Summary

toc Link to Character Page* =Chapter 1=
 * Johnnie Butt (Hahaha "Butt") shoves newspapers down letter boxes in Chipping Cleghorn.
 * Every Friday he would deliver the //North Benham News// and the local //Gazette // to everyone in Chipping Cleghorn.
 * Mrs. Swettenham reads the Personal column of the //Gazzette//
 * Benham and Swettenham... Hmmmm seems like someone likes ham
 * Mrs. Swettenham criticizes her son Edmund for reading the Daily Worker paper since Mrs. Finch doesn't like it( the maid doesn't like it, oh no!) and he doesn't work. Though he claims to be “writing a book” (3).
 * In the Personal column, it states that “a murder will be announced” on October 29th at Little Paddocks, where Letitia Blacklock lives (4).
 * Edmund explains that it’s probably a party game where someone pretends to be a killer. The killer “taps you on the shoulder” and you “lie down and sham dead”, and the detective figures out who the killer is (5).
 * Mrs. Swettenham decides to go to the party as she thinks it will be fun -- Nothing quite like a murder to brighten up your day.
 * Meanwhile, Laura Easterbrook reads the same advertisement to her husband, Colonel Easterbrook.
 * Colonel Easterbrook thinks the game could go well if the detective “knows something about police work” (6).
 * Laura suggests that he help set up the game, otherwise “the whole thing will fall flat” beacuse hes a colonel and all (6).
 * Easterbrook thinks that it was Blacklock’s nephew who put the announcement in the Gazzette.
 * Murgatroyd finds her friend, Hinchliffe, in the hen house. Hinchliffe is described as having a “short manlike crop and weather-beaten countenance” (7).
 * Murgatroyd reads aloud the advertisement. The two decide to attend the party, though Hinchliffe doesn’t care much about the game.
 * Mrs. Harmon, known as Bunch, shows her husband, Julian Harmon, the announcement. He won’t be able to go because he is busy at work ( workaholics).
 * Bunch suspects “the young Simmonses ” placed the ad for Blacklock (8). She’s (Bunch) excited about the murder game but is worried about being scared.
 * Bunch thinks of herself as stupid, but she likes to talk to Julian about things she considers smart.
 * As Julian leaves the house, he hears Bunch singing a song about murder (what a lovely day to sing about Murder).
 * Pretty action packed Chapter if you ask me

=Chapter 2=
 * Letitia Blacklock, '"a woman of sixty-odd," starts breakfast at Little Paddocks (12)
 * Miss Blacklock reads Lane Norcott in //The Daily Mail//; Julia Simmons read //The Telegraph//; Patrick Simmons checks the crossword in //The Times//; Dora Bunner reads the local weekly paper
 * Miss Bunner points out the strange murder advertisement to Miss Blacklock who was not aware of the event and believes "it might be [Patrick's] idea of a joke" but he and Julia deny any previous knowledge (13)
 * Miss Bunner suggests Phillipa Haymes but "she's a serious girl" and wouldn't "try and be funny" (13)
 * Miss Buner is worried about the meaning behind the advertisement but Miss Blacklock believes it is just some practical joke and prepares for the party
 * Miss Blacklock sits at her writing desk absentmindedly drawing on the blotting paper. it is reveled that "[Miss Blacklock] and Dora Bunner had been at school together" and had been friends for a very long time but "life had been unkind to Dora Bunner. She had had to earn her living." (14)
 * "Dora's Health had given way " and she was rather sick trying to live "on her old age pension" and had called upon Miss Blacklock for help who immediately took her old friend in "to help run the house" (14,15). But she was "so completely unreliable" and only made tasks more difficult (15).
 * Dora believes the joke is 'spiteful' and Miss Blacklock, after reflecting on Miss Bunner's rapid maddening, agrees 'it's not a nice kind of joke" (15)
 * Mitzi, the refugee maid, comes in to speak with Miss Blacklock and plans to leave her [[image:http://cdncache1-a.akamaihd.net/items/it/img/arrow-10x10.png height="10"]] because she believes "they come to kill" <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">her, meaning the Nazis, after reading the Gazette (16)
 * After convincing Mitzi that if someone were to want to murder her they would not have advertised it in the paper Mitzi makes the suggestion that maybe someone means to murder Miss Blacklock, to which Letitia could not think of a reason why anyone would want to murder her.
 * Letitia calls for the "beef the butcher sent stewed for lunch" and a "rather <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">hard bit of cheese in making some cheese straws" and "a special goulash" for the party that night (17)

=Chapter 3=
 * Little Paddocks has been decorating to receive guests shortly before 6:30PM because of the advertisement in the //<span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Gazette // -- the central heating is turned on, flowers and appetizers have been prepared.
 * Miss Bunner and Miss Blacklock reminisce about the good old days to Julia and Patrick. Everything was always better in the good ol' days, according to nostalgic story tellers everywhere.
 * Phillipa enters the room, surprised that everything is arranged for a party since she is the only one clueless about the strange advertisement in the newspaper.
 * Miss Blacklock leaves briefly to shut up the ducks in the back yard, turning down offers of assistance from Miss Bunner and Patrick since she "really much prefers to do everything herself" (20).
 * They open a new bottle of sherry.
 * Guests begin to arrive, each trying to act nonchalant to avoid revealing their curiosity about the announced murder; Julia sardonically notes how each guest comes up with the same hackneyed conversation starters,“ What lovely chrysanthemums!” and “You’ve got your central heating on” (23). This is basically the most awkward pseudo-dinner party you can imagine.
 * Colonel and Mrs. Eastbrook are first, followed by Miss Hinch and Murgatroyd, then Mrs. Swettenham and Edmund.
 * Mrs. Harmon is the last to arrive and embarrasses everyone by addressing the monumental elephant in the room, exclaiming "When does the murder begin" (24)? But, of course, everyone is eagerly awaiting the answer.
 * When the clock on the mantelpiece begins to chime the half hour, everyone falls silent and watches expectantly
 * ...and the lights go out. In the sudden dark, everyone is squealing and shuffling and chattering with surprise, like kids in a haunted house.
 * Suddenly the door crashes open, much like the scenes from "pleasant afternoons at the movies," and a man's voice orders them to "Stick '<span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">em up!" as a blinding flashlight sweeps the room (25).
 * Everyone is quite happily playing along, until suddenly, "a revolver spoke" (25). Two shots are heard, then the figure at the door turns around; a third shot is fired and the figure drops to the ground. //Bam bam,// the whole holdup no longer seems quite so funny.
 * The room is in chaos as everyone panics and trips over each other.
 * Eventually two <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">lighters are lit and the relatively cool-headed Colonel Easterbrook and Miss Blacklock <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">take command. Edmund frees and silences the hysterically screaming Mitzi from the dining room and Patrick is sent to fix the fuse box.
 * Everyone is horrified to see that Miss Blacklock is bleeding copiously from her ear, “a <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_noSuggestion GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">horrifyingly gory sight,” though she calmly dismisses the severity of her wound (27). A little blood never hurt anyone, right?
 * Colonel Easterbrook unmasks the figure at the door as the lights come on, and they <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">realizes the man has been shot dead. A murder is announced, indeed.
 * Miss Bunner excitedly identifies the body as "the young man from the Spa Hotel in Mendenham Wells" who once asked Miss Blacklock for money (28).
 * Finally, the police are called in.

