The lights went out at six minutes past midnight. Everything after that was arithmetic.
When clockmaking patriarch Julian Ashworth is found dead at the foot of his estate's tower stairs, the local police call it a tragic fall. Private investigator Iris Voss -- retained in advance, under a sealed retainer Julian arranged for exactly this possibility -- isn't so sure.
Nadia Reyes, Julian's live-in apprentice, has her own reason to fear the truth: she believes her own hands caused his death, hours before he was named his sole heir. As the Ashworth family closes ranks against an outsider they never wanted to inherit anything, Iris must untangle a web of debt, blackmail, and a fire meant to erase the truth forever -- before the real killer finishes what he started.
The only witness that never lies is the tower clock itself, ticking on above it all, keeping a secret record no one thought to check.
An original locked-estate whodunit in the classic ensemble-mystery tradition106 pages of narrative fictionFor readers of traditional cozy mysteries, family-estate whodunits, and amateur sleuth fictionThe first book in an ongoing series featuring private investigator Iris VossEveryone in this house is lying about something. The clock isn't.