although Mr Fortune is seen at his best in short stories, he also appears in several novels.
A second series character, Joshua Clunk, is a sanctimonious lawyer who exposes corruption and blackmail in local politics, and who manages to profit from the crimes. He appears in eleven novels published between 1930 and 1950, including The Sullen Sky Mystery, widely regarded as Bailey's magnum opus.
Bailey also wrote historical fiction. His first historical novel, My Lady of Orange revolves around William the Silent, and his involvement in the Dutch Revolt.
Bailey's works were published in a number of magazines, primarily The Windsor Magazine but also Adventure and Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine.

Works

-- At that time Adventure did not commission covers based on published stories. So this was a coincidence but not a cover story.

Romantic and historic fiction

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