=Chapter 4=
 * You are first introduced to “George Rydesdale” the chief constable of Middleshire then Detective Inspector Craddock (29).
 * Craddock was put “officially in charge of the case” then he started talking to Rydesdale about everyone who was at the party on the day of the murder (29).
 * They learn that the person who dies was “Rudi Sherz” and that he worked at the Royal Spa Hotel (30).
 * Craddock then wanted to go to Clipping Cleghorn after he goes to the Royal Spa Hotel to get a better look at the scene of the crime but before he could leave Sir Henry Clithering the “ex-commissioner of Scotland Yard” came into the room (30).
 * Henry tells them that the murder was announced in the Chipping Cleghorn Gazette and the Rudi Sherz was the one who put it in the paper.
 * They started talking about what his motive could have been but didn’t get very far and Henry said that if they needed any help he could give his “old pussy” a call (31).
 * <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_noSuggestion GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Rydesdale said that Miss Blacklock only keeps 5 pounds <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">on her at most and that the holdup “wasn’t for the loot” but for the acting purposes (32).
 * Craddock then leaves for the Royal Spa Hotel
 * Craddock meets the manager of the Hotel “Mr. Rowlandson” who said the Rudi <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Sherz was a <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">satisfactory worker but Craddock doubted that was everything because of the pause before he started talking.
 * After questioning him again Mr. Rowland said that there was trouble with the bills and Rudi could have taken money from them.
 * They suspect that Rudi could of <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">taken small sums of money in order to not run the risk of getting caught so he needed to get a large amount of money some other way.
 * That some other way could have been a “holdup or other means” (34).
 * Craddock then goes to talk with Myrna Harris the waitress who is said to be close to Rudi.
 * She said how they were just friends and that she doesn’t really trust foreigners.
 * Also that he talked big about having a lot of money in <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Switzerland but he doesn’t have that much money now because he <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">cant get the money “over here” (35)
 * She ends by saying that Rudi <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Sherz is a crook and Craddock agrees with her.

=Chapter 5=
 * Detective Inspector Craddock arrives at Little Paddocks to question the residents as Sergeant Fletcher is leaving
 * Fletcher says that, "Scherz doesn't seem to have left any fingerprints anywhere" and that he "wore gloves" (36). He also reports that there is no sign of forced entry.
 * Fletcher also suspects that Mitzi and Rudi are in cahoots
 * Craddock sits down with Dora Bunner and Letitia Blacklock to question them and notices "the only indication that something out of the way had occurred to distract the routine of a well-run household (38), dead violets in a vase.
 * Miss Blacklock tells Craddock that her first encounter with Rudi was at the Royal Spa Hotel and that he knew her by name. Rudi claimed he was the son of the proprietor of the Hotel des Alpes at Montreux, where Blacklock and her sister stayed for a year during the war.
 * 10 days before the incident, Rudi went to Little Paddocks to request money from Miss Blacklock to return to Switzerland to visit his ailing mother, "But Letty didn't give it to him" (40). In retrospect, Blacklock believed the story was just a ruse in order to scope out the property.
 * Blacklock confirmed that the side door was locked around 6:15
 * Blacklock says nothing of value is kept in the house except, "'find pounds'" in a desk, "'a pound or two'" in her purse and "'a couple of rings brooches, and...cameos'" (41).
 * Dora Bunner firmly believes the entire scheme was to get revenge on Miss Blacklock
 * Blacklock recalls the lights went out precisely at 6:30, and that a man entered the room and yelled "Hands up or I shoot", yet Blacklock did not put her hands up
 * Blacklock was standing by a small table next to the archway, holding the cigarette box. Two bullet holes were <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">in the wall behind where she stood.
 * After sharing her belief that Blacklock was targeted specifically, Dora Bunner becomes too upset and leaves the interview room. On her way out she concludes she "must have forgotten to put any water in the vase" (44)
 * In addition to Blacklock and Bunner, Blacklock's two young cousins, Julia and Patrick, live at Little Paddocks, as well as Mitzi and the gardener Mrs. Haymes
 * Blacklock vouches for Mitzi, even though Craddock suspects her strongly
 * Craddock then leaves with intent to question the rest of the household

=Chapter 6=
 * Craddock questioned Julia Simmons about the events that took place the previous night at Little Paddocks.
 * Because of the way Julia carried herself through the questioning Craddock “found” Julia “annoying” (46).
 * Julia told Craddock that everyone had said the same thing (that they just happened to stop by for no reason in particular) upon entering the home, for the exception of Mrs. Harmon who asked “when the murder was going to happen” (47).
 * Julia stated that the man who had entered through the doorway with the gun had shown his flashlight “like a spotlight in a dance hall” (47).
 * Julia stated that after the <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">gun shots were fired Mitzi began screaming in the other room for help.
 * Julia placed herself away from Miss. Blacklock <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">saying she was “over by the window” (47) while Miss. Blacklock got cigarettes.
 * Julia suggested that the bullet striking Miss. Blacklock was not intentional because if someone wanted to kill her, they would have done so in a situation with less variables.
 * Mitzi is frightened and feels threatened by Craddock’s and Fletcher’s being in her kitchen.
 * Mitzi says “there is persecution” in Great Britain just like Nazi occupied Europe, and that is why they police were there and why the shooting happened.
 * Mitzi said she was trapped in the adjacent room to the shooting and that’s why she screamed frantically.
 * Patrick Simmons told Craddock that Miss. Bunner was especially apprehensive about the evening and took the advertisement seriously and “scared her into fits” (52).
 * When Patrick is asked about Rudi Sherz he says he “never saw him in his life” (52)
 * Patrick, like the others that were questioned said that he was not sure if Rudi was shooting at Miss. Blacklock on purpose.

