Publication: 12th March 2026 – Raven Books
An empty house that isn’t empty. A victim who vanishes. An impossible crime?
Every Thursday at midday Audrey Brooks cleans the Petrov house. Mr Petrov is never home – in fact he seems to use the house purely as storage for his impressive collection of antiques – but that doesn’t affect the care with which Audrey mops, polishes, and carefully winds each of the dozens of beautiful clocks that decorate the tall, elegant, empty London mansion.
Until the morning she finds a corpse in the back bedroom, the pristine walls and floor covered in blood, and flees the house in panic.
Fifteen minutes later, the police arrive… and find nothing. No body. No blood. The only thing slightly out of the ordinary is the clock in that back bedroom, which is now running four minutes slow.
With no victim, the police are convinced there was no murder, but Audrey knows better. A man has been killed, and if they won’t do anything about it, she – and her annoying friend Lewis – will. Whodunnit is one thing, but this detective duo must also wrestle with when – and where on earth is the body? It’s not long since they solved the murder of their neighbour, so they’re not rookie sleuths, and at least this time the case has no connection to their home.
Does it?
A charming and witty locked-room mystery full of twists, perfect for fans of Richard Osman, Tom Hindle, and Janice Hallett.
I was happy to return to Marchfield Square and its residents, after enjoying Nicola Whyte’s debut, 10 Marchfield Square, but I didn’t expect to love Murder Like Clockwork even more than the first book and to find myself so absorbed in the story that I spent the weekend reading it.
The protagonists of this second book are still Audrey, Lewis, and Celeste who find themselves, once again, entangled in a murder investigation. Audrey, one of the residents of 10 Marchfield Square in West London, is a cleaner. She cleans the houses of wealthy people in Mayfair and she is very passionate about her job, determined to excel, no matter how strange the job or the situation is. And her strangest job must be the one in 35 Beaton Gardens, owned by a Russian oligarch as a second home. As far as she can tell no one has ever been in the home, but not only she must clean it every week, but, most importantly, she must wind each of the clocks in the house. When she finds a body in the house that then quickly and mysteriously disappears without leaving a trace, she enlists the help of her neighbour and friend Lewis to find out the truth. After their last murder investigation, crime writer Lewis is working on his next novel, although he still needs to go to the daily job he so much despises, so he is thrilled when he and Audrey are involved in yet another mystery which includes late-night stake-outs, following cars all around London, and convincing the police that a body has been dropped in the river. And watching over them, together with her loyal friend/butler/assistant Dixon, is Celeste, owner of the community at 10 Marchfield Square, who, following the events of the first book, is looking to find someone to rent one of the vacant flats, but no longer trusts her own judgement.
Murder Like Clockwork is captivating, beautifully-written, and entertaining, and features a cast of relatable and well-developed characters that you can’t help but like. I can’t wait for the next murder!
A huge thank you to Raven Books and NetGalley for providing me with a proof of this fantastic novel.
Nicola Whyte studied Drama at Aberystwyth University in Wales, and spent many happy years as a bookseller before becoming a web developer. She now co-owns a digital agency in the West Country. She’s been writing since she was very young, and her work has been listed for the Comedy Women in Print Prize, the BPA First Novel Award, the Cheshire Novel Prize, and the Daily Mail First Novel Award. She lives near Stonehenge in Wiltshire with her family.
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