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No Hands on the Clock
A Humphrey Campbell mystery.
A fistful of cigarette butts, a ransom note and a dead redhead catapult Humphrey Campbell into a fast murder chase. Detective Humphrey Campbell had not been on the job twelve hours before he got an idea of how tough his assignment would be.
THAT MORNING: Humphrey Campbell, in search of a millionaire's son, drops into the bank in Reno, Nevada, to cash a check. Five minutes later he finds himself in the middle of a bank robbery. One of the thugs hints darkly that this is not the first time he has laid eyes on Campbell.
15 MINUTES LATER: Campbell and his boss, Oscar Morgan, hit the highway in search of the Benedict retreat. Pulling out to pass a dilapidated old touring car, Campbell is flabbergasted to see it disappear down the road ahead in a cloud of dust.
AROUND NOON: Campbell and his boss drive up in front of the Benedict dock and a blue-eyed beauty wearing slacks shows up.
A LITTLE LATER: A piano player tells Campbell how young Benedict used to come into the bar with a red-head...a glamorous dame with strange eyes.
THAT NIGHT: Opening a door with a skeleton key, Campbell stumbles on a girl, a red-head, who has been scalped. A hunting knife has been plunged into her throat.
Basis for the rapid-fire 1941 B-movie, starring Chester Morris and Jean Parker.
A fistful of cigarette butts, a ransom note and a dead redhead catapult Humphrey Campbell into a fast murder chase. Detective Humphrey Campbell had not been on the job twelve hours before he got an idea of how tough his assignment would be.
THAT MORNING: Humphrey Campbell, in search of a millionaire's son, drops into the bank in Reno, Nevada, to cash a check. Five minutes later he finds himself in the middle of a bank robbery. One of the thugs hints darkly that this is not the first time he has laid eyes on Campbell.
15 MINUTES LATER: Campbell and his boss, Oscar Morgan, hit the highway in search of the Benedict retreat. Pulling out to pass a dilapidated old touring car, Campbell is flabbergasted to see it disappear down the road ahead in a cloud of dust.
AROUND NOON: Campbell and his boss drive up in front of the Benedict dock and a blue-eyed beauty wearing slacks shows up.
A LITTLE LATER: A piano player tells Campbell how young Benedict used to come into the bar with a red-head...a glamorous dame with strange eyes.
THAT NIGHT: Opening a door with a skeleton key, Campbell stumbles on a girl, a red-head, who has been scalped. A hunting knife has been plunged into her throat.
Basis for the rapid-fire 1941 B-movie, starring Chester Morris and Jean Parker.
Hardcover
First published March 1, 1939
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 4, 2025
Set in Nevada, 1938, this is a missing person mystery with some added features from the genres of hard boiled crime and noir. A bank robbery, shootouts, a few murders, potential femme fatales, a good number of suspicious characters and a dash of romance are all part of the story. The protagonist is a wisecracking, milk drinking, Private Investigator who has an eye for the ladies. There's a lot happening here; the pace is fast, there are a few plot twists and things get a bit confusing but the tone is light and the action is, at best, "soft boiled". It's a fun and entertaining read but not serious hard boiled stuff or legit noir. Without much in the way of tension or suspense, the book still held my interest, flowed along nicely and was an enjoyable read. I'm looking forward to reading at least one more book by Geoffrey Homes in the near future. 3 and a half to 4 stars
April 2, 2024
A good example of 1939 mystery noir. I enjoy that genre, if it’s not too hard boiled, and this wasn’t. The affable private investigator, Humphrey Campbell, spends as much time sleuthing in the Reno sun as he does at night.
This is my first time reading this pseudonymous author, Daniel Mainwaring, who gave up writing mystery novels and went to Hollywood as a successful screenwriter through the 1940’s to the 1970’s.
Here, the writing is clear, direct, and with good word choices. The author’s background in newspaper reporting is shown in the realistic scenes with newspapermen questioning Humphrey and the Reno police chief about the multiple murders.
The sometimes convoluted plot kept me guessing and the author played fair with the reader seeing what Humphrey saw.
