After Victor Rousseau concluded his Dr. Martinus series, he wrote at least two more occult researcher stories. I've posted the first one today.
The immediate successor to Dr. Martinus was Professor Rinaldi: his story appeared in the July 1928 issue of Ghost Stories magazine, just a few months after the conclusion of the final Martinus six-part serial, in May 1928.
Unlike Martinus, who was primarily a researcher into the "science" of the supernatural, Rinaldi seems to make his living as a consultant--an actual occult detective. Rinaldi's would-be client, Goodrich, mentions that Rinaldi has had some amazing success tracking down missing persons. He also gives private seances to small parties of the rich and curious, though it's not clear whether he charges for them or not.
Rinaldi is assisted by his valet cum medium, Potter. His Watson is Herbert Matthews, Research Officer for the Society for the Investigation of Psychical Phenomena.
- The Blackest Magic of All -- Mr. Goodrich engages Rinaldi to track down the killer of Goodrich's sister, and bring him to justice. The problem: the murder occurred before the War, in another country, and no one can even prove it was murder.
Potter's spirit guide is a "Chinaman" (Vietnamese, actually) named Chong-Qua, who speaks like the movie version of Charlie Chan. Charlie Chan in the original novels speaks perfectly fine, grammatical English. It's cringey, but not bad enough to make me throw my laptop across the room. Rinaldi is a bit...unscrupulous, at times, but he stands generally on the side of right. Overall, I really liked this story.
I don't know if there were any other Rinaldi stories; the index that I've been consulting doesn't even mention this one. My source for the original publication comes from the story's reprint, in the Spring 1967 issue of Startling Mystery Stories. It appeared there as "Medium for Justice," which I think is a more appropriate title, but I decided to go with the original.
If I ever happen to find any more Rinaldi tales, I'll happily post them. But until then, at least we have this one to enjoy.