Reading: The Clocks

A young woman is sent on a typing assignment that never existed and discovers a body even Scotland Yard can’t identify in a house occupied by a woman who claims to recognize neither of them. Are Poirot’s little gray cells up to this challenge?

The Story In The Clocks

It was supposed to be just another afternoon assignment for typist Sheila Webb. But when she arrives at the client’s home, she discovers a body posed amongst a mish-mash collection of clocks all set to 4:13. Horrified, Sheila flees the house and runs right into the arms of M15 agent Colin Lamb, who is in the neighborhood on another case.

Lamb teams up with Inspector Dick Hardcastle to solve both cases but eventually seeks out the help of his father’s old friend, Hercule Poirot.

My Thoughts On The Clocks

This is another story into which Poirot enters after the grunt investigating work has been done for him. Personally, I found Lamb and Hardcastle perfectly capable; the late addition of Poirot felt unnecessary and, if I’m being completely frank, even a bit gratuitous. His treatment of Colin–spoon feeding him riddles instead of actually brainstorming with the young man–was especially irritating. Yes, by this time, Christie makes clear that Poirot is well into his senior years and no longer willing to gallivant around the English countryside sniffing out clues, but The Clocks felt less like a Poirot novel and more like a novel in which Poirot makes a cameo. In no other book has he felt less necessary.

I understand that the truth about the clocks and the time of 4:13 was a sticking point with some critics back when the book was published but I disagree. I suspect some of the pushback the book received upon publication was rooted in a desire for a fantastical surprise ending but I thought the way Christie handled the clocks felt entirely organic to the story.

I was not able to borrow or buy a hard copy of The Clocks in time to read it along with the audiobook but I had no trouble keeping the various characters straight in my mind.

And, of course, Hugh Fraser did as marvelous a job performing the various characters as I’ve come to expect of him. This was another female-rich cast and, once again, Fraser was able, somehow, to bring each one to life with her own vibrant personality.