A quiet, sleepy town nestled in the Appalachian Mountains
When the town’s most prominent clockmaker, Harold Grayson, is found dead in his workshop, the locals are stunned. The workshop, filled with antique clocks, all stopped at exactly midnight, adds an eerie twist to the crime. Detective Eliza Monroe, a newcomer to the town, discovers that Harold had been blackmailing several townsfolk with secrets he uncovered through his hidden cameras in the clocks he repaired.
As Eliza delves deeper, she uncovers a web of betrayal. The killer turns out to be Harold’s own apprentice, a young man who discovered his mentor was planning to blackmail him about his past. The apprentice had rigged the clocks to stop at midnight to throw off investigators, hoping to pin the blame on Harold’s rival, but Eliza sees through the deception.
Twist: Just as Eliza closes the case, she receives an anonymous clock delivered to her office. Inside, a note reads, “Tick tock, Detective. You’re next.”