Agreeing to take on a simple errand for a friend by delivering the scandalous memoirs of a recently deceased European count to a London publisher, Anthony Cade steps right into a case of international intrigue designed to restore the country's monarchy that culminates in a terrible murder and a stunning revelation.

Novel is set in a restored London hotel which continues to court a pre-World War II clientele to mix with guests who exhibit changing contemporary values. The plot centers on the efforts of Miss Jane Marple to uncover a gang of criminals who are using Bertram's as their home base and endangering the lives of innocent guests.

The little Belgian detective Hercule Poirot has a problem--four clocks, all set at 4:13 and left at the scene of a murder and a case that must be solved before another life is lost.

When Colonel Protheroe is found dead from a single gun shot wound to the head, none of his neighbors in the village of St. Mary Mead are much surprised. So many people wished this local official would say farewell, if not quite so permanently. With suspects abound and the local police symied it is up to Miss Jane Marple to root out the killer.