Although Gwenda and Giles Reed are determined to solve a macabre puzzle involving a hauntingly familiar Victorian villa and a terrifying vision of a strangled woman, Miss Jane Marple advises them not to uncover a long unreported murder.

The well-known mystery author presents one of her most famous sleuths, the inimitable Miss Marple, as she follows the trail of a murderer who seems to be very fond of nursery rhymes.

Elspeth McGillicuddy was not a woman usually given to hallucinations. But when she witnesses what appears to be a woman being strangled on a train and no-one else sees it, no-one reports it and no corpse is found she turns to her old friend Jane Marple to help solve the puzzle. Marple asks her highly efficient and intelligent young acquaintance, Lucy Eyelesbarrow to infiltrate the Crackenthorpe family, who seem to be at the heart of the mystery, and...

A summer-themed collection of mysteries features Agatha Christie's most famous characters, including Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. The stories were originally published in the 1920s and 1930s; the Introduction was originally published in 1977.