| dbp:shortsummary
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- 1920.0
- 3.15576E8
- Miss Marple is called upon to solve her most perplexing case yet. Upon his death, financier Jason Rafiel asks her to solve a murder. Only problem is that the murder may or may not have taken place as yet and the victim is unknown. All that he has given her is two tickets on the Daffodil Tour Company's Mystery Tour. It soon becomes obvious that others on the tour were also "selected" by Mr. Rafiel. Jane Marple, assisted by her nephew Raymond West, concludes that the case must be related to that of Verity Hunt, a young woman who in 1939 was running away from an overattentive landlord and eventually disappeared. When a member of the tour dies mysteriously, she also realizes that someone is desperate to keep a deep, dark secret. (en)
- Miss Marple is in Kingston Bishop staying with her recently widowed friend Marjorie Philpot. There she meets a handsome man, Mike Rogers. Mike hasn't done much with his life so far - he was working as a chauffeur when they first meet and later, as a barman. If Mike had his way he'd buy a piece of property that's on the market, known as Gypsy's Acre, and build a new house on the site. He's skint of course and it all seems impossible until he meets Ellie, who has also fallen in love with the property. Ellie is a rich heiress and they soon fall in love. They are warned however that the land is cursed and once into their new house, it becomes apparent that someone is trying to scare them off. When someone is killed in an apparent riding accident, Miss Marple believes it to be murder. (en)
- When Rex Fortescue dies while sitting at his desk in the City, it's determined that he was in fact poisoned. He was married to a much younger wife, who now stands to inherit. His son Percival, a partner in the family firm, was a disappointment to him and a daughter, Elaine, hasn't amounted to much. Another son, Lance, had a falling out with his father many years before and relocated to East Africa. He suddenly appears soon after his father's death claiming that they had reconciled and been invited by him to return to England with an offer to rejoin the firm. Miss Marple takes a particular interest in the case when her former maid Gladys, now working in the Fortescue household, is also murdered. She soon learns that the elder Fortescue had received veiled threats for some time and that they might have something to do with a long ago business deal that made his initial fortune. (en)
- Miss Marple is visiting an old school friend, Camilla, Lady Tressilian, along with an eclectic group: Neville Strange and his wife Kay, his former wife Audrey and her childhood friend and cousin Thomas Royde, Ted Latimer and finally Freddie Treves, a retired solicitor. When Treves is found dead the day after a dinner party at Lady Tressilian's home and Lady Tressilian herself is found bludgeoned to death a short time later, Miss Marple must sort through the complex set of relationships among all the players, and determine what role the tale of a child's crime may have had to play in the deaths. (en)
- Miss Marple is requested to help her old friend Carrie-Louise, the loving wife of benign philanthropist Lewis Serrocold. Carrie-Louise is slowly poisoned by an unknown hand, and her husband and her sister Ruth want absolutely to save her from this dark menace. (en)
- When Clive Trevelyan - Member of Parliament, war hero and heir apparent to Prime Minister Winston Churchill- is killed, Miss Marple sets about to solve the case. Trevelyan has made his fortune many years before in Egypt having secretly uncovered a lost tomb. He is killed during a major snowstorm when there are no police available. There are several possible suspects including Trevelyan's ward, James Pearson and his fiancée Emily Trefusis; his political agent, John Enderby; a journalist Charles Burnaby; a visiting American Martin Zimmerman; and several other apparently disinterested parties. A convict has also escaped from Dartmoor prison. Miss Marple concludes that Trevalyan's murder is related to his days in Egypt and sets about to identify the murderer. (en)
- Miss Marple is invited to the wedding of a friend, but the gaieties are interrupted when a stranger arrives; he provides the missing evidence which proves that the black sheep of the family, Jacko, was wrongfully hanged for murder. This raises the question of who in the household did kill the cold-hearted mistress of the house two years previously. As usual, Miss Marple is needed to uncover the hatred, jealousy, lust etc. behind the family's facade and sort out the threads of the mystery. (en)
- When Tommy and Tuppence visit an elderly aunt in her nursing home, Tuppence is concerned by the odd behavior of some staff and residents. So when Tuppence hears about Aunt Ada's sudden death and the disappearance of her friend Mrs Lancaster, she realizes her concerns were right. Tuppence meets Miss Marple and together they follow a path of clues that lead them to the Norfolk village of Farrell St Edmund, where they find a community guarding an array of secrets. Only by getting to the bottom of these secrets do they begin to unravel the truth about the mystery of Aunt Ada's death and Mrs Lancaster's disappearance. (en)