=Chapter 7=
 * Craddock arrives at Dayas Hall and describes it to be a somewhat run down place with vegetation growing <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">enthusiastically
 * He runs into an old man <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">at the garden called Old Ashe
 * He begins to criticize the incident at Little Paddocks and includes other people’s input on the event
 * Craddock evaluates Old Ashe’s information unhelpful and goes to find Mrs. Haymes in the orchard
 * Craddock begins questioning Phillipa
 * <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Phillipa says she came home from work at 5:30 the night of the incident through the side door, which is a shorter route as it cuts across by the ducks and hens
 * She always comes in through that door as <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">its always unlocked, however she locked it after coming in
 * She gives her account of the incident:
 * She was by the mantelpiece when the lights went out and proceeded to search for her lighter
 * The door flung open and a man shone a flashlight on everyone and pulled out a gun and told them to put their hands up
 * She recalls the light to not have been that blinding
 * Said she was rather bored thinking it was all a game
 * Shots were fired and the flashlight dropped
 * Edmund Swettenham and Patrick Simmons switched on their lighters and went out into the hall with everyone following
 * The lights hadn’t gone out in the dining room
 * Mrs. Haymes doesn’t have a clue if the suicide was deliberate or accidental
 * She explains she does not have any valuables and neither does Mrs. Blacklock
 * Mr. Craddock bumps into Mrs. Lucas at the kitchen garden
 * She talks down to him saying he was intruding on her gardener's time and that no one has consideration for her
 * She continues to complain about her mistreatment and Craddock asks her to verify that Mrs. Haymes was kept 20 minutes longer than usual the night of the incident
 * Mrs. Lucas agrees and also calls Mrs. Haymes "as obstinate as a mule" for not agreeing to send her child away (60)
 * Mr. Craddock also asks if Phillipa gets a smaller salary, to which Mrs. Lucas confidently verifies
 * Craddock continues his interrogation with Mrs. Swettenham
 * She happily explains the night to have been "quite dreadful" (60)
 * She says she was in the dark like everybody else, when the door opened up with a dim figure in the doorway shining a blinding light and a revolver
 * According to Mrs. Swettenham, the figure exclaimed, "Your money or your life!" (61)
 * She doesn’t remember her exact location or to whom she was talking to
 * She doesn’t see the importance of whether she was sitting or standing but goes on to say she was by the <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">mantel piece or the window because she was near the clock when it struck
 * Says the flashlight was right in her eyes and she couldn’t see a thing
 * Edmund explains the light moved rather slowly among all of them
 * He says he was talking to Julia Simmons in the middle of the long room and recalls Phillipa over by the far mantel piece looking for something
 * He says the dining room door where Mitzi was screaming was definitely locked on the outside
 * Craddock was forced to spend a long time with <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Colonel and Mrs. <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_noSuggestion GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Easterbrook to "listen to a long disquisition on the psychological aspect of the case" (62)
 * Colonel tries to prove his knowledge by explaining the psychological reasoning behind Scherz's actions.
 * Colonel believes he shot blindly, not aiming for anyone
 * He explains that the reality of actually killing someone settled into Scherz and so he committed suicide
 * Mrs. <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_noSuggestion GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Easterbrook strongly admires her husband’s wisdom
 * Colonel said he was standing by the center table, which held flowers on top, with his wife
 * Inspector Craddock continues with Miss Hinchliffe, who is tending to her pigs
 * She doesn't understand why Scherz's didn’t try to rob someone from the hotel he worked at, as he could get more valuables
 * She explains she was leaning up against the mantelpiece hoping someone would offer her a drink during the night at Little Paddocks
 * She doesn’t know if it was aimed toward Letty
 * All she remembers is a dazzling light on everyone and shots being fired
 * She assumed it was Patrick Simmons playing a prank
 * Hinchliffe calls Murgatroyd so the inspector can question her
 * During the night of, she had been admiring the chrysanthemums
 * She says she thought Mitzi was being murdered and hadn’t even noticed that there was a man in the doorway
 * All she heard was a voice saying "Put them up please" (65)
 * Hinchliffe disagrees saying "Stick '<span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">em up!"(65)
 * After Craddock and Fletcher leave, Murgatroyd frantically asks her friend, "was <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">I very awful? I do get so flustered!" (65)
 * Hinchliffe replies she did very well on the whole
 * Inspector Craddock arrives at Mrs. Harmon's home, which he finds very cozy and homely
 * Mrs. Harmon immediately says she is of no help since she closed her eyes because she "hate<span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">[ s] being dazzled" (66)
 * She heard doors opening and closing and shots being fired and Mitzi <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">screaming and Miss Bunner <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">squealing like a pig
 * She described Scherz to be a "rather weaselly looking foreigner-all pink and surprised-looking" (66)
 * Mrs. Harmon said the entire thing did not make sense to her all
 * Mr. Craddock agrees that the whole case worries him

=Chapter 8=
 * Craddock shows the transcript of the earlier interviews to the Chief Constable. The interviews show that Rudi Scherz was a "dishonest fellow" who "falsified entries" (67).
 * The constable sees that the interviews had inconsistencies, with the characters saying different things, but thinks that it shows the big picture. Craddock believes the picture is "unsatisfactory" (67).
 * The facts of the case are analyzed: Scherz took a bus at 5:20 from Medenham to Chipping Cleghorn. He arrived at six. He went into the house, faked a robbery, fired two shots, one of which injured Blacklock, and then either accidentally or deliberately killed himself.
 * The constable doesn't understand the motive behind Scherz's crime, but thinks there's enough evidence to close the case.
 * Craddock disagrees. He thinks that Mitzi "knows more than she lets on" and that someone told Scherz to fake the robbery (68). He also notes that Miss Bunner was the only one who thought someone was trying to kill Blacklock.
 * The Chief Constable tells Craddock and Henry Clithering about a letter he received from Jane Marple.
 * Craddock meets Jane Marple, who seems "more benignant than he had imagined" (70). She's old and wear a wool shawl. Craddock thinks she's crazy because of her unorthodox personality.
 * Marple mentions a check that she had "altered" by Rudi, from 7 to 17 pounds (71). The incident reminds her of Fred Tyler, who would add ten shillings to prices and profit from that. Marple said Rudi had a shifty eye that "looks straight at you" and doesn't blink (72).
 * Marple <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">asks if they've gotten all the information from the "red-haired waitress", Myrna (72). The waitress seemed worried.
 * Marple is certain that someone made Scherzo commit the crime, he normally does "small, petty thefts" (73).
 * <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_noSuggestion GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Rydesdale lets Marple read the transcript. She claims not to be that smart, but has a "knowledge of human nature" (74).
 * Craddock doubts Marple has figured out much, until she says that the guests couldn't "have seen anything" since the room had been dark (75).
 * Scherz may have been a "fall guy" who was paid to put the ad in the paper (75). It remains a mystery who fired the gun or hired Rudi.
 * Craddock interviews Myrna again. Harris admits that Scherz had told her about the ad as if it was a joke, but he didn't mention if anyone hired him to place it.
 * Craddock suspects Mitzi was the accomplice.
 * According to Edmund Swettenham, he had to unlock the kitchen door to free Mitzi. The key to the kitchen was on the outside, and the only other door didn't have a handle and couldn't be opened, making it unlikely that Mitzi shot Rudi. Craddock wants to check her records to see if she's a lock-picker.
 * <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Scherz's revolver was German, but many people own German guns, so that piece of evidence isn't useful.
 * The murderer may try to kill Blacklock again.