Though he did keep much of his conclusions to himself and in dialogue with all the players he did not let on what he was really thinking. It was a circuitous, but entertaining, route to the whodunnit ending. I guessed wrong who it was. I thought the deaths were sad, but there wasn’t much grief shown. There was more surface than depth with most of the characters, which made them seem to have an air of mystery. The story is Humphrey’s POV.
Humphrey was one for the ladies in many scenes. He had a romantic streak that often came up against some less than honest, but beautiful, women. One might think that this era was sexually repressed, but not in Humphrey’s world or in the setting of the divorce capitol of the world as Reno once was. So much ogling, suggestive behavior, and adultery! I enjoyed the lack of sugarcoating of people’s baser instincts. That’s what noir is all about!
I got a ‘Nero Wolfe’ vibe as Humphrey did all the legwork for his often hungover boss, Oscar. He was in and out of some deadly situations. This was an action packed plot line along with a lot of inner musing about people’s motives in romance and about money.
I enjoyed this dip into a missing person mystery that becomes much more.
I have a literary relative who for this year is sending me monthly fiction novels of bygone eras.
They have been an eclectic selection so far and I very much enjoyed reading this one. The volumes themselves are a pleasure to hold and study on. The cover on this one is far different than the one here at Goodreads.
The author’s brief inscription: ‘To Lionel Moise’, led me down an internet rabbit hole to find very little about a WWI Army lieutenant who became a Kansas City newspaperman and influenced a young Ernest Hemingway and changed the course of the life of a young Dorothy Day, the social activist up for Catholic sainthood, through a love affair and its tragic aftermath. Learning about all this was more interesting than the book! But I would read more by this author, who passed away in 1977.
This is my first time reading this pseudonymous author, Daniel Mainwaring, who gave up writing mystery novels and went to Hollywood as a successful screenwriter through the 1940’s to the 1970’s.
Here, the writing is clear, direct, and with good word choices. The author’s background in newspaper reporting is shown in the realistic scenes with newspapermen questioning Humphrey and the Reno police chief about the multiple murders.
The sometimes convoluted plot kept me guessing and the author played fair with the reader seeing what Humphrey saw.
Though he did keep much of his conclusions to himself and in dialogue with all the players he did not let on what he was really thinking. It was a circuitous, but entertaining, route to the whodunnit ending. I guessed wrong who it was. I thought the deaths were sad, but there wasn’t much grief shown. There was more surface than depth with most of the characters, which made them seem to have an air of mystery. The story is Humphrey’s POV.
Humphrey was one for the ladies in many scenes. He had a romantic streak that often came up against some less than honest, but beautiful, women. One might think that this era was sexually repressed, but not in Humphrey’s world or in the setting of the divorce capitol of the world as Reno once was. So much ogling, suggestive behavior, and adultery! I enjoyed the lack of sugarcoating of people’s baser instincts. That’s what noir is all about!
I got a ‘Nero Wolfe’ vibe as Humphrey did all the legwork for his often hungover boss, Oscar. He was in and out of some deadly situations. This was an action packed plot line along with a lot of inner musing about people’s motives in romance and about money.
I enjoyed this dip into a missing person mystery that becomes much more.
I have a literary relative who for this year is sending me monthly fiction novels of bygone eras.
They have been an eclectic selection so far and I very much enjoyed reading this one. The volumes themselves are a pleasure to hold and study on. The cover on this one is far different than the one here at Goodreads.
The author’s brief inscription: ‘To Lionel Moise’, led me down an internet rabbit hole to find very little about a WWI Army lieutenant who became a Kansas City newspaperman and influenced a young Ernest Hemingway and changed the course of the life of a young Dorothy Day, the social activist up for Catholic sainthood, through a love affair and its tragic aftermath. Learning about all this was more interesting than the book! But I would read more by this author, who passed away in 1977.
November 16, 2018
Major characters:
Humphrey Campbell, 28, works for Oscar Morgan
Oscar Morgan, age 65, 310 lbs, owner of Morgan Missing Person Bureau of Los Angeles
Warren E. Benedict, millionaire
Dale Benedict, his son, disappered
Rose Benedict, ward of Warren Benedict, fiancee of Dale
Mrs. Billie Toker, a.k.a. "Gypsy", waiting out her divorce interval in a Reno bar
David Paulson, the bar's piano player, who knows everything and everyone
Irene Donovan, the redhead last seen with Dale
Locale: Reno, Nevada
Synopsis: In the opening, workers are installing a strange clock on the outside wall of the Darwin Mortuary - a clock with no hands. Leon Darwin explains it is because "death is timeless".
