The Clock Strikes Twelve—Chapters 25-end

[Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽]

Discussion thread for the second half of the book! No spoiler zone. :)

[Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽]

You think you have it figured out and then the red herrings start slithering in!

[Jackie]

I'm still afraid to look in this thread, even without spoilers. red herrings, eh?
I'm making tea and starting chapter 25 in about 3 minutes.

[Hana, Hana is In Absentia]

Speaking of red herrings I'm going to move some slightly spoilerish (maybe?) comments from the earlier thread. Do we have a policy on wild speculations? I'd guess if they depend on information in a particular chapter they ought to carry spoiler warnings even if they turn out to be totally off base.

[Hana, Hana is In Absentia]

Reading more about eels (maybe in another life I was Albert....)

This might be (cough, cough!) a red herring but much eel research was centered in Germany and Japan....could Albert be a secret agent for enemy forces? Might that be why the blueprints went missing? Does he have a comrade in arms?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eel_lif...

[Hana, Hana is In Absentia]

Chapter 24 has me speculating on German connections again....it is after all 1942.

(view spoiler)[Miss Silver gazed earnestly at the portrait. Fair and placid, Clara Paradine looked down upon the room. Ruby velvet and the diamonds of her husband’s choice—a plump white neck and shoulders—fair hair of an even shade—blue eyes rather widely set under colourless brows—a kindly mien.... Miss Silver considered her with attention, then turned again to Elliot.

‘Was she English, Mr Wray?’

He looked at her.

‘What makes you ask that?’

‘It is not quite an English type. I wondered whether she had been Dutch, or German.’

Elliot said, ‘German.’

‘And her first husband, Mr Ambrose?’

‘Oh, English.’ (hide spoiler)]

[Barb in Maryland]

Miss Silver actually likes the decor! Oh well... On the plus side, she's quite savvy about people and she can knit in the round with four needles. I am in awe of that skill as knitting requires more manual dexterity that I ever possessed.

I will say that the book just pulled me in. I was going to take a breather at the end of Chapter 24, but found myself plowing on ahead. I do not understand how I missed these books when I was glomming Sayers and Christie.

[Hana, Hana is In Absentia]

I'm having the same reaction to the book, Barb. It's quite a testimony to Wentworth since I'm reading online (something I normally hate doing) but I can't stop reading! What a great discovery.

[Hana, Hana is In Absentia]

So I'm up to chapter....? Happily for those of us who struggle with Roman numerals over about 20 there's this: http://romannumerals.babuo.com/converter

[Jackie]

Miss Silver really does like the decor - I wonder if that is because she doesn't dress in bright colors herself and there for doesn't clash with it?
Wasn't it Phyl who said she pretty much only dresses in black or white in that house.

[Barb in Maryland]

Jackie, Miss Silver was rather dismissive of chintz, wasn't she? And I believe you are right about Phyl and the black or white clothes. Aunt Grace managed to decorate her suite and Phyl's in softer colors, I see.

Hana, my edition (a reprint from 1993) numbered all of the chapters in standard Arabic numerals--none of this wrestling with all of those
Xs and Vs for me. Thank goodness!

[Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽]

I can still figure out most Roman numerals but it takes me a minute, especially when you get to the MCM or XL type of numbers where you have to subtract as well as add. :p

[Michelle]

I found the first part of this book awkward, with the huge avalanche of characters that I found less clearly drawn and delineated than in a comparable Agatha Christie. I also found some of the writing really adjective laden and a bit awkward, but I find the pace has picked up considerably since Miss Silver came on the scene, and my enjoyment had increased as I move on. At Ch 32 now.