=Chapter 9=
 * Detective Inspector Craddock returns to Miss. Blacklock to ask more questions and get evidence.
 * Craddock states that Rudi Scherz is not the "son of the proprietor of the Hotel des Alpes at Montreux" (81).
 * He started off as an orderly in a hospital <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">at Berne, and many patients had missing jewelry (inferring that Scherz stole it). Under another name, he was also a waiter who "made out duplicate bills with items on one that didn't appear on the other" (81). He obviously made some money for himself. As well as stealing customers' bill payments, he also shoplifted working at a department store.
 * Detective Craddock clears up the fact that he "pretended to recognize Miss Blacklock at the Royal Spa Hotel", and someone pointed her out to him (81).
 * The Detective asks again if Miss Blacklock is in possession of something valuable in her house, and she denies.
 * Miss Bunner confirms that Scherz came to attack Miss Blacklock, and Miss Blacklock says "'Oh nonsense, Bunny'' (82). Craddock then sides with Miss Bunner, telling Miss Blacklock she is right.
 * Miss Blacklock is very conflicted and confused, she is skeptical of Miss Bunner and the detective.
 * Miss Bunner claims that it was not a joke, "'...And look at Mitzi - she was frightened, too!'" (82).
 * After mentioning Mitzi, the detective asks about Mitzi because he finds her suspicious.
 * Craddock says, "'There may have been someone behind Scherz,'' following Miss Marple's theory (83). Miss Blacklock is still skeptical.
 * Miss Blacklock claims she does not have enemies, she does not know of someone who would want to murder her. She also says <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">its "absurd" how the inspector is pointing fingers at Mitzi as well. He defends his point by saying she could be freaking out to cover up her true identity. Miss Blacklock says if Mitzi wanted to do something terrible to Miss Blacklock, she would have poisoned her food.
 * Miss Blacklock claims "'Mitzi may be a liar but she's not a cold-blooded murderer'" (83). She asks the detective to suspect someone else.
 * Craddock returns to Mitzi to interview her. Mitzi says Mrs. Haymes claimed to have locked the door when she came to the house at 5:30 pm.
 * Mitzi continues to believe that the detective will not believe anything she says, she says he "persecutes and despises poor refugees" (84).
 * Mitzi claims she saw Scherz talking to Mrs. Haymes in the summer-house. He says to her 'But where can I hide?', and Mrs. Haymes says 'I will show you'" (85). Mitzi originally thought Mrs. Haymes and Scherz had a thing, but now she assumes they were planning <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">for murder.
 * Miss Bunner calls Mitzi; Mitzi says she is irritating.
 * Mitzi claims Haymes is a thief, and she says that she has never talked to Rudi before. She says "' If anyone they see me talking to him, that is lies, lies, lies lies,'" (86).
 * Craddock then bumps into Miss Bunner and she stops him from opening "the wrong door" (86).
 * Miss Bunner says that door does not open, which is called the dummy door. She also talks about "'the drawing-room door proper, china cupboard door and the door of the little flower room and at the end the side door'" (86).
 * Miss Bunner says a table used to be on the dummy door, except it was recently moved because of Mrs. <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Haymes' flowers. The door of the small drawing-room is the dummy door, and it is locked and bolted.
 * Craddock notices that the bolt slid back very easily, inferring that the door was opened recently. Miss Bunner says the door was last open "years and years ago", although that is probably incorrect (87).
 * After finding the key, Craddock opens the door, and it opens noiselessly. He notices that the door has been opened "quite recently", because the lock and hinges have been oiled (88).
 * The person with the revolver (now that we know it is not Scherz who had the gun) "[X] had been in the house" and "[X] was in the drawing-room the night of the murder" (88).

=Chapter 10=
 * Inspector Craddock believed that "anybody in this room the other night could have slipped out of that door, come up behind Rudi Scherz and fires at you" (89).
 * Miss Blacklock does not believe that one of her "nice commonplace neighbors" could have tried to kill her (89).
 * The Inspector thinks the neighbors and relatives of Miss Blacklock could have the motive of money. What they did not know was if she were to die her money would go to Julia and Patrick.
 * Miss Blacklock also left all the "furniture in this house and a small annuity to Bunny" (90).
 * Inspector Craddock <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">know believes that Patrick and Julia could have tried to kill her for the money. Miss Blacklock is shocked by the <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">inspectors statement and she "refuse to suspect them" (90).
 * Miss Blacklock stats that "Simply that one day-possibly quite soon-I may be a very rich <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">women " (90).
 * Miss Blacklock then goes into explaining to the Inspector that she worked as a secretary for a man by the name Randall Goedler. Randall was in finance and "he was a millionaire" (90).
 * Miss Blacklock continues to tell the Inspector how after Randall died and after his wife, Belle, died that she was inheriting all his money.
 * The Inspector Craddock then goes on to asking "what happens if you should predecease Mrs. <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_noSuggestion GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Goedler ?" (92).
 * Miss Blacklock does not know how to answer the question, because she simply does not know what would happen to the money. She assumes that it will probably go to Randall's sister Sonia. But she highly doubted it, since Randall did not like his <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">sisters husband, because he was a crook.
 * Miss Blacklock also said that the money could be left to "Pip and Emma" the twins of Randall's sister Sonia (93).
 * The inspector then says to Miss Blacklock "There are two people, at least, who are vitally interested. How old would this brother and sister be?" (93). The Inspector is inferring about Pip and Emma, who would be around the age of "twenty-five or twenty-six" (93).
 * The inspector believes that "another murder may be arranged very soon" (93). He tells Miss Blacklock to be very careful, he thinks that a "person or persons might try again" to kill her (93).
 * Craddock continues to talk to Mrs. Haymes, while she is at work.
 * Mrs. Haymes gives him a description of a girl, "English type with her pale ash blonde hair and her rather long face. An obstinate chin and mouth" (94). She then continues to tell him that the girl has eyes that "were blue, very steady in their glance, and told you nothing at all" (94).
 * In the text it does not explain why Mrs. Haymes is giving a description of a girl, or who the girl is.
 * Inspector Craddock then goes into saying how a source told him earlier that morning that they saw Mrs. Haymes with Rudi in the summer-house prior to the day of the attack. He questions her because she stated that she "had never seen him before" his death (94).
 * He also tells Mrs. Haymes that the source told him that she overheard them talking about where Rudi could hide, and what time he would be arriving the night of the attack.
 * Mrs. Haymes tells him this is a lie, even though she says it with "fear in her voice" (94). She then says that Mitzi probably made it up because disliked Mrs. Haymes more <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">then everyone else.
 * When Inspector Craddock left Mrs. Haymes, he met up with Sergeant Fletcher and they discuss who they should believe, Mitzi or Mrs. Haymes.
 * They agree that Mitzi has been known to be crazy, and maybe "lying comes <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">more easy than truth-telling" to Mitzi (95). They also have no reason not to believe Mrs. Haymes.
 * The Inspector decided to keep an open mind on the situation.
 * Inspector Craddock was sitting in a deck chair outside on a warm summer morning, with "Miss Marple sat knitting beside him" (96).
 * Inspector Craddock tells Miss Marple that it is unsafe for her to be there, but she infers him that it is most safe.
 * Miss Marple went on to say how the world has changed since the war. That prior to the war everyone <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">kew who everyone was in the neighborhood, and now they do not. She realizes that the issue of not knowing everyone is "what's worrying" the Inspector (96).
 * Inspector Craddock knew it was <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">to hard to "check up on these people" and that did in fact scare him (98).
 * Inspector Craddock told Miss Marple "about Randall Goedler and about Pip and Emma" (98).
 * He wonders if Pip and Emma could have done this or if they are "respectable citizens living in Europe somewhere" (98).
 * Miss Marple said she will find <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">somethings out for him.
 * The Inspector tells Miss Marple how he is planning to head out to Scotland. How "Mrs. <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Goedler, if she's able to talk, may know a good deal more about them" so he is planning to go and speak to her about Pip and Emma (98-99).
 * The chapter ends with Inspector Craddock telling Miss Marple that he "warned" her, and answered him by saying "I can take care of myself" (99).

