Agatha Christie

When Mrs. Packington's husband begins keeping regular company with an office girl, she turns to Mr. Parker Pyne, master of the human soul, for help, in the first of a series of cases that take him from London to the Middle East.

"In a remote house in the middle of Dartmoor, six shadowy figures huddle around a table for a séance. Tension rises as the spirits spell out a chilling message: "Captain Trevelyan ... dead ... murder." Is this black magic or simply a macabre joke? The only way to be certain is to locate Captain Trevelyan. Unfortunately, his home is six miles away and, with snowdrifts blocking the roads, someone will have to make the journey on foot ..."--Page 4 of...

Each companion on a bus tour of English homes and gardens provides Miss Marple with a valuable clue to a bizarre crime.

What is the connection among a failed suicide attempt, a wrongful accusation of theft against a schoolgirl, and the romantic life of a famous tennis player? To the casual observer, apparently nothing. But when a house party gathers at Gull's Point, the seaside home of an elderly widow earlier events come to a dramatic head. As Superintendent Battle discovers, it is all part of a carefully laid plan -- for murder.