The Clock Strikes Twelve

by Patricia Wentworth

Ebook, 2011

Library's rating

Library's review

It's New Year's Eve, 1940, and the Paradine family is gathered for dinner and a low-key celebration in light of the ongoing war. Things are thrown off-kilter right away when patriarch James announces that his niece's estranged husband will be joining them. The atmosphere sours further when James
Show More
makes an announcement at dinner that threatens to expose one of the people present as a thief, unless they visit him in his study before midnight to confess. When James is found dead the next morning, the suspect pool is small indeed, and Miss Silver is brought in by the most likely suspect to clear his name. This seventh entry in the Miss Silver series has a lot of moving parts, plotwise, but it all comes together neatly in the end. And as usual for a Wentworth novel, at least one romantic entanglement is resolved along with the murder.
Show Less

Description

Fiction. Mystery. HTML:When a British industrialist is murdered on New Year's Eve, his wealthy family members are the prime suspects. Though they share a manor house, the Paradines are not close, and their patriarch does nothing to discourage the petty jealousies that divide wealthy families. A cold figure, James Paradine prefers work to his relations, but on New Year's Eve he convenes the household. Valuable plans have been stolen from his office, and only one person could be to blame. He knows the culprit's name, and gives the thief until midnight to come forward. By midnight, James Paradine is dead. Was it the thief who killed him, or could it have been someone else, acting on different motives entirely? The local constables are baffled, and it is left to prim detective Maud Silver to out the murderer.… (more)

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

1944
Page: 0.4226 seconds