‘Anyone who murdered Colonel Protheroe,’ declared the parson, brandishing a carving knife above a joint of roast beef, ‘would be doing the world at large a favour!’

It was a careless remark for a man of the cloth. And one which was to come back and haunt the clergyman just a few hours later - when the colonel was found shot dead in the clergyman’s study. But as Miss Marple soon discovers, the whole village seems to have had a motive to kill Colonel Protheroe.

This is the first case for Agatha Christie's legendary female detective, Miss Marple. She needs to use all her powers of observation and deduction to solve the mystery.