{"product_id":"9781849013505","title":"At the Chime of a City Clock","description":"\u003cp\u003eSummer 1931 in seedy Bayswater and James Ross is on his uppers. An aspiring writer whose stories nobody will buy ('It's the slump'), with a landlady harassing him for unpaid rent and occasional sleepless nights spent in the waiting room at King's Cross Station, he is reduced to selling carpet-cleaning lotion door-to-door. His prospects brighten when he meets the glamorous Suzi ('the red hair and the tight jumper weren't a false card: she really was a looker and no mistake'), but their relationship turns out to be a source of increasing bafflement. Who is her boss, the mysterious Mr Rasmussen - whose face bears a startling resemblance to one of the portraits in \u003ci\u003ePolice News\u003c\/i\u003e - and why he so interested in the abandoned premises above the Cornhill jeweller's shop?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWorse, mysterious Mr Haversham from West End Central is starting to take an interest in his affairs. With a brief to keep an eye on Schmiegelow, James finds himself staying incognito at a grand Society weekend at a country house in Sussex, where the truth - about Suzi and her devious employer - comes as an unexpected shock. Set against a backdrop of the 1931 financial crisis and the abandonment of the Gold Standard, acted out in shabby bed-sitters and Lyons tea-shops, \u003ci\u003eAt the Chime of a City Clock \u003c\/i\u003eis an authentic slice of Thirties comedy-noir.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eKept: A Victorian Mystery:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e'Very entertaining and well done, with a sharp appreciation for the details' \u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e'An ingenious tale of madness, murder and deception.' \u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e'A stylish page-turner ... all done with humour and cunning.' \u003ci\u003eSunday Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Little, Brown Book Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47164409250032,"sku":"9781849013505","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781849013505_p0.jpg?v=1769895304","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781849013505","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}