[ Book] ↠ No Hands on the Clock PDF by Geoffrey Homes ↠ eBook or Kindle ePUB free

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. Hardcover 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. Hardcover

A fistful of cigarette butts, a ransom note, and a dead redhead catapult Humphrey Campbell into a fast murder chase. No Hands on the Clock