In general I like Reggie Fortune, though I usually like his short stories better than his novels. I dislike this novel (spoiler warning) because the villain turns out to be a policeman. ( )

The title to this novel was very intriguing giving the impression of meaning one thing, but in reality meaning another. It is taken from the saying "Black land, white land, always at strife" . It came from an area of the British Isles where the dark loam rich fertile ground is cheek and jowl next to white chalky dirt fit for nothing but sheep. There has always been fierce competition to own the more productive black land.

This is the second of H. C. Bailey's Mr. Fortune novels and is felt by some to be his best case. I found myself wishing the prose was more black and white. Mr. Fortune speaks in a convoluted confounding fashion that was difficult to understand at times.Sometimes he is given to grandiloquent statements like "Everything meant something and nothing meant anything."

These words express my feelings to a T. ( )

Reginald Fortune is another of those 'Golden Age' amateur detectives without which the official police force would be completely lost.
He appears in many short stories and several novels of the 1920's - 1940's. In character I find him clever but arrogant and indeed somewhat annoying. It is also rather incredible just how much the police kow-tow to him.
In this story,said by many to be his best full-length novel,he initially investigates the discovery of the body of a young boy which has been unearthed when chalk hills break open in the County of Durshire. The 'Black Land,White Land' of the title indicate the barren chalk and the rich black soil which divides the area. As the landowners of the area fight for control of the 'black land' a series of murders engages Fortune's interest and eventually,after putting him in considerable danger,leads him to solve this 'nasty' case. ( )