=Chapter 11= =Chapter 12=
 * Mrs. Harmon attends a tea party with Mrs. Blacklock and Mrs. Marple who was "staying with her"(100).
 * Miss Harmon, Miss Marple, Miss Blacklock, Miss Bunner, and Mr. Bunch are all in attendance.
 * This is the first time Mrs. Marple has met Mrs. Blacklock and they discuss her "constant preoccupation with burglars" (100).
 * Mrs. <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Bunner brings up the scene where Mr. Craddock realizes the dummy door had been tampered with, but Mrs. Blacklock stops her, "annoyed" that she brought up such a private matter (101).
 * Mrs. <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Bunner becomes visibly upset by Mrs. <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_noSuggestion GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Blacklock's statement and exclaims, " 'I always say the wrong thing...' " (101).
 * The topic has been brought up regardless and the five individuals begin discussing the details of the event because, "in a small place like Chipping Cleghorn, there aren't really any secrets" (101).
 * Patrick walks in on the conversation and helps reenact the ordeal with the help of Miss Blacklock, Miss Harmon, and Miss Bunner as each of them explains the details to the enthralled Miss Marple.
 * The topic then moves to furniture and it is noted that Miss Bunner shares an odd trait of loving "her <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">friends possessions with as much fervor as though they had been her own (102).
 * After which they begin talking about old photographs and during this discussion Miss Marple notes the critical fact that with Miss Blacklock's extended family that she originally did not recognize Patrick or Julia, "her two young relatives by sight" (104).
 * Miss Marple and Bunch walk home.


 * Edmund Swettenham is in the garden bothering Philippa Haymes. She is “‘pricking out winter lettuce” (105) and doesn’t think Edmund should be there because Mrs. Lucas would get upset.
 * Edmund reveals that Mrs. Lucas had called his mom in the morning asking to exchange her excess of vegetable marrows for a pot of honey. Since vegetable marrows are “quite unsalable at the moment”, Edmund obviously has some other motive for visiting Philippa (106).
 * He begins rambling to Philippa about Tennyson, his love for Philippa, the book that he is writing about “how miserable everybody is” (107), and Burne-Jones. He sounds like a drama queen.
 * He encourages Philippa to get over the death of her husband by talking about him.
 * Reluctantly, she tells him that they married young, were fairly happy, had a son named Harry, and then her husband, Ronald, was killed in Italy.
 * Edmund asks Philippa to marry him by proposing, “‘Shall we get married?’”. She says no because he doesn’t “know anything about anything” (108).
 * He doesn’t give up, and recites a poem to her. “Philippa” doesn’t work well in the poem, so she tells him her other name is Joan.
 * Mrs. Lucas is coming towards them and Edmund asks Philippa to get him some vegetable marrow. End scene.
 * Sergeant Fletcher is alone at Little Paddocks. Mitzi takes the 11-o’clock bus to Medenham Wells and Letitia and Bunner had gone to the village.
 * Fletcher knows that someone in the house must have oiled up the door. He rules out Mitzi because she would never have to use that door.
 * He rules out the neighbors because they wouldn’t have had “an opportunity <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">to oil and prepare the door” (109).
 * Fletcher could not find how the lights had turned off and goes to snoop around <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">peoples’ rooms.
 * Philippa has pictures of her son, some letters, and a couple theater programs. Julia has pictures from the south of France. Patrick has Navy memorabilia, and Bunner barely has anything.
 * He hears a sound downstairs and sees Mrs. Swettenham. He asks if anyone can “always walk in and out just as they like” (110).
 * She says that she brought some <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">quinces to Miss Blacklock, then tells Fletcher how silly it would be if everyone actually locked their doors all the time and reminisces about her time in India.
 * Fletcher realizes that anyone-- not just someone from the house-- could have oiled the door, since anyone could walk in or out. He couldn’t rule out anyone who was in the drawing room the night of the murder. End scene.
 * Miss Hinchcliffe and Miss Murgatroyd are talking about the night of the murder. Hinchcliffe suggests that something is not as it seems, and she has Murgatroyd act like Scherz with a trowel in one hand and a flashlight in the other.
 * Murgatroyd points out how awkward it is to hold both objects and keep open the swinging door.
 * Hinchcliffe goes off on a tangent about the big glass door stop that Miss Blacklock bought before she had a chance.
 * She proposes that someone must have held the door open for Scherz, and jokingly mentions that Murgatroyd was standing directly behind the door. End scene.
 * Colonel Easterbrook is talking to his wife. His revolver is missing from the drawer he keeps it in.
 * Mrs. <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_noSuggestion GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Easterbrook says that the last time he took out the revolver was Saturday, “‘the day after the holdup at Miss Blacklock’s’” (114).
 * The Colonel is relieved that his gun couldn’t have been used in the holdup because he would have had to go <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">the the police, and it turns out his revolver isn’t even <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">licenced because he thinks of it as a “‘war souvenir’” (114).
 * Mrs. <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_noSuggestion GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Easterbrook thinks that maybe Mrs. Butt took it for protection after hearing about the holdup.

