The Talking Clock

by Frank Gruber

A Belmont Johnny Fletcher Mystery

This time the killer broke into jail to commit murder. Johnny Fletcher had to find out why.

From the back cover:
Jailed for vagrancy in Minnesota, Johnny and Sam woke up to find that one of their cell mates had been murdered during the night. Facing a murder charge, they promptly broke jail and set out to find the killer in a wild tangle of suspects, but always the trail led back to the fabulous Talking Clock. The dead man's millionaire grandfather owned the priceless time-piece, and though a lot of people wanted to take it away from him, only one - which one? - had killed to get it. Johnny and his musclebound partner had to find the answer in a hurry.

Be sure to read the other Belmont Johnny Fletcher Mysteries:
SWING LOW, SWING DEAD
THE FRENCH KEY
THE CORPSE MOVED UPSTAIRS

190 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1940

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

Frank Gruber was an enormously prolific author of pulp fiction. A stalwart contributor to Black Mask magazine, he also wrote novels, producing as many as four a year during the 1940s. His best-known character was Oliver Quade, “the Human Encyclopedia,” whose adventures were collected in Brass Knuckles (1966), and will soon be republished in ebook format as Oliver Quade, the Human Encyclopedia,featuring brand-new material, from MysteriousPress.com, Open Road Integrated Media, and Black Mask magazine.

Reviews

[Ptjerónimo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gruber foi um escritor prolixo de romances populares e de guiões cinematográficos. Não particularmente talentoso mas longe de ser medíocre. Este livro lê-se com facilidade (sem grande deleite diga-se em abono da verdade) e a intriga não é totalmente má. Parece um filme policial da série B (ou C?) com personagens jocosas e desenvoltas.

[Ron Kerrigan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An okay book, not really my type of mystery. Sort or more hard-boiled than cozy. The heroes are tough-talking men who do some not-quite-legal things to survive the hard times they find themselves in. The writing is okay, although there are a few episodes that are more filler than useful points in moving the plot along (a full page about hands played in a card game could have been cut for instance.)

[Ana Rodrigues · Rating 3 out of 5]

An okay mystery/crime book, with typical characters and a very witty main character/detective, Johnny Fletcher. The main duo, Johnny and Sam, is the best thing in this story, but the story itself has nothing special.

[Raquel Santos · Rating 1 out of 5]

Policial completamente inócuo, a roçar a perda de tempo.