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.
St. Mary Mead, a peaceful village where nothing ever happens, livens up considerably when the unpopular magistrate Colonel Protheroe is found dead, and Miss Marple discovers that a number of people wanted him dead.