The Seven Dials Mystery
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The Seven Dials Mystery (published in 1929) is a detective novel written by Agatha Christie. In it, Christie brings back the characters from an earlier novel, The Secret of Chimneys: Lady Eileen (Bundle) Caterham, Bill Eversleigh and Superintendent Battle, as the detectives.
The story begins in the mansion Chimneys, home of Lord Caterham, rented by the Cootes for a few weeks. Jerry Wade, one of the visitors, is known for sleeping in late, so his friends decide to play a trick on him. The six of them, which include Jimmy Thesiger and Bill Eversleigh, decide to buy one alarm clock apiece and two extra for two other people and set them all off at 6:30 in the morning the next day in Jerry's room. The plan works, however, Jerry does not wake up. In fact, later in the day he was found dead from an overdose of sleeping pills. Also, seven of the clocks (or dials) had been arranged on the mantleshelf and one was thrown out of the window. Two weeks later, the Caterham entourage returns to Chimneys. Lady Eileen a.k.a. Bundle, along with her cronies, plays the detective working beside the very professional, wooden-faced Superintendent Battle to unmask the murderer of Jerry and the meaning behind the Seven Dials, which leads them to a secret society in a British nightclub. Look out for the Red herrings that are strewn liberally as author leads us up the garden path.
[edit] Trivia
The title is something of a pun. Seven Dials is a neighborhood of London which at the time was poor and had a reputation for harboring criminals, while the plot also includes seven clocks.
[edit] Film versions
The book was made into a television movie in 1980, starring John Gielgud and Cheryl Campbell.