Humphrey Campbell is in a bank when it is robbed, and one of robbers mentions that Campbell is familiar. The robbers escape. Campbell and Oscar Morgan work as private "heir finders", and are hired by millionaire Warren E. Benedict of Lake Tahoe to locate his missing son, Dale Benedict, last seen in Reno. Dale is engaged to Warren's ward, Rose Benedict.
Campbell and Morgan head to Reno. Campbell meets up with "Gypsy" (Mrs. Billie Toker), who is waiting out the residency requirement to obtain a divorce by hanging out in a bar, where David Paulson plays piano and knows everyone and everything. Paulson tips him off that Dale had left with redhead Irene Donovan. Campbell heads to her place, only to find her murdered. Then a ransom note arrives for Dale Benedict.
Review:
This book reminds me of the writings of Erle Stanley Gardner, when he wrote at A. A. Fair. There are no long descriptions, but nonstop tough guy action on every page. We have the wisecracking P.I. who is, of course, irresistable to women. Much of the action takes place out in desolate desert at night, again reminiscent of Gardner.
There are a couple of odd aspects: every character gets named, no matter how brief their appearance in the story. When someone pops in for a moment, the reader wonders if he will have to remember this character for future reference. The other odd aspect is the clock with no hands installed at the mortuary - from its appearance in chapter one, one expected it would have a central point in the story - much like the various clock and candle gimmicks in Gardner - but it was carefully described at the beginning and that was that. There was only one additional passing reference to it near the end. And I was looking forward to hearing more about it.
Humphrey Campbell, 28, works for Oscar Morgan
Oscar Morgan, age 65, 310 lbs, owner of Morgan Missing Person Bureau of Los Angeles
Warren E. Benedict, millionaire
Dale Benedict, his son, disappered
Rose Benedict, ward of Warren Benedict, fiancee of Dale
Mrs. Billie Toker, a.k.a. "Gypsy", waiting out her divorce interval in a Reno bar
David Paulson, the bar's piano player, who knows everything and everyone
Irene Donovan, the redhead last seen with Dale
Locale: Reno, Nevada
Synopsis: In the opening, workers are installing a strange clock on the outside wall of the Darwin Mortuary - a clock with no hands. Leon Darwin explains it is because "death is timeless".
Humphrey Campbell is in a bank when it is robbed, and one of robbers mentions that Campbell is familiar. The robbers escape. Campbell and Oscar Morgan work as private "heir finders", and are hired by millionaire Warren E. Benedict of Lake Tahoe to locate his missing son, Dale Benedict, last seen in Reno. Dale is engaged to Warren's ward, Rose Benedict.
Campbell and Morgan head to Reno. Campbell meets up with "Gypsy" (Mrs. Billie Toker), who is waiting out the residency requirement to obtain a divorce by hanging out in a bar, where David Paulson plays piano and knows everyone and everything. Paulson tips him off that Dale had left with redhead Irene Donovan. Campbell heads to her place, only to find her murdered. Then a ransom note arrives for Dale Benedict.
Review:
This book reminds me of the writings of Erle Stanley Gardner, when he wrote at A. A. Fair. There are no long descriptions, but nonstop tough guy action on every page. We have the wisecracking P.I. who is, of course, irresistable to women. Much of the action takes place out in desolate desert at night, again reminiscent of Gardner.
There are a couple of odd aspects: every character gets named, no matter how brief their appearance in the story. When someone pops in for a moment, the reader wonders if he will have to remember this character for future reference. The other odd aspect is the clock with no hands installed at the mortuary - from its appearance in chapter one, one expected it would have a central point in the story - much like the various clock and candle gimmicks in Gardner - but it was carefully described at the beginning and that was that. There was only one additional passing reference to it near the end. And I was looking forward to hearing more about it.
December 20, 2018
Fun writing with a plot that's a little too convoluted for it's own good by the end. Lots of names, events are blown by quickly which gives Clock it's no nonsense speed. The dialogue and setting outshines the mystery.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews