Mr. Fortune, Please (1928)
My review:
The Missing Husband:
The Cat Burglar:
The Lion Party:
The Violet Farm:
The Quiet Lady:
The Little House: "Mrs. Pemberton always calls it providential. She is not the only one. But when he hears her say so Mr. Fortune looks at her with a certain envy. It is one of the few cases which have frightened him." Unmistakably an H.C. Bailey short story, this tale of kidnapping and drug-dealing is superb. Mr. Fortune is visited by an old woman who tells him that her grand-daughter's cat has vanished—stolen by a little girl in the house next door; yet, when she inquired about the girl, Mrs. Pemberton was told that there was no such person. It is on the strength of such a clue, the death of a drug addict in Kensington Gardens, and the cardboard drawing of a cat, that Mr. Fortune is able to save a life and arrest a truly fiendish villain. The atmosphere of tension and horror is kept up to the end, and Reggie is in fine form throughout.