An announcement in the local paper states the time and place when a murder is to occur in Miss Blacklock’s Victorian house.

The victim is not one of the house’s several occupants, but an unexpected and unknown visitor.

What follows is a classic Christie puzzle of mixed motives, concealed identities, a second death and a determined inspector grimly following the case’s twists and turns.

Fortunately, Miss Marple is on hand to provide the solution – at some risk to herself – in a dramatic final confrontation.