- Miss Marple is drawn into a case of intrigue and black magic when a Major who bragged of owning a photo of a murderer dies under mysterious circumstances.
- After a period of ill health, Miss Marple leaves St. Mary Mead for the tropical Caribbean paradise of St. Honoré, where an English couple - Tim and Molly Kendall - run a quaint little resort called the Golden Palms. Among the many guests, which include the innocuous Hillingdons, their unseemly American friends the Dysons, and gruff business tycoon Jason Rafiel, is garrulous Major Palgrave, who is friendly to all - much to everyone's chagrin. When Palgrave launches into his infamous storytelling routine one evening, only Miss Marple takes enough interest to listen. Talk quickly turns to murder, and Palgrave coyly asks her if she'd like to see a photograph of a serial killer. But before he can pull it out, he sees something - or someone - and quickly changes the subject. After a night of excessive drink and entertainment, including a voodoo show, Palgrave is found dead in his room the next morning - the cause of death being a heart attack. Sensing his death is no coincidence, Miss Marple takes it upon herself to unravel the secrets of the guests of St. Honoré, intent on finding the one person with a secret worth killing for. But more victims will be claimed, and one suspect will slowly lose their grip on sanity altogether before this Caribbean mystery will be solved.—shanty_sleuth
- Under her doctor's orders to take a holiday in a warm climate Miss Marple finds herself in the Caribbean. At dinner one evening, the friendly but somewhat overbearing Major Palgrave tells her the story of someone in Kenya who had gotten away with murder not once but twice. He even has a blurry photo of killer which he retrieves from his wallet but as he does so, seems to recognize someone in the crowded dining room and excuses himself. When he's found dead the next morning, it's ruled a natural death but when the photo Palgrave mentioned the evening before cannot be found, Miss Marple begins to wonder if something is amiss. There is no shortage of suspects including Molly Kendall who, along with her brother Tim, runs the hotel and seemingly has mental health issues. Miss Marple works with another guest, the rich but wheelchair-bound Mr. Rafiel to sort out who among the guests may have wanted Palgrave dead.—garykmcd
- Miss Marple is on holiday in the Caribbean, at the Golden Palms resort in St Honoré. Seated beside her at a dinner, Major Palgrave seems to recognise in the crowd a murderer from a photograph he has. When Miss Marple quizzes him on his comments, he refuses to be drawn on the subject and heads back to his room. The next day, he is found dead, apparently from a heart attack. Due to the reaction he had the previous night, however, Miss Marple suspects it was murder.—grantss
- After a period of ill health, Miss Marple leaves St. Mary Mead for the tropical Caribbean paradise of St. Honoré, where an English couple - Tim and Molly Kendall - run a quaint little resort called the Golden Palms. Among the many guests, which include the innocuous Hillingdons, their unseemly American friends Greg and Lucky Dyson, and gruff business tycoon Jason Rafiel, is garrulous Major Palgrave, who is friendly to all - much to everyone's chagrin.
When Palgrave launches into his infamous storytelling routine one evening, only Miss Marple takes enough interest to listen. Talk quickly turns to murder, and Palgrave coyly asks her if she'd like to see a photograph of a serial killer. But before he can pull it out, he sees something - or someone - and quickly changes the subject.
After a night of excessive drink and entertainment, including a voodoo show, Palgrave is found dead in his room the next morning - the cause of death being a heart attack.
As Miss Marple attends an ornithology lecture, Molly Kendall appears, covered in blood. She has seen Victoria, the hotel maid, dead. As they search for the body, Molly sees the walking corpse of Victoria in the mirror of her hotel room. Her husband considers sending her to a psychiatrist.
Miss Marple goes to sit with Molly. Her husband tells her that she has had an affair with a married man, and she finds a gun and a book on psychiatric disorders in her room. Seeing a man go by the window, she follows him and finds him looking at a will.
Victoria's body is found.
Rafiel tells Miss Marple that Palgrave's death was not natural. As a storm rolls in, Lucky Dyson is found drowned in the surf, wearing a shawl looking exactly like Molly's.
A local fortune teller reveals that Prescott had been to visit her, and had bought a magic potion.
The guests believe that Molly Kendall is responsible. Tim Kendall asks for a few minutes alone with her, and then tries to get her to kill herself. Miss Marple, realizing that Tim has tried to drive Molly insane, confronts him. He shoots her, anticipating blaming Molly, but Miss Marple has had the bullets in his gun replaced with blanks.
Tim Dyson was the serial killer Major Palgrave was going to identify. He had killed other wives under other names previously, killed Victoria after using her as an accomplice in terrorizing Molly, and pushed Lucky Dyson to her death, thinking she was Molly.
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