Full Description
A twisty and ingenious classic Japanese murder mystery from the author of The Decagon House Murders
The remote Clock House is filled with priceless timepieces from across the world. It is also rumoured to be haunted by the spirit of a dead girl. A team of ghosthunters visit the mansion to investigate, but their stay has barely begun when one of them is gruesomely murdered, and the survivors realize that they are trapped inside the house with a killer...
As the murderer's bloody spree continues, the team are picked off one by one. Can the brilliant detective Shimada Kiyoshi crack the enigma of the Clock House before all those inside have been slain? And can you guess the solution before he does?
PRAISE FOR THE BIZARRE HOUSE MYSTERIES
'A knowing tribute to classic crime, it features all manner of puzzles, including locked rooms, jigsaws and magic tricks' - Mark Sanderson, The Times
'Fiendish foul play... Ayatsuji's skillful, furious pacing propels the narrative... This is a homage to Golden Age detective fiction, but it's also unabashed entertainment' - Sarah Weinman New York Times
'A psychological-mystical thriller built on tropes from cozier crime fiction. Agatha Christie-type stopwatch sequences and John Dickson Carr-style locked-room conundrums coexist with Poe-like Gothic sequences full of severed limbs and charred flesh... No one can accuse Mr. Ayatsuji of not sustaining the eerie mood of his strange story until its very last sentence' Wall Street Journal
'The dénouement was fiendishly clever... An engaging, entertaining mystery with a puzzle fit for the most ardent of armchair detectives' NB Magazine
Contents
Floor Plans 8
List of Characters 11
Prologue 13
1 The Clock Tower without Hands 29
2 Two Late Arrivals 52
3 The Old Wing (I) 59
4 Chain of Death 89
5 The Old Wing (II) 105
6 Entrusted Words 122
7 The Old Wing (III) 141
8 The Sixteen-Year-Old Bride 163
9 The Old Wing (IIII) 182
10 The Silent Goddesses 210
11 The Old Wing (V) 226
12 The Four Children 256
13 The Old Wing (VI) 279
14 The Positives and Negatives of Staying Awake 317
15 The Nightmare Ends 326
16 The Song of the Goddesses 343
Epilogue 409
