The Clocks vs The Secret of Chimneys: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Poirot, English Detective and mystery stories, Investigation, English literature, Murder, Mystery
The Clocks
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Sheila Webb, typist-for-hire, has arrived at 19 Wilbraham Crescent in the seaside town of Crowdean to accept a new job. What she finds is a well-dressed corpse surrounded by five clocks. Mrs Pebmarsh, the blind owner of…
The Secret of Chimneys
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A bit of adventure and quick cash is all that good-natured drifter Anthony Cade is looking for when he accepts a messenger job from an old friend. It sounds so simple: deliver the provocative memoirs of a recently…
Side by side
The verdict
- Readers rate The Clocks highest: The Clocks 4.3 · The Secret of Chimneys 3.8.
- The Secret of Chimneys has the widest readership — 37369 ratings behind its score.
How to choose
Scores by source
| The Clocks | The Secret of Chimneys | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | — | 3.8 (37369) |
| Hardcover | 3.5 (2) | 3.6 (81) |
| Google Books | — | 5.0 (1) |
| Apple Books | 4.5 (109) | 4.5 (130) |
Reception
| The Clocks | The Secret of Chimneys | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 109 | 37369 |
| Editions | 99 | 121 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | — | 20448 |
| Reading it now | — | 4283 |
| Written reviews | — | 3222 |
| Wikipedia attention | 2302 | 6859 |
| Pages | 248 | 226 |
Questions readers ask
Which is rated higher: The Clocks or The Secret of Chimneys?
The Clocks has the higher combined reader rating across sources (The Clocks 4.3/5, The Secret of Chimneys 3.8/5).
Which is shorter to read: The Clocks or The Secret of Chimneys?
The Secret of Chimneys is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: The Secret of Chimneys (226 pages, ≈ 4 h 11 m); The Clocks (248 pages, ≈ 4 h 36 m).
Which is harder to read: The Clocks or The Secret of Chimneys?
Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — The Clocks: Moderate; The Secret of Chimneys: Challenging.