Miss Marple and her nephew, novelist Raymond West, embark on a coach tour of historic English houses with an eclectic group of characters at the behest of a late friend who had knowledge of an unsolved murder.

A wealthy woman holds a party at her Devon estate for family and friends. When a solicitor and the hostess herself are both murdered, Miss Marple tries to find a clever killer with a devious plan.

Old wounds are reopened for the Argyle family when a man suddenly turns up after being abroad and claims that the black sheep of the family could not have murdered its tyrannical matriarch.

Miss Marple spends a holiday in a luxurious London hotel. The sinister atmosphere, the odd disappearance of a clergyman and the murder of the commissionaire moves her on the trail of a clever criminal gang.