Summer 1931 in seedy Bayswater and James Ross is on his uppers. An aspiring writer whose stories nobody will buy, with a landlady harassing him for unpaid rent, he is reduced to selling carpet-cleaning lotion door-to-door. His prospects brighten when he meets the glamorous Suzi, but their relationship turns out to be a source of increasing bafflement. Who is her boss, the enigmatic Mr Rasmussen - whose face bears a startling resemblance to one of the portraits in 'Police News' - and why is he so interested in the abandoned premises above the Cornhill jeweller's shop?
Worse, mysterious Mr Haversham from West End Central is starting to take an interest in his affairs. With a brief to keep an eye on Rasmussen, James finds himself staying incognito at a grand society weekend at a country house in Sussex, where the truth - about Rasmussen and Suzi - comes as an unexpected shock.
Set against the backdrop of the 1931 financial crisis and the abandonment of the Gold Standard, 'At the Chime of a City Clock' is a brilliantly evoked slice of thirties noir.
