The House of One Hundred Clocks by A.M. Howell is an intelligent middle-grade mystery novel, original in concept, and brought to a satisfying conclusion at the end so that no questions are left unanswered. The writing style is rewardingly descriptive.


It is June, 1905, and Helena Graham’s father, a clockmaker, has accepted a position in the city of Cambridge as a clock curator to a wealthy businessman who collects timepieces so obsessively that they fill his entire house, leaving almost no space for living.

Helena’s mother died a year ago, and the move from London to Cambridge has come at just the right time for her father, who wishes to bury himself in his work and distance himself from the past. However, he gets more than he bargained for.

Edgar Westcott, has filled his mansion with clocks and watches of all shapes and sizes, and is inexplicably terrified of any one of them stopping.

Mr. Westcott hires Helena’s father as his personal clock-winder and maintenance expert in-residence, and Helena and her pet parrot, Orbit, move into the mansion too.

Helena’s father is bound by a very odd legal contract as soon as he accepts this work: that under no circumstances must even one of the timepieces be allowed to stop. There will be dire consequences if this occurs.

From the first, Helena is perplexed by the strange goings-on in the house:

Why has Mr. Wescott collected so many clocks? Why does he have an almost pathological fear that even a single one of them may stop?

Why have the servants all left their positions at the mansion? Who are the two ghostly children that Helena sees in the clock rooms? Who has been stopping the clocks deliberately? And how does Mr. Westcott's sister Katherine fit into all of this.

Will Helena be able work out the secrets of the house before time runs out both for her father and for herself?

The story stays on course until the final revelations, and the author makes good use of historical facts and symbolism to add depth and personal meaning for the reader. ( )