Series The Mystery of the Clockwork Safe

The characters and events in this story are entirely fictitious. They do not resemble anyone, and any resemblance to any region or real-life persons is purely coincidental. Episode 1: The Frozen Hands Safe-cracker turned investigator Julian Croft stepped into the…

Episode 2: The Combination Clue Searching the cluttered study for documentation, Julian uncovered a set of astronomical cipher wheels hidden inside the study’s antique astrolabe. The brass instrument sat upon a marble pedestal, its rotating rings covered in intricate engravings…

Episode 3: The Vault Door With the internal linkages cleared, Julian finally confronted the massive steel vault door concealed behind the swinging face of the parlor clock. The heavy iron door was four inches thick, forged from hardened crucible steel…

Episode 4: The Midnight Alarm The heavy silence of the Victorian parlor was shattered at midnight as a sharp, piercing alarm bell rang out from the chimney flue. A rival heir—none other than Arthur Vance himself—attempts to force the dial…

Episode 5: Unlocking the Past Calibrating the escapement wheel to the exact frequency of the ancestral grandfather chime released the secondary tumblers with a resonant musical tone. Julian struck a tuning fork against his palm, holding it near the exposed…