Frank Cairnes, a popular detective writer, embarks on a real-life crime of his own. He is determined to hunt down the runaway motorist who killed his small son, Martin.

As the plot thickens, Cairnes becomes the prime suspect when his intended victim is found dead. Nigel Strangeways, a private detective, is called in to unravel this fiendishly plotted mystery and discover what really happened.

This novel is a part of the Nigel Strangeways series and offers a perfect introduction to one of the most charming and erudite detectives in Golden Age crime fiction.

Agatha Christie's debut novel was the first to feature Hercule Poirot, her famously eccentric Belgian detective. A refugee of the Great War, Poirot is settling in England near Styles Court, the country estate of his wealthy benefactress, the elderly Emily Inglethorp. When Emily is poisoned and the authorities are baffled, Poirot puts his prodigious sleuthing skills to work.

Suspects are plentiful, including the victim’s much younger husband, her resentful stepsons, her longtime hired companion, a young family friend working as a nurse, and a London specialist on poisons who just happens to be visiting the nearby village. All of them have secrets they are desperate to keep, but none can outwit Poirot as he navigates the ingenious red herrings and plot twists that earned Agatha Christie her well-deserved reputation as the queen of mystery.

The placid village of Lymstock seems the perfect place for Jerry Burton to recuperate from his accident under the care of his sister, Joanna. But soon, a series of vicious poison-pen letters destroys the village's quiet charm, eventually causing one recipient to commit suicide.

The vicar, the doctor, the servants—all are on the verge of accusing one another when help arrives from an unexpected quarter. The vicar's houseguest happens to be none other than Jane Marple.

Harley Quin is an enigma. Even his friend, Mr. Satterthwaite, is unable to understand how the man seems to appear and disappear almost like a trick of the light. When he does appear, it's usually in the sparkle of sunshine, or surrounded by a spectrum of coloured light pouring through a stained glass window.

In fact, the only consistent thing about the Mysterious Mr. Quin is that his presence is always a harbinger of love... or death.

For an instant, the two trains ran together, side by side. In that frozen moment, Elspeth witnessed a murder. Helplessly, she stared out of her carriage window as a man remorselessly tightened his grip around a woman’s throat. The body crumpled. Then the other train drew away.

But who, apart from Miss Marple, would take her story seriously? After all, there were no suspects, no other witnesses... and no corpse.

Miss Marple asks her highly efficient and intelligent young friend Lucy Eyelesbarrow to infiltrate the Crackenthorpe family, who seem to be at the heart of this mystery, and help unmask a murderer.