Customer Reviews

The Mystery of the Screaming Clock (Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators)

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I am going back and re-reading these books that I loved as a boy, and I called the eighth book in the series, The Mystery of the Silver Spider, the quintessential Three Investigators book. However, The Mystery of the Screaming Clock is in many ways even better. While Silver Spider was full of great action, this book is more cerebral and intellectually stimulating. In terms of pure logic, deductive reasoning, and plain old "smarts," this book is masterful--the puzzles left by the mysterious Mr. Clock would challenge even the great Sherlock Holmes. Oh, how I would love to have been (or be now) Jupiter Jones. This whole mystery starts when Jupiter finds a screaming clock in the salvage yard and sets out, as a pure intellectual challenge, to find out who made this clock scream and why. Quickly, the boys are involved in a far-reaching mystery involving stolen paintings, an innocent man framed and imprisoned for the theft, an entire room of screaming clocks, dangerous thugs, and the singular international art thief Hugenay, first encountered in The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot. I wanted to try and figure out the coded messages myself, to see if I could match the wits of Jupe, but the book was just too interesting for me to put down long enough to test my own deductive skills. On a final note, this book contains the funniest line of the series so far when Jupiter finally gives in to Pete's needling to stop using so many big words and says, "Like, it blows my mind to the outer reaches of our galaxy."

This is a great story! Like all the first dozen Three Investigators books, it's a whole heck of a lot of fun and makes you want to be the Fourth Investigator.

Its also very retro kitsch to its era, but I think young readers that go for quality, plot or content will see beyond that the way one does when reading classic literature, Ian Fleming or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

You adopt the attitude "who cares about their mode of transport or communication device, it's the story."

And it's a heck of a lot more fun that classic literature!

The kids always get placed in a serious tight spots like being kidnapped, caught in revolutions in third world countries, captured by villains, left in sea caves with tides rising, a midst bank robberies, or almost run off cliff highways, but they get out of it by action and Jupiter Jones clever wit!

I admit when I heard the title of this one, I was thinking "dud" and "how the heck are clocks going to scream or even be interesting as a plot device?" But it subtly under promised and WAY over delivered. The story is clever, moves quickly, places them in tricky jams, and allows them to use their wits to get out.

After you read a few Three Investigators books, you know some of the plot devices and the writing formula, but they are all good and its like saying you know what comes after dinner--dessert--that's not a bad thing, or that James Bond will get the bad guy in his film--that's why you went to the theater, to see him do it.

I was a Hardy Boys fan until I found Three Investigators books. I flat out love reading these books and credit old friend, Shane Black (screenwriter Lethal Weapon, The Last Boy Scout, Long Kiss Goodnight, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Last action Hero), for introducing me and getting me hooked. If anyone knows telling stories, he does. I can't recommend the series or this one enough.

I would read the first 12 in order, but strongly recommend the Mysteries of: the Terror Castle, the Green Ghost and the Skeleton Key, as well as the Silver Spider which had one minor slow point before it went roller coaster.

I also recommend getting the titles when Hitchcock was still involved as a plot device (intro and conclusion) and one can usually pick up decent editions in Ebay or Amazon used for $7.00 to $15.00 for a respectable and readable hard cover copy (only get the hard covers).

Side note: If you enjoyed the Three Investigators books back then, now, or for your kids, I suggest you check out "The 7 Scouts And The Mystery of The Commie Spies" here on Barnes & Noble which draws inspiration and homage to the Three Investigators books among others then and now. It could be likened to the Three Investigators books present day and has been described as "the Hardy Boys meets Ocean's Eleven and Mission: Impossible" or "the Goonies meets the Bourne Identity."

Happy reading!

"Mystery of the Screaming Clock" was one of my very favorite Three Investigators books. The tale begins when Jupiter Jones, Pete Crenshaw and Bob Andrews find a clock that "screams" mysteriously. As they try to discover why anyone would construct such a device, the mystery unfolds and their clues lead them to wild new places! Of course, I would never disclose the ending, but let me tell you, it's a shocker!