=Chapter 13=
 * <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Chapter begins with Miss. Marple and Dora Brunner who meet up in the Bluebird tea shop which was right next to Mr. Eliot's antique shop.
 * Dora describes Miss. Blacklock, saying that "few people would be as loyal to their friends as Miss. Blacklock is (118).
 * They talk about <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Phillipia Hayes love life, mentioning "Edmund Swettenham" as a possible candidate (118).
 * Dora Brunner emphasizes the value of money. She understands what <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">its like to suffer and <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">whats its like "to be really hungry" (119).
 * Dora Brunner talks about why she adores Miss. Blacklock so much. She says <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">its because Miss. Blacklock treats her as if she was useful to her" (120)
 * Dora Brunner takes a disliking to Patrick because of how he treats Miss<span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">. Blacklock. According to Dora he has been getting "money out of her" (120)
 * Dora Brunner claims that she caught Patrick holding "An oily cup" and suspects he may be held morally responsible for the murder (121).
 * Dora Brunner also caught Patrick having a "Very curious conversation with Julia." This causes her suspicions to rise even more (122).
 * Miss. Blacklock catches Dora Brunner as she's spreading these rumors that Miss. Blacklock told her not to spread. She takes Dora Brunner with her to go shopping. At the same time Bunch Harmon comes into the coffee shop and starts talking with Miss. Marple.
 * Miss. Marple talks a-lot about a bunch of "famous" family murder cases (123).
 * After discussing the family murder cases, Miss. Marple speculates more about the attempted murder on "Letty Blacklock" (125).
 * Miss. Marple reveals that she suspects Pip and Emma, and <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">beleives that they will try again because "If they tried once, they will try again" (126)
 * Miss. Marple closes off her conversation with Bunch talking about the psychology behind murder saying that "I shouldn't really kill anyone" (128).

=Chapter 14=
 * Inspector Craddock is on his way to meet Mrs. <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_noSuggestion GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Goedler
 * He was puzzled <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">of why such a wealthy woman would choose the “remote Scottish home as her residence” and wondered if she was lonely (129)
 * The chauffeur that picked him up enlightened him, saying that it was her home as a girl and when Mr. <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Goedler was alive, they were happier here, and “enjoyed themselves lie a couple of <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">bairns ” (129. Good for the happy couple!!!
 * So basically, Craddock decided to pretty himself up. Craddock washed up, shaved, and tidied himself.
 * After breakfast, Sister McClelland, a middle-aged nurse, greeted him and took him to meet Mrs. <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_noSuggestion GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Goedler.
 * She warned him about how the patient would be due to the influence of morphia. The morphia makes her drowsy, so sometimes she may be talking normally and all of a sudden “her powers will fail” (130).
 * Sister McClelland explained how it was a miracle that Mrs. <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Goedler was actually alive still, claiming that she should have been dead years ago. Mrs. <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Goedler’s “intense enjoyment” and “love of being alive” is what keeps her breathing...if only that happened in real life
 * Craddock entered the room to see a woman as old as Letitia Blacklock, but appearing to be more fragile with a “twinkle” in her eyes (131).
 * Immediately, she asks about “Blackie” and begins to reminisce about her past with Blacklock.
 * Craddock kept all of his ears open. Sneaky sneaky... and attempted to get the feel of the “Goedler-Blacklock menage” (131).
 * <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Goedler anticipated what Craddock wished to know. She went on to talk about her husband, Randall, who passed away.
 * Her husband thought that he would outlive her (turns out he didn’t). He left the money to Blackie after her death- not because he loved her in the romantic manner, but because he trusted her.
 * Letitia had a “man’s mind” and was considered a “younger brother” to Randall. He relied on her judgement and insight in rough times (132). So guessing she was a woman, but sort of a man.
 * <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Goedler described how sometimes her husband could not tell right from wrong. It was Letitia who “kept him straight” and brought in her morals to guide him (132).
 * Craddock found it odd how this dying woman pitied Blacklock who simply lacked femininity, while she had lost her only child, was widowed, and was hampered by illness.
 * Belle <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">read his mind, explaining how she had enjoyed the precious years she had- that through the pain she can find the beauty of life.
 * Now, Craddock mentioned Sonia, Randall’s sister. Sonia was “wildly in love” with a man <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Stamfordis, however, the “two men didn’t like each other from the first,” so Randall cut her off (133).
 * <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Stamfordis was a crook, and Randall never believed that he was actually <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">marrying his sister for a different reason than money.
 * They never heard from her again except for one letter she sent regarding her two newborn twins, to which Randall commented “She’ll regret marrying that fellow one of these days,” and after that they simply forgot about her (134). Ooooo how vindictive.
 * The twins names were Pip and Emma. Funny.
 * She had no idea where they were, “they may be anywhere” (135).
 * Her voice began to trail off as she told Craddock to protect Blackie, and Craddock was escorted out. Poor Mrs. Goedler.
 * Before leaving, he questioned if Mrs. <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Goedler had any old photographs, but Sister McClelland simply said that during the war the personal belongings were stored, except they were lost and no longer available.
 * Craddock’s last thoughts revolved around how Pip and Emma were Patrick and Julia, who purposely landed up in Blacklock’s home with the intention of stealing her money by killing her. Tsk tsk, frauds.

