The Clock Strikes Twelve

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.

Praise for Patricia Wentworth

"Miss Wentworth is a first-rate storyteller." — The Daily Telegraph

"Patricia Wentworth has created a great detective in Miss Silver, the little old lady who nobody notices, but who in turn notices everything." —Paula Gosling, CWA Gold Dagger Award winner

"Some of the best examples of the British country-house murder mystery." — Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine