- A young woman is delivering a set of antique Napoleon miniatures to an American collector when they are stolen from her suitcase. Captain Hastings, under Poirot's guidance, sets out to find the thief.
- A bored Hercule Poirot announces that he is going to retire and suggests that he and Captain Hastings go to the seaside for a short holiday. While there, they meet a pleasant young woman who is delivering a set of miniature portraits to an American buyer on behalf of her aunt, an antiques dealer. When they arrive at their destination she is shocked to find that the miniatures are missing and that the American had already bought them from an elderly lady more than an hour before. As Poirot has retired he leaves the case in the hands of Hastings who slowly puts the facts together and not surprisingly comes to the wrong conclusion. In the end, it is left to Poirot to suggest the solution to the crime and brings all of the parties together for an interesting lunch.—garykmcd
- Poirot is feeling jaded and is even contemplating retirement. To rejuvenate himself, he and Hastings head to the Midland Hotel, a seaside resort. While there they take a bus tour. Also on the bus is a young woman who is transporting a set of valuable Napoleonic-era miniature portraits to a buyer. At one of the bus's stops, the miniatures are stolen. Poirot and Hastings are on the case, with Hastings to the fore. Meanwhile, Chief Inspector Japp is also in the area, delivering a series of lectures on his life and skills as a detective. Poirot is a touch upset at this, as it appears that Japp is taking all the credit for the cases he solved.—grantss
- Bored and depressed because he has not had an interesting case in some time, Poirot decides to retire. He takes Captain Hastings north for a weekend away from London and while on the way, a young lady carrying a set of 12 Napoleon miniatures finds them stolen from her suitcase. But Poirot is retired and refuses to help her, so Captain Hastings begins the investigation. The American businessman who traveled to England to buy the miniatures tells Hastings that another woman, much older than the young woman from whom the miniatures were stolen, already delivered the miniatures for which he paid $7000 U.S. Hastings continues to prod Poirot to help but to no avail -- Poirot is a "retired detective" and though he occasionally helps Hastings with hints, it is up to Hastings to find the miniatures and the old woman who sold them to the businessman.—Spirit
- Poirot, because of spreading fame, has been overworked and Hastings suggests he rests by accompanying him on a week's holiday to the south Devon coastal resort of Ebermouth. On their fourth day there, Poirot receives a note from the theatrical agent Joseph Aaron who asks him to travel to Charlock Bay on the north Devon coast as he needs to consult him on a matter. The two are planning to go by train but Hastings sees a notice for a motor bus tour from the one resort to the other which will save time on changing trains. Poirot reluctantly agrees, afraid of the uncertain English climate and the drafts of air which will invade the bus. They book their tickets at the office of the company concerned where Hastings is taken with another customer, an auburn-haired girl, whereas Poirot is intrigued by a young man who is attempting to grow a feeble mustache.
The next day on the bus the two find themselves sat with the young girl who introduces herself as Mary Durrant (Caroline Milmoe). Her aunt (Elizabeth Penn (Elspet Gray)) is in Ebermouth and runs an antiques shop where she has managed to make something of a success for herself. Mary has started to work with her aunt as opposed to becoming a governess or a companion and she is travelling to Charlock Bay to take a valuable set of miniatures to an American collector there by the name of J. Baker Wood (Michael Shannon) for perusal and purchase. The bus stops for lunch at Monkhampton and Miss Durrant joins Poirot and Hastings at a table in a cafe. Part way through their conversation, she rushes outside and returns saying that she thought she saw through the window a man taking her suitcase with the miniatures off the bus, when she confronted him, she realized his case was almost exactly like hers and that she was in error. She does however describe the young man that Poirot and Hastings saw the previous day in the booking office.
The bus arrives in Charlock Bay and both Poirot and Hastings and Miss Durrant book into the Anchor Hotel. They have barely started unpacking when a white-faced Miss Durrant appears and tells them that her suitcase has been unlocked somehow, the dispatch case inside containing the miniatures has been forced open and the items stolen. Having heard that Poirot is a detective, she asks him to investigate. Poirot telephones Mr Wood who tells him that he had a visit half-an-hour ago from a woman, someone calling on behalf of Elizabeth Penn, Mary Durrant's aunt, and he paid five hundred pounds for the miniatures.
Poirot and Hastings go to visit Mr Wood, Poirot voicing his puzzlement over why the thief took the time to force the lock of dispatch case while leaving it in the suitcase instead of taking the inner case away with them and opening it at their leisure. The two meet Mr Wood and take an instant dislike to the brash, vulgar man. He gives them a description of the seller: "a tall woman, middle-aged, gray hair, blotchy complexion and a budding mustache". Poirot finds out that the young man on the bus, Norton Kane (Adam Kotz), has an alibi for the period in question.
The next day, having sorted out Joseph Aaron's problem, Poirot and Hastings return to Ebermouth but, at Poirot's insistence, this time by train. They call at Elizabeth Penn's shop and Poirot almost immediately accuses the elderly lady of being Mr Wood's visitor of the previous day in disguise and meaningfully tells the two women their scam must cease. Miss Penn, white-faced, agrees.
Poirot points out to Hastings again the absurdity of the dispatch case being forced but left in the suitcase; they never were in Miss Durant's case. When they were booking their tickets on the excursion, he saw Miss Durrant watching Mr Kane and wondered why she was so interested. He expected something to happen on the trip and it did. Mr Wood would have had to return the miniatures as they were officially stolen goods and the two women would have had his five hundred pounds and still possessed the miniatures to sell on again. Their plan was to pass suspicion on to Mr Kane and have Poirot and Hastings as two duped witnesses.
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