=Chapter 15=
 * Miss Blacklock is “giving instructions to Mitzi” because “it’s Miss Bunner’s birthday and some people will be coming to tea” (137).
 * Miss Blacklock’s temper flared when Mitzi said that they should not be celebrating Miss Bunner’s birthday at her age, instead “it is better to forget" (137).
 * Letty (Miss Blacklock) worried that something may happen at this party similar to “what happened” last time (137).
 * Mitzi’s face lit up when Letty told her that she could make the “//Schwitzebzr//” cake, or at least that is what Letty thought she heard (138).
 * The cake requires “chocolate and much butter, and sugar and raisins,” Mitzi <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">says that Patrick calls "it Delicious Death” (138).
 * Mitzi didn't like what he called her cake, but Miss Blacklock reassured her by saying that “it was a compliment,” he meant that “it was worth dying to eat such a cake” (138).
 * The conversation ended. Dora Bunner tried to go into the kitchen to tell Mitzi “how to cut the sandwiches,” and Letty responded negatively saying that Mitzi is “not in a good mood” (138).
 * Dora is surprised that “everyone seems to know” that it is her birthday (139).
 * She is “sixty-four” now (139).
 * As “the party took their places round the dining room table,” Patrick excitingly says that there is “Delicious Death” (139). Poor Mitzi, Patrick never listens.
 * After everyone finished eating, the conversation starts with Miss Hinchcliffe asking if Letty “got a new gardener” (140).
 * Julia says that he is their detective “protecting Aunt Letty” (140).
 * Letty responds by saying that she “can protect” herself just fine (140).
 * Julia says that she is “glad that [Mrs<span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">. Harmon] and old Miss Marple couldn’t come” (141).
 * Bunny says that she has “a terrible headache” and that she will “take a couple aspirin and try and have a nice sleep” (141).
 * Patrick asks if he should “shut up the ducks,” and Letty <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">says to make “sure to latch that door properly” (141).
 * Miss Bunner “can’t find [her] aspirin” (142).
 * <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Phillipa and Julia tell her where to find aspirin but Miss Bunner is annoyed that she is “so careless” (142).
 * Julia suggests that they offer Sherry to Mitzi, which results in an argument between Mitzi and Patrick over “Delicious Death” (142).
 * Miss Blacklock asks Phillipa Haymes if something is going on between her and Patrick.
 * Phillipa responds by saying she “shan’t marry again” (143).
 * Miss Blacklock starts questioning whether she might be worrying about money.
 * Miss Blacklock is quite suspicious about Phillipa’s intentions, especially if she were to die.
 * After her talk with Letty, Julia stops Phillipa in the hall saying that she has “played [her] cards rather well” (144). What did Phillipa do for everyone to suspect her?

=Chapter 16=
 * Poor Inspector Craddock. This hardworking guy had some weird nightmares that night.
 * He had a nightmare where he was racing through an old gray castle, trying to escape <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">time.
 * He finally thought he woke up, then Miss Blacklock showed up and was all, "why didn't you save me? You could if you tried" (145.) Creepy.
 * Anyway, when he arrived at Milchester Craddock went to see Ryesdale with the report.
 * Craddock and Ryesdale chat about Pip and Emma and how eerily similar the twins seem like Patrick and Julia Simmons. The Simmons twins have legit backgrounds, though.
 * They quickly move through the rest of the report and then move to the topic of Fletcher.
 * So apparently Fletcher's been hanging out at Little Paddocks and he found out that the house is empty most afternoons. Mitzi goes for coffee in the village at the Bluebird and Leticia and Dora go for a walk.
 * Tons of people know that the house is empty at this time. A lot of them stop by Little Paddocks when no one is there.
 * Murgatroyd was there with her hen, warming some eggs.
 * Mrs. Swettenham grabbed some <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">horsemeat that Leticia <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">had gave to her.
 * Miss Hinchcliffe first thought that she hadn't been there in a while, but Mitzi said she had seen her recently. Then Hinchcliffe got all flustered and say she might have been around, but she doesn't remember.
 * Mrs. <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_noSuggestion GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Easterbrook came to say hi and found that Leticia wasn't home.
 * Colonel brought a book on India that Leticia wanted to borrow.
 * Edmund might of dropped in for his mother, but he can't recall.
 * Miss Marple had coffee at the Bluebird, sherry at Boulders, and tea at Little Paddocks. Then she went and checked out Mrs. <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_noSuggestion GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Swettenham's garden and talked India with the Colonel.
 * Craddock and Ryesdale talk about Colonel's thing for India. They start to wonder if he's a [|pukka] colonel.
 * Craddock suggests that Leticia and Dora visit Belle Goedler in Scotland, because they could be in danger. And then he gives a bunch of examples of how you could kill someone, which is sort of weird.
 * Constable phones and tells Craddock to come back to the house. Dora has died.
 * She took two aspirin from an almost-empty bottle by Leticia's bedside. The aspirin was poisoned, which is suspicious, because usually aspirin is found to be poison-free.
 * Craddock reminds Constable that anyone could have poisoned the aspirin, because the whole gang was at Little Paddocks to celebrate Dora's b-day.

=Chapter 17=
 * Miss Marple took the note from <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Bunch’s hand.
 * Bunch says that he’s “simply got to get the child to hospital at once” (151).
 * Miss Marple waits for Miss Blacklock and looks around the drawing room.
 * She wonders what Dora Bunner had meant when she said that “she believed Patrick had “tampered with the lamp” to “make the lights go out”” (151).
 * Miss Marple continues to ponder over the lamps and their location.
 * She decides to “put all these points to Inspector Craddock” (152).
 * Miss Blacklock walks in and Miss Marple notes that she looks “many years older” (153).
 * Miss Blacklock breaks down into tears after reading the vicar’s note.
 * Inspector Craddock walks in shortly after and in a “pointed manner”, and ushers Miss Marple out (154).
 * Inspector Craddock expresses a slight disdain for Miss Marple.
 * Inspector Craddock gives a list of people who would benefit were Miss Blacklock to die and then requests to see pictures of Sonia Goedler.
 * He raises the question about it being “remotely possible that Mrs. Swettenham might Sonia Goedler” (155).
 * It is discovered that “somebody has removed every photo of Sonia Goedler” from the album (158).

=Chapter 18=
 * Craddock goes to interview Mrs. Haymes once again. Can't he leave a <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">woman in peace?
 * Craddock questions Haymes's claim that her husband was killed during fighting and accuses her of lying after revealing that her husband was a "deserter from his regiment"(159). Craddock dryly states that he expects the truth. Wow.
 * Mrs. Haymes admits but declares that she only did so for her son who does not know,
 * Craddock changes the subject and asks whether her husband is still alive and when she has seen him last.
 * Mrs. Haymes quickly responds that she has not seen him "for years", but Craddock pounces on this fact and accuses her of meeting Rudi Scherz in the summer-house<span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">( 160).
 * Craddock suggests that the man Mrs. Haymes "came back from work to meet" was her husband (160).
 * Phillipa immediately rejects this notion, denying Craddock's claim.
 * Craddock continues to challenge Mr. Haymes, accusing him of being "hard up for money" and "rather desperate" (160). But Mrs. Haymes is steadfast in her denial of Craddock's accusations. You go girl.
 * Craddock leaves frustrated and marches up to the attic to see what Julia was doing.
 * He notices trunks and suitcases filled with clothes and curtains and passes to a small attache case. After opening he discovers letters whom he assumes to have belonged to Lelitia's sister Charlotte,
 * After reading two, Craddock is determined that a photograph of Sonia Goedler might be here and packs it all up bringing it downstairs when he encounters Miss Blacklock.
 * Miss Blacklock is reluctant on Craddock taking the letters away as they are "private" but allows him to anyway (163). How nice of her.
 * Craddock brings letters to Miss Marple and selects one for her to read.
 * Written by Letitia to Charlotte Blacklock, the letter describes the contentious relationship between Randall and Sonia Goedler. Blacklock recounts Belle's supportive reaction to the marriage between Sonia and Dmitri and states that she thinks that " she and R.G. <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">had another row"(165). <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_noSuggestion GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Lelitia concludes by asking how Charlotte and her father are.
 * Miss Marple feels that Blacklock is little like Mr. Curtiss the Wesleyan Minister. She further comments that the revolver was never traced and was not Rudi Scherz's.
 * Bunch explains that Colonel Easterbrook has one.
 * Miss Marple hands Craddock a note on the subject of butter.
 * Craddock is confused but Bunch explains that Miss Hinchlifee collects butter from the farms and had slipped into Little Paddocks. Bunch also discusses barter. Craddock needs to pick up his game. Even old women are beating him.
 * Craddock wishes he knew what Sonia looks like and asks whether Swenttenham could have been "dark when she was a girl." He states that he knows that Sonia is "small and dark"(168). Looks like Craddock is desperate eh? Probably looking for a wife.
 * Telephone rings and its Rydesdale.
 * <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_noSuggestion GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Rydesdale reminds Craddock of the case with the man run over by a lorry<span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">( wow, that is brutal) and exclaims that the same fellow, who had died last night, was identified as Ronald Haymes. He states that her husband had an old Clipping Cleghorn bus ticket <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">on him and a "reasonable amount of money" He ultimately concludes that his death on the 28th, one day before the holdup, lets him out of any "possible connection with it"(169).
 * Finally, Craddock hangs up after he explains that there is someone he wants to have a word with.

