The clocks

The story starts off strangely enough. Sheila Webb, a typist, gets a call to go to 19 Wilbraham Crescent to do a typing job for a Miss Pebmarsh, who has specifically asked for her. Sheila thinks this odd because she has never heard of Miss Pebmarsh or this address before. When Sheila arrives, there is no one home, so she goes in like she was instructed:

"It was an ordinary quite pleasant sitting room, a little overfurnished for modern tastes. The only thing at all remarkable about it was the profusion of clocks — a grandfather clock ticking in the corner, a Dresden china clock on the mantelpiece, a silver carriage clock on the desk, a small fancy gilt clock on a whatnot near the fireplace and on a table by the window, a faded leather travelling clock, with ROSEMARY in worn gilt letters across the corner."

All the clocks are set at 4:10, which is the wrong time. It is actually 3:00. Sheila is startled by a cuckoo clock above her head and then notices something else:

"Sprawled on the floor was the body of a man. His eyes were half open and sightless. There was a dark moist patch on the front of his dark grey suit. Almost mechanically Sheila bent down. She touched his cheek — cold — his hand, the same … touched the wet patch and drew her hand away sharply, staring at it in horror."

Soon afterwards, Miss Pebmarsh arrives and a panicked Sheila literally runs into Colin Lamb, who is walking down the street. An interview with Miss Pebmarsh reveals four things - she has no idea who the dead man could be, she is blind, she did not call for Sheila Webb to do any typing for her, and only one of the above-mentioned clocks is hers. Things only get more mysterious after this - and there are more deaths.

This is a fun mystery with a very good puzzle. It does pay to read closely because you can easily miss some important clues that seem very unimportant at the time. There are two story lines - one involving the murder of the mysterious man and one involving Colin Lamb's work - but they converge (sort of) in an unexpected fashion that does not feel forced at all. Sometimes coincidences just aren't believable, but this time they work.

I would have rated this five stars except for two things - one, Poirot doesn't appear until Chapter 14, during which time we have to put up two rather boring investigators (Colin Lamb and DI Hardcastle), and two, this is one of those books with a changing POV, both Colin's and an omniscient narrator. I hate changing POVs - they're confusing and distracting.

This is a later Poirot (copyright 1963) and this is a different Poirot than in the earlier books - tired, less mobile, and more apt to use other people to do his leg work. In this book, the helper is Colin Lamb (which we are told is an assumed name). Colin works for British intelligence and his father was apparently someone of importance in British law enforcement before he retired. (Note: I always like to think Colin's father is Superintendent Battle, though there is absolutely no basis for this.)