Clocks [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Agatha Christie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1970

The new-look series of Hercule Poirot books for the 21st century. As instructed, stenographer Sheila Webb let herself into the house at 19 Wilbraham Crescent. It was then that she made a grisly discovery: the body of a dead man sprawled across the living room floor. What intrigued Poirot about the case was the time factor. Although in a state of shock, Sheila clearly remembered having heard a cuckoo clock strike three o?ock. Yet, the four other clocks in the living room all showed the time as 4.13. Even more strangely, only one of these clocks belonged to the owner of the house-

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Deliberately fantastic.' Times Literary Supplement 'Superlative Christie! extremely ingenious.' The Bookman 'A sure-fire attention-gripper naturally.' Saturday Review 'Here is the grand-manner detective story in all its glory.' New York Times --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Agatha Christie was born in Torquay in 1890 and became, quite simply, the best-selling novelist in history. Her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, written towards the end of the First World War, introduced us to Hercule Poirot, who was to become the most popular detective in crime fiction since Sherlock Holmes. She is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and another billion in over 100 foreign languages. She is the author of 80 crime novels and short story collections, 19 plays, and six novels under the name of Mary Westmacott. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Charnwood Pub; Lrg edition (June 1970)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 085456666X
• ISBN-13: 978-0854566662
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,974,945 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Agatha Christie was born in 1890 and created the detective Hercule Poirot in her debut novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920). She achieved wide popularity with The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) and produced a total of eighty novels and short-story collections over six decades.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Impossibly Delicious Set-Up, February 25, 2005

By 

Ricky Hunter (New York City, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Clocks (Hercule Poirot) (Paperback)

One will have to forgive Agatha Christie a rather weak solution (and it is a corker of a terrible ending, full of an over-supply of red herrings, hitherto unknown facts, and abundant coincidences) in her Hercule Poirot mystery The Clocks as the set-up is so delicious. A girl is called for specifically from an agency to be a typist for a blind woman and to let herself into the house as the woman would not be there when the typist arrived. The stenographer arrives to find a dead man, a multitude of clocks, and the return of said blind woman who never called for a typist and has no idea how a dead man got into her house bringing four clocks all set for about an hour ahead of time. Hercule Poirot himself only makes three brief appearences in the story making it different from the usual Poirot novel, possibly a disappointment for those fans of the Belgian detective. The mystery and suspense are sustained throughout and if the reader is willing to suspend a great of deal of disbelief the journey can be fun, if not entirely rewarding.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Murder Most Timely, June 14, 2001

By 

Antoinette Klein (Hoover, Alabama USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Clocks (Mass Market Paperback)

We learn that Hercule Poirot has taken up the study of classic mysteries and his knowledge of these leads him to solve the mystery in this particular case.

Colin Lamb, a young marine biologist and Intelligence agent, is paying a visit to Wilbraham Crescent when a young girl comes running out of one of the homes. She is screaming that she has found a dead man inside. Indeed, a corpse is there surrounded by a room filled with clocks set to 4:13, although it is only 3:13. Colin takes the problem to his father's old friend, Hercule Poirot, who at once pronounces it a "simple" case. Two more murders, an unidentifiable body, a mysterious secretarial school, and the search for a clever spy are the clues that Poirot's little grey cells must sift through before he reveals the answer to this "simple" case.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Trust No Clue (hehe), July 5, 2004

By 

"madonluv" (MY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Clocks (Hc Collection) (Bonded Leather)

The first time I read this novel, I had to reread it again. Why? So many questions still linger at the end of the story even though the pages has ended. I wondered and reread and after the third reading, I finally got it all.

The Clocks is a story that has two main plots, and the one has absolutely nothing to do with the other. But they were connected in a way when a young typist finds a dead body in a livingroom of a blind woman. From there it's red herring all the way. But bits of real clues emerge when Mr Lamb (a fake name) talks to a girl with a broken leg.

Poirot only comes in now and then but became more interested when another murder occurs, while Lamb becomes Poirot's legs, ears and eyes. Oh yes, there are clues aplenty, but a broken high heel has never been this important as a clue.

Christie delivers this story with delightful take that neither too wordy nor too lengthy. This is another often neglected classic Christie, so get it.