A practical joke with eight alarm clocks goes wrong at a country-house party, and the spirited Bundle Brent follows the clues to a secret society in London
Eight clocks, one mystery
At Chimneys, a grand country house rented out to a wealthy industrialist, a group of young guests decide to play a joke on their friend Gerry Wade, who always oversleeps. They hide eight alarm clocks in his room. In the morning, Gerry does not wake up at all, and only seven of the clocks are on the mantelpiece. Soon a second young man is dying, whispering about Seven Dials.
Who will enjoy it
Readers who enjoyed The Secret of Chimneys, fans of lighter Christie thrillers, and anyone who loves a bold, witty heroine.
What you will get
A lively, witty Christie thriller in which a country-house prank turns deadly and a daring young woman goes undercover among the members of a mysterious London secret society.
The Seven Dials Mystery Facts: Pages, Genre and Setting
Genre
Mystery & Thriller · Country house · Secret society · Superintendent Battle
Length
304 pages · ≈ 9 h
More about this book
The heroine is Lady Eileen Brent, known as Bundle, the restless, fearless daughter of the owner of Chimneys, last seen in The Secret of Chimneys. She drives too fast, asks too many questions and refuses to leave the investigation to the professionals. Her adventures take her to a seedy London club where masked members meet in secret, and her nerve and humour carry the book.
Superintendent Battle returns too, solid and seemingly slow but always one step ahead. Christie mixes comedy, a touch of romance and a genuinely surprising solution, and the light tone makes this a nice change of pace from her darker puzzles. Bundle's friend Jimmy Thesiger and the other bright young people add plenty of banter.
The secret-society plot is far-fetched and some period attitudes date it. Readers wanting a classic closed-circle puzzle may prefer Poirot or Miss Marple. As a romp with a clever twist, it is great fun. Christie plays fair with her clues, and the alarm clocks themselves turn out to matter more than they first seem. The final chapter overturns several assumptions at once, which makes it worth reading slowly. About 304 pages in the William Morrow paperback.
The Secret of Chimneys
The Secret Adversary
The Man in the Brown Suit
Partners in Crime
The Body in the Library
The Mysterious Affair at Styles
Dumb Witness
The Hollow
Evil Under the Sun
A Murder Is Announced
Lord Edgware Dies
Mrs McGinty’s Dead