- An obnoxious man who outbid Poirot at an auction for an antique mirror is murdered after seeking Poirot's assistance to look into the dealings of his business associate.
- Poirot is outbid at an auction for an antique mirror by the dislikeable Gervais Chevenix, who requests Poirot's attendance at his country home as he believes he is being defrauded by a business associate, John Lake. Poirot arrives at the Chevenix house with Hastings and meets Chevenix's wife Vanda, an eccentric who believes in reincarnation and predicts a death in the household, his adopted daughter Ruth and her cousin Hugo,a struggling manufacturer of tubular steel furniture, who will inherit Chevenix's money if they marry and Miss Lingard, a secretary helping Chevenix research a book he is writing. Hugo is engaged to Susan and Ruth has already married Lake in secret. As the household are dressing for dinner, the butler sounds the gong to summon them, and then a shot rings out. Vanda's prophecy has come true and her husband has been murdered.—don @ minifie-1
- Hercule Poirot is hired by Gervase Chevenix and accepts his offer to travel to his country home and take on a case. Chevenix believes he has been defrauded by a business partner, John Lake. Unknown to Chevenix is that his adopted daughter Ruth has secretly married Lake. Gervase is manipulative and generally disliked by those around him. His nephew Hugo Trent hopes that his uncle will invest in his new enterprise but Chevenix insists that he marry Ruth first. Hugo has no intention of doing so and is engaged to Susan Cardwell. Chevenix is found dead in his study, an apparent suicide, but Poirot isn't convinced. When Inspector Japp finds that the dead man had drawn up a new will, not yet signed, Poirot is convinced they are dealing with murder.—garykmcd
- Hercule Poirot is outbid for a mirror at an auction by a rather obnoxious man, Gervase Chevenix. After the auction Mr Chevenix approaches Poirot, wanting to hire him to investigate a man he believes has defrauded him out of a large sum of money. Poirot accepts and, with his friend Captain Hastings, travels to Mr Chevenix's estate to discuss the case and investigate. There he discovers that Mr Chevenix was trying to meddling in the romantic affairs of his adopted daughter and his nephew, and was generally disliked by everyone around him. That night he is found dead, shot, with a gun in his hand and the door and windows to the room locked. To Chief Inspector Japp it is clearly suicide but Poirot knows better.—grantss
- Poirot meets arrogant art collector Gervase Chevenix (Ian Cuthbertson) when the latter outbids him at an auction for a mirror. Poirot accepts a summons to Chevenix's country home to investigate an alleged business fraud by his business associate, the property developer John Lake (Richard Lintern). En route, Poirot and Hastings meet Chevenix's nephew, Hugo Trent (Jeremy Northam), and Hugo's fiancee Susan Cardwell (Tushka Bergen). Hugo's metalwork firm is in financial difficulties, and he is under pressure from his uncle to marry the latter's adopted daughter, heiress and illegitimate niece, Ruth Chevenix (Emma Fielding). Meanwhile, earlier we have seen Ruth apparently carrying out a secret wedding with John Lake, spied on by Chevenix's secretary Miss Lingard (Fiona Walker).
On arrival at Chevenix's home, Poirot and Hastings meet Lake, who is troubled to see them, and the eccentric Vanda Chevenix (Zena Walker), Gervase's wife; she says her Egyptian 'spirit guide' has predicted a death. Just before dinner, a shot is heard; Gervase Chevenix is found shot dead in his locked study, a gun in his hand and his new mirror shattered by the bullet. At first glance it looks like suicide, but Poirot points out that the bullet is missing. When Inspector Japp confirms that Chevenix's body had the gun in the wrong hand, it's clear that his death was murder.
The confusing clues pile up. An open bottle of champagne is found undrunk. Miss Lingard finds what looks like a bullet outside the study door, but it turns out to be one of Hugo Trent's cufflinks. Meanwhile Ruth Chevenix admits she was in the garden outside the study at the time of the murder, apparently looking for a lost brooch. A new, unsigned, will is found, leaving all Gervase's fortune to his wife, if Hugo does not marry Ruth; but now Ruth will inherit anyway. Then John Lake is nearly killed in a fire at his offices. Ruth reveals that she is John's wife. And the household disagree about when the dinner gong was heard on the night of the murder.
Poirot summons the suspects. He announces that Chevenix was killed with a silenced gun, before the dinner gong, and shows that the bullet could not have hit the mirror. With the study door open, the gun could have hit the gong. So the murderer locked the study door from the inside, smashed the mirror, and left through the french window to the garden. All the evidence now points to Ruth Chevenix Lake as the murderer. But is that really the truth?
Vanda Chevenix wakes in the night, apparently summoned by her spiritual guide. Led to the study, she hears a voice urging her to confess to Gervase's murder and kill herself. Poirot and Hastings burst in, revealing that the voice comes from Miss Lingard. Poirot reveals the truth: Miss Lingard is Ruth's real mother. Having killed Gervase because of the new will, she was now desperate to throw suspicion off Ruth without incriminating herself. Hence she let off the champagne, faking the sound of a gun to throw doubt on the time of the murder; planted Hugo's cufflink; and tried to scapegoat Vanda. As Miss Lingard is led away, she begs Poirot never to let Ruth share the shame.
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