In many ways, this book is similar to Keeler's The Murdered Mathematician. Both books involve unbelievable coincidences. Also, in both, the detective hero must solve the crime using mathematics. This time, it is not in order to obtain an inheritance (although another character's inheritance does depend on the outcome), but because the publisher of his book, Mathematics versus Crime, insists that he demonstrate the principle before they will print it. [Note added later: The preface to Keeler's The Case of the Flying Hands explains that the cases of "barking clock" and "the murdered mathematician" were originally conceived as two of four mathematical mysteries that the protagonist of that novel was supposed to solve in that book, but were pulled out to form The Murdered Mathematician and this novel. This at least partially explains their similarities.]

However, there is quite a bit more mathematics in The Murdered Mathematician. So, if you are at this website because of your interested in mathematically flavored fiction, I recommend you start with that other book and then, if you absolutely love this author's wacky style and want more, move onto The Barking Clock.

(BTW His wife is listed as co-author because she wrote one chapter of the book, which is presented as an unrelated short story that one character in the novel uses to pass information to another.)