The agonizing death of a wealthy financier raises many questions for Inspector Neele, whose investigation almost overlooks the bizarre clue of grain found in the man's suit pocket. When two other members of the household are killed, Miss Marple uncovers the pattern, which follows the plot of a children's poem. But the killer's motive is still to be found.

After the death of her husband, Dolly Bantry sells Gossington Hall to the former film star Marina Gregg and her husband. When the glamorous couple decide to throw a benefit for the local hospital, the grounds are thronged with curious visitors, and for one of them, the day ends in tragedy. It is up to Miss Marple to discover who was really meant to take the poison that killed poor Heather Babcock.

Lymstock is a town with more than its share of shameful secrets- a town where even a sudden outbreak of anonymous hate mail causes only a minor stir. But all that changes when one of the recipients, Mrs. Symmington, commits suicide. Her final note says "I can't go on, " but Miss Marple questions the coroner's verdict of suicide. Soon nobody is sure of anyone- as secrets stop being shameful and start becoming deadly.--From back cover.

"For the first time in forty-five years, Agatha Christie's legendary sleuth Jane Marple returns to solve twelve baffling cases penned by a host of acclaimed authors skilled in the fine art of mystery and murder. In St. Mary Mead, a Christmas dinner is interrupted by unexpected guests; the Broadway stage in New York City is set for a dangerous improvisation; bad omens surround an untimely death aboard a cruise ship to Hong Kong; and a bestselling writer...

Miss Marple's Caribbean vacation is interrupted when she becomes intrigued by a soldier's tale of a murderer whom he once knew.

Anne Beddingfield wants a little adventure in her life, now that her father has died and left her alone in the world. But she gets more than she bargained for when, at the tube station, she sees a man fall onto the track and die. A man dressed in brown, claiming to be a doctor, pronounces him dead, then rushes from the scene, leaving a scrap of paper behind. The police call it an accident, but Anne, armed with the scrap of paper, decides to investigate...

Sir Stafford Nye's flight home from Malaya takes an unprecedented twist when a young woman confides in him that someone is trying to kill her. In a moment of weakness, he agrees to lend her his passport. Unwittingly, the diplomat has put his own life on the line. When he meets the mystery woman again, she is a different person, and he finds himself drawn into a battle against an invisible--and altogether more dangerous--enemy.

A notice in the Gazette reads: "A murder is announced and will take place on Friday, October 29, at Little Paddocks." The guests arrive, thinking they have come to a mystery party. When death and chaos ensue, the indomitable Miss Marple sorts it out.

When Jane Marple goes to stay with her old, and rather frail, friend Carrie-Louise at her Victorian Gothic mansion, she soon begins to realize that all is not well there.

While visiting an exotic island, Celia, a woman in the midst of a divorce, is rescued from suicide by a successful portrait painter who then listens as she talks about her life and experiences. The second of six novels published under the name of Mary Westacott.