1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Boisgobey, Fortuné du

BOISGOBEY, FORTUNÉ DU (1824–1891), French writer of fiction, whose real surname was Castille, was born at Granville (Manche) on the 11th of September 1824. He served in the army pay department in Algeria from 1844 to 1848, and extended his travels to the East. He made his literary début in the Petit journal with a story entitled Deux comédiens (1868). With Le Forçat colonel (1872) he became one of the most popular feuilleton writers. His police stories, though not so convincing as those of Émile Gaboriau, with whom his name is generally associated, had a great circulation, and many of them have been translated into English. Among his stories may be mentioned: Les Mystères du nouveau Paris (1876), Le Demi-Monde sous la Terreur (1877), Les Nuits de Constantinople (1882), Le Cri du sang (1885), La Main froide (1889). Boisgobey died on the 26th of February 1891.