The Big Clock by Kenneth Fearing

The Big Clock by Kenneth Fearing was made into one of my favourite noir films in 1948 starring Ray Milland and Rita Johnson (an always fantastic, underrated actress). This quirky mystery follows an unlikely hero - an amoral alcoholic and adulterous family man, not climbing but resting on the corporate ladder - charged with pursuing himself.

George Stroud is married to Georgette (called George) with his young daughter Georgia (also called George), happily it seems - although it is known he has outside affairs, and his main focus is his work. A director at a magazine syndicate that includes Newsways, Crimeways, Personalities (etc.) run by a pompous chief Earl Janoth. At a substantial party, he meets Janoth's girlfriend Pauline Delos, a tall Fifth Avenue blonde, and their flirting leads to a weekend on the town. Returning to her apartment, Stroud sees Janoth watching the door so he departs into darkness. That evening Pauline is killed. Stroud believes Janoth did it, and Janoth is terrified that this unknown shadow man could identify his being there that night, this man who must be silenced before identifying him. With magazine resources at his disposal, Janoth concocts a story to get all his reporters investigating this mystery man, calling him the killer - a team lead by George!

Playing it cool, Stroud is perfectly placed to investigate himself, and continually throw the team off course. With each discovery, each witness to his weekend with Pauline, Stroud walks closer to the edge of being discovered as both the hunter and the hunted.

Besides being a great mystery of a sleuth seeking himself, this is thoroughly peppered with salacious characters. The night Pauline dies the vitriol begins with her accusing Janoth of multiple affairs with male friends, to which he spitefully counters her affairs with several women. George's wife George is aware he has affairs, and perhaps she does, too. For an executive assistant, Janoth has Steve Hagen, written as fey and obviously in love with his boss - willing to do anything unscrupulous including covering up murder with lies. Written from alternating points of view, this is well paced, the trap for Stroud closing tighter until there is literally no way out.

One of my favourite mystery novels.

1946 / Tradeback / 175 pages