Item shiped in a timely manner and arrived in the described condition. Would use this seller again.

I read this series as a child and am now turning my kids onto it. It is a great vocabulary builder that will keep them on the edge of their seats and have them trying constantly to figure out who done it. Jupiter Jones and his crew are just plain fun to follow through this incredible literary series.

I was a devoted fan of the Hardy Boys series of adolescent adventure books when I was a young teen, but this is the first "Three Investigators" book that I have ever read. The action is entertaining in the tradition of the Hardy Boys and is generally a bit more cerebral in nature than what takes place in the Hardy Boys.
Jupiter Jones, Bob Andrews and Pete Crenshaw are three teenage investigators and they are based in Rocky Beach, California, as short distance from Hollywood. In this episode, they are investigating the theft of a set of valuable paintings and their prime suspect is A. Clock, the alias of actor Ben Clock. Clock's expertise was in making chilling screams for radio mystery theaters and one of his screams has been captured as the alarm sound of a clock.
The investigative team is based in a junkyard where access to their abode is via "secret" tunnels, an aspect that will warm the heart of all adolescent boys. There is a series of coded messages of limited difficulty so that the reader has a good chance of decoding at least part of them. After reading the book, I found myself regretting the fact that the "Three Investigators" series was not a part of my youth. In some ways they are better than the Hardy Boys, a fact that I would have enjoyed.

This book is great for all ages. I am not young but found it fascinating and intrigging.

I enjoyed reading this book. It was interesting and it made mewant to keep on reading. I recomend it to any Three Investigator fan.

This book is the ninth in the Three Investigator series. "The Mystery of the Silver Spider" precedes this book, and "The Mystery of the Moaning Cave" follows. As we learned in previous books, The Three Investigators are Jupiter Jones, Pete Crenshaw and Bob Andrews. Jupiter is the intelligent, sometimes inadvertently arrogant member of the group. Pete Crenshaw is typically the muscle of the group. Pete is usually quite fearless. Bob Andrews works at the library and handles records and research for the group.

This mystery begins on the first page of chapter 1. The Jones Salvage Yard, owned by Jupiter's aunt and uncle, received a box of stuff, including an electric clock. Jupiter plugs the clock only to have the clock scream. Since the Three Investigators (We Investigate Anything!!!) are currently not engaged in a mystery, Jupiter decides to investigate the mysterious clock.

The clock takes the three boys to the house of Mr. Hadley, though the boys thought the house belonged to Bert Clock. The boys discover a mother and her son Harry Smith living in the house. Their husband and father, Mr. Smith, is in prison for stealing valuable paintings. Also in the house is renter Mr. Jeeters. Mrs. Smith and Harry try to convince The Three Investigators that Mr. Smith was wrongly accused and Harry eventually asks The Three Investigators for help in getting his father out of prison.

The boys soon discover that Mr. Hadley and Mr. Clock is the same person. The boys also begin to suspicion that Harry is indeed correct in telling them that his father did not steal the paintings found in their house. The mystery continues to deepen as the boys track down messages left by Mr. Clock to help locate a treasure. Others are also seeking the treasure and the boys encounter those others more than once, including being captured! The boys also learn that Mr. Jeeters is interested in the mystery of Mr. Clock and his treasure.

The action intensifies until the boys eventually encounter an international criminal they have seen before! Will the boys find the treasure left by the mysterious Albert Clock? Will the boys be able to prove Mr. Smith's innocence? What is the meaning of the room of screaming clocks left behind by Mr. Clock? Where has Mr. Clock gone? Will The Three Investigators be able to decode the mysterious messages left by Mr. Clock? There are many mysteries for a reader to learn the answers to!

This mystery is yet another of the better books in this series. The clues and their solution are interesting and potentially solvable by an astute reader. I recommend a first-time reader begin the series with "The Secret of Terror Castle," the first book in this series, but this book will also interest most first-time readers of The Three Investigators.

Enjoy!