- While visiting her friend Marjorie Attfield, Miss Marple learns that her son Bobby had recently found a body, identified as a Mr. Pritchard, on the cliff side. He's received a letter asking him to appear at the enquiry but it seems to be a wild goose chase meant to keep him away from the real enquiry taking place elsewhere. Now accompanied by a friend, Frankie Derwent, they trace the dead man to nearby Castle Savage, home to a dysfunctional family with great deal of money. The family patriarch, Jack Savage, had died not long ago and the dead man had some connection to the Savages. But what is the key to solving the mystery of Pritchard's last words to Bobby as he lay dying: "Why didn't they ask Evans?". (en)
- When old family friend Louisa Oxley visits Miss Marple one stormy night seeking help, Miss Marple decides to send her and her son, Archie, to safety at the labyrinthine estate of Greenshaw's Folly, owned by Miss Marple's good friend Katherine Greenshaw, an eccentric botanist and the last surviving Greenshaw. Louisa becomes Miss Greenshaw's secretary, and quickly attracts the attention of the gardener Alfred Pollock and actor Nat Fletcher. Things turn sinister when the Folly's faithful butler, Walter Cracken, is killed in what appears to be a tragic accident. Then a guest at the house, Horace Bindler, disappears without a trace. Miss Marple is convinced all is unwell, and her suspicions are confirmed when Miss Greenshaw herself is brutally murdered. Suspects are everywhere, but none can imagine the secrets, both past and present, which Miss Marple uncovers. (en)
- Miss Marple investigates the wealthy Crackenthorpe clan, believing a body to be hidden on their estate after a visiting friend witnesses a brutal strangling murder occurring on a passing train. (en)
- Miss Jane Marple is asked to help Gwenda, a wealthy young woman who has bought a house on the English coast, only to experience disturbing visions. Thanks to Miss Marple's investigations, Gwenda discovers that, instead of spending all her life in India, she had lived in the house as a child. The visions are actually flashes of memory - and she realizes she witnessed the murder of a beautiful woman named "Helen". (en)
- Hollywood star Marina Gregg leaves Los Angeles for the picturesque countryside of St Mary Mead. Having taken up residence at Gossington Hall with her dashing young English husband, film director Jason Rudd, his secretary, Ella Blunt and Marina's exclusive personal assistant, Hailey Preston, it's not long before she becomes lady of the manor. When the glamorous couple decide to throw a benefit for the St John Ambulance, the grounds are abuzz with curious locals including previous owner of Gossington Hall, Dolly Bantry. But when a local fan, Heather Badcock consumes a poisoned daiquiri, Marina finds herself starring in a real-life mystery - supported by Miss Marple and Inspector Hewitt, who suspect that the lethal cocktail was intended for someone else. But who? If it was meant for Marina, then why? (en)
- Miss Marple finds herself on a bit of a holiday and staying at the very posh Bertram's Hotel, where she stayed as a child and for which she has very fond memories. Things take a sinister turn when a hotel maid, Tilly Rice, is found strangled on the roof. Miss Marple can't help but investigate but is assisted by Jane Cooper, also a hotel maid, who is in fact a younger version of Miss Marple. When an attempt is made on the life of a hotel guest, Elvira Blake, the two Janes work together to find the motive and the identity of the killer. (en)
- After a period of ill health, Miss Marple leaves St. Mary Mead for the tropical Caribbean paradise of St. Honoré, where an English couple - Tim and Molly Kendall - run a quaint little resort called the Golden Palms. Among the many guests, which include the innocuous Hillingdons, their unseemly American friends the Dysons, and gruff business tycoon Jason Rafiel, is garrulous Major Palgrave, who is friendly to all - much to everyone's chagrin. When Palgrave launches into his infamous storytelling routine one evening, only Miss Marple takes enough interest to listen. Talk quickly turns to murder, and Palgrave coyly asks her if she'd like to see a photograph of a serial killer. But before he can pull it out, he sees something - or someone - and quickly changes the subject. After a night of excessive drink and entertainment, including a voodoo show, Palgrave is found dead in his room the next morning - the cause of death being a heart attack. Sensing his death is no coincidence, Miss Marple takes it upon herself to unravel the secrets of the guests of St. Honoré, intent on finding the one person with a secret worth killing for. But more victims will be claimed, and one suspect will slowly lose their grip on sanity altogether before this Caribbean mystery will be solved. (en)
