The Seven Dials Mystery

A healthy young man dies in his sleep, despite the ringing of eight separate alarm clocks... Gerry Wade had proved himself to be a champion sleeper; so the other house guests decided to play a practical joke on him. Eight alarm clocks were set to go off, one after the other, starting at 6.30 a.m. But when morning arrived, one clock was missing and the prank had backfired with tragic consequences. For Jimmy Thesiger in particular, the words 'Seven Dials' were to take on a new and chilling significance...

Thomas Pitt, mainstay of Her Majesty’s Special Branch, is summoned to Connaught Square mansion, where the body of a junior diplomat lies huddled in a wheelbarrow. Nearby stands the tenant of the house, the beautiful, notorious Egyptian woman Ayesha Zakhari, who falls under the shadow of suspicion. Pitt’s orders are to protect—at all costs—the good name of the third person in the garden: senior cabinet minister Saville Ryerson. The distinguished public servant, whispered to be Ayesha’s lover, insists that she is as innocent as Pitt himself. Pitt’s journey to uncover the truth takes him from Egyptian cotton fields to the insidious London slum called Seven Dials—and ultimately to a packed London courtroom in which shocking secrets will at last be revealed.

A practical joke goes chillingly, murderously wrong in Queen of Mystery Agatha Christie’s classic detective story, The Seven Dials Mystery. Gerry Wade had proved himself to be a champion sleeper, so the other houseguests decided to play a practical joke on him. Eight alarm clocks were set to go off, one after the other, starting at 6:30 a.m. But when morning arrived, one clock was missing and the prank then backfired, with tragic consequences. For Jimmy Thesiger in particular, the words "Seven Dials" were to take on a new and chilling significance. . . .

A lovely weekend in the country turns macabre when a houseguest is found dead from an overdose of sleeping medication. On the mantel, seven clocks are lined up, all ticking ominously.

The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie - is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by The Bodley Head in June 1925 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. It introduces the characters of Superintendent Battle and Lady Eileen "Bundle" Brent. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6) and the US edition at $2.00. Plot summary When they meet up in Bulawayo, Anthony Cade agrees to take on two jobs for his friend James McGrath. Anthony heads for London to deliver the draft of a memoir to a publisher, and to return letters to the woman who wrote them. In England, politician George Lomax persuades Lord Caterham to host a house party at Chimneys. George's cousin Virginia Revel is invited, as is Hiram Fish, a collector of first edition books, along with the principals in a political scheme to restore the monarchy in Herzoslovakia – while assuring that newly discovered oil there will be handled by a British syndicate. On Cade's first night in London, the letters are stolen from his hotel room by his waiter. The publisher sends Mr Holmes to pick up the memoirs. These were written by the late Count Stylptitch of Herzoslovakia; now that oil has been discovered, the nation is in turmoil between republicans and royalists. On advice, Cade puts a dummy package in the hotel safe. The thief brings one letter to Virginia Revel at her home, as it is her name in the signature of each letter. Unaware she did not write the letters, he wants to blackmail her. On a whim, she pays, and promises more money the next day. When she arrives home the next day, she finds him murdered in her house, and Anthony Cade on her door step. Cade arranges to have the body discovered elsewhere by the police, to avoid a scandal and allow Virginia to proceed to Chimneys. At Chimneys, Prince Michael, presumed heir to the long-empty throne of Herzoslovakia, is killed the night of his arrival. Cade was at Chimneys that same evening, leaving footprints outdoors but not indoors. He boldly introduces himself to Superintendent Battle, explaining the story of the memoirs, and persuading Battle of his innocence in the murder. After seeing that the dead prince had posed as Mr Holmes, Cade pursues his own ideas in finding the murderer, while Battle leads the main investigation. The next heir to the throne, Nicholas, cousin to Michael, was raising money on his expectations in America. Cade checks out the governess, a recent addition to the household; he travels to France to speak with her prior employer.

In a suicide's room, seven clocks tick ominously, and the last words of a dying friend are "seven dials." The enigmatic sevens lead Jimmy Thesiger and his dashing cohort "Bundle" Brent to a Soho club. There they learn of the Seven Dials Society: seven masked conspirators who meet in a secret room to talk about stealing scientific secrets and hushing up murder.

“Kinsella’s heroine is blessed with the resilience of ten women, and her damage-limitation brain waves are always good for a giggle.”—Glamour (U.K.) What’s a round-the-world honeymoon if you can’t buy the odd souvenir to ship back home? Like the twenty silk dressing gowns Becky Brandon (née Bloomwood) finds in Hong Kong, or the hand-carved dining table from Sri Lanka, or the, um, huge wooden giraffes from Malawi (that her husband expressly forbade her to buy). Only now Becky and Luke have returned home to London, where two truckloads of those souvenirs have cluttered up their loft. The bills are outrageous, Luke is furious, and Becky’s feeling rather blue—until her parents deliver some incredible news. She has a long-lost sister! Becky is convinced her sister will be a true soulmate. They’ll go shopping together, drink cappuccinos together, get manicures together. Then Becky meets Jessica and receives the shock of her life. Surely the shopaholic’s own sister can’t hate shopping? Praise for Sophie Kinsella “Kinsella has a genuine gift for comic writing.”—The Boston Globe “Kinsella’s Bloomwood is plucky and funny. . . . You won’t have to shop around to find a more winning protagonist.”—People “Faster than a swiping Visa, more powerful than a two-for-one coupon, able to buy complete wardrobes in a single sprint through the mall—it’s Shopaholic!”—The Washington Post

A clever murder mystery featuring recurring character Superintendent Battle that pokes light-hearted fun at the international spy thriller genre Gerry Wade is famous for over-sleeping, but when a group of his fellow young guests at a country house weekend decide to play a prank on him by setting eight alarm clocks to go off in his room early one morning, they are rewarded with a nasty surprise. This time, poor Gerry is quite literally dead to the world. As the police descend upon Chimneys, the historic estate of Lord Caterham, the youthful friends—led by the bold and clever Lady Eileen “Bundle” Brent—take investigative matters into their own hands. As more victims turn up dead and clues seem to point to a wider plot, Bundle and her pals risk their lives to find the murderer before he kills again.