- While visiting her friend Dermot in Little Ambrose, Miss Marple is drawn into investigating the death of Eddie Seward, whom she'd met on the bus and who is found having apparently drowned in the river. Within a few days however, there is a second suspicious death, that of Mary Pritchard who seems to have died from fright. She was disliked by many and had recently caused a scene when her husband George was inaugurated as the Captain of the local golf club. Even Dermot disliked her as did her sister Philippa, who was once engaged to George, whom she described as the love of her life. Philippa ended up marrying George's brother, Lewis Pritchard, and they are constantly having money problems. A third death - this time one of George Pritchard's former mistresses - convinces Inspector Somerset that George, who conveniently confesses, is the murderer. Miss Marple thinks otherwise and sets out to prove it. (en)
- When troubled war veteran Jerry Burton and his sister Joanna relocate to the quiet little village of Lymstock in order to allow Jerry to recuperate from injuries received in what he claims is a motorcycle accident, they are expecting nothing more than country sleepiness and tedium. Much to their surprise, however, they find themselves embroiled in the middle of scandal and secrets; someone is sending vicious poison-pen letters to the residents. A local dignitary has already taken his own life over the letters, and it's not long before local gossip Mona Symmington also commits suicide after receiving a letter. But when the letter-writer apparently resorts to murder, Jerry finds his curiosity stoked despite himself, and he's not the only one; Miss Jane Marple is also in Lymstock, and she's decided that it's long past time someone got to the bottom of this unpleasant business. (en)
- Colonel Lucius Protheroe is probably the least-liked individual in St Mary Mead. All resent his superior and demanding attitude. So, when he is found dead in the vicarage study, there is no end of suspects. His wife Ann was having an affair with a local artist, Lawrence Redding. His daughter Lettice bridled under his strict rule. There is also the vicar and his assistant, whom Protheroe suspected of stealing church funds. Finally, there is the mysterious Mrs. Lester with whom he clearly had some previous connection. Jane Marple, recuperating at home from a sprained ankle, had a bird's eye view of all the comings and goings at the vicarage around the time of the murder and she gladly assists Inspector Slack in solving the crime. (en)
- A young woman's corpse is dumped in the library of Gossington Hall, home of Jane Marple's friend Dolly Bantry and her husband Arthur. Pompous Chief Constable Melchett suspects a connection with Basil Blake, an arty young man who lives locally but Blake is dismissive when Melchett visits him. Then Superintendent Harper rings from the coastal town of Danemouth. Ruby Keane, a young girl employed as a dancer at the Majestic Hotel there, has gone missing, and her cousin Josie Turner identifies the corpse as Ruby's. Ruby is in favour with millionaire Conway Jefferson, whose own son and daughter were killed in a wartime air raid, and he wants to adopt her. His son-in-law Mark Gaskell, and daughter-in-law Adelaide react variously to the news. Miss Marple is convinced that the solution to Ruby's murder may be found at the hotel and she and Dolly book into a suite to investigate. There is no shortage of suspects, not only family members but the handsome Raymond Starr, another of the hotel's dance professionals, and George Bartlett, the last person to see Ruby before her disappearance. (en)
- While traveling on a train to London, Miss Marple is told by a woman she has never met, Lavinia Pinkerton, that she is certain there have been two murders in her village of Wychwood. When Lavinia dies in what is purported to be an accident - she fell, or was pushed, down the escalator in a tube station - Miss Marple decides to visit Wychwood and see what she can find. As Miss Marple is apt to say, one English village is like another and Wychwood has its secrets like any other. The first woman to die was Florie Gibbs who, despite being experienced in such things, supposedly ate poison mushrooms she picked herself. The second was the local vicar who failed to wear his mask when using poison near his beehives. The third is a young woman who, it is said, accidentally drank hat dye instead of her cough medicine. Miss Marple finds a clue that points to a motive with origins many years before and a secret someone will do anything, including murder, to keep hidden. (en)
- Miss Marple is shocked when she receives a note from an old friend, Father Gorman, only to read in the newspaper the very same day that he was murdered. He had attended a dying woman, Mrs. Davis, who died the previous evening and it was while he was on his way home that he was apparently attacked. The police have put it down to a mugging but the letter Miss Marple received from him intrigues her: a list of surnames and a quote from the bible. The policeman in charge of the case, Inspector Lejeune is skeptical about it all being a murder but when Miss Marple inspects Mrs. Davis' rooms, she finds an identical list to that sent to her by Father Gorman and also a reference to the Pale Horse Inn in Much Deeping, Hampshire. She soon checks into the inn and pursues her own investigation. (en)
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