=Chapter 19=
 * Miss Marple is conversing with Bunch Harmon at her house
 * Miss Marple tries to turn on the lamp, but Bunch’s cat Tiglath-Pileser has bitten through it and it shorts out
 * The flash from the wire causes Miss Marple to see something that she “‘...ought to have seen before...’” (172)
 * As Bunch leaves the room to get a fuse, she grabs a sheet of paper and writes “//Lamp//? <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">and underlined it heavily...her pencil traveled down the paper, making brief monosyllabic notes” (172)
 * In the next section of the chapter, Miss Murgatroyd and Miss Hinchliffe are arguing inside of their house
 * They are talking about their thoughts on the events that occurred at Little Paddocks the day of the “murder game” and at the birthday party
 * Hinchliffe tells Murgatroyd all of the details that she remembers as well as why and how certain things happened on the day of the murder party
 * She is also trying to reassure Murgatroyd that it was not her who helped the murderer on that day
 * She also is trying to get Murgatroyd to remember who she saw in the room with them, because Hinchliffe thinks someone slipped out the back door to take shots from behind Rudi Scherz
 * Hinchliffe also thinks that person is the one who “‘bumped off Poor Dora Bunner.” (173)
 * Hinchliffe knows Rudi didn't kill Mrs. <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Bunner because he was “dead as a doornail.” (173)
 * Hinchliffe tells Murgatroyd that she is the only one who could know who wasn't in the room because she “‘...couldn't look at the flashlight...The rest of us were dazzled. But you weren't dazzled.’” (176)
 * As Murgatroyd thinks about who she saw, Hinchliffe answers a call and has to leave to go pick up her dog, leaving Murgatroyd alone before she can tell Hinchliffe who was not in the room
 * Once Hinchliffe leaves in her car, it begins to rain, and Murgatroyd starts to take down the clothes from the clothes line and bring them inside
 * A woman walks up to Murgatroyd and offered to help her by putting the scarf around her neck “and then suddenly the scarf was pulled tight...” (178)
 * On the way back from the station, which Hinchliffe had just left for, she encounters Miss Marple and invites her into the car with her
 * As the two women come back to the house, Hinchliffe is surprised to not hear Murgatroyd answer, and also to see that none of her chores have been completed
 * The dog <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">goes over to what appears to Hinchliffe as a pile of clothes and does not realize the truth until she walks over to it
 * Once Hinchliffe sees Murgatroyd’s body, she promises “‘to kill whoever did this... <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">if I once get my hands on her...’” (180)
 * Miss Marple questions what she means by “her,” and Hinchliffe <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">explains what the two were talking about before Hinchliffe left for the station.
 * Murgatroyd seemed to have figured out who the culprit was, and was trying to tell Hinchliffe as she was leaving
 * She describes to Miss Marple her suspicions about various people: Mrs. Swettenham, Mrs. <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_noSuggestion GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Easterbrook, and Julia Simmons
 * Miss Marple asks about the emphasis of each of the words in the sentence, which could give clues as to whom Murgatroyd was actually <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">refering to, and Hinchliffe guesses that she had said “‘//She// wasn’t there.’” (181)
 * Hinchliffe does not think that it matters, but Miss Marple insists that it indicates something, and that it matters very much

=Chapter 20=
 * The postman left three letters at Little Paddocks at 10 minutes to 5.
 * Two letters were addressed to Letitia Blacklock and one was addressed to Phillipa Haymes “in a schoolboy’s hand” (182).
 * <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Phillipa returned early from Dayas Hall because of the rain.
 * The letter addressed to Letitia Blacklock was from the ‘real’ Julia Simmons.
 * It said that Julia wanted to “come to you on Tuesday” but somehow Patrick wasn’t answering and her mother also wanted to see Letitia in a month (182).
 * After Letitia was finished reading the letter, she showed it to Phillipa who was sitting right next to her at the table.
 * <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Phillipa called Julia and Patrick and when they came down, Patrick read the letter with “comical dismay” (183).
 * The truth comes out that the Julia Simmons living with Letitia isn’t the ‘real’ Julia Simmons, instead she her “christened name is Emma Jocelyn Stamfordis” (184).
 * Patrick starts to explain that he met her “at a cocktail party” and decided to bring her to Little Paddocks (183).
 * Eventually, he got this brilliant idea about Emma becoming Julia Simmons because the ‘real’ Julia was “mad to go on the stage” and she thought to give it a try.
 * Both of the siblings told their mother that they were going to live with their cousin, Letitia and Julia instead joined “a jolly good repertory company up in Perth” (184).
 * Emma starts explaining how her parents split up three years after the sisters were born and then she never saw Pip again.
 * Eventually as time passed she met Patrick and they schemed for Emma to become Julia and pose as her.
 * Then, the ‘real’ Julia went to Perth and according to Patrick’s words “he thought it would be a really marvelous idea for me to come here as his sister and do my stuff” (185).
 * As soon as Emma’s story is finished, she explains that she couldn’t have spoken the truth after the murder because she was the first person the cops would suspect.
 * After a while, Letitia asks Emma where Pip is and thinking that Pip is a male Letitia <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">forces Emma to tell her when she last saw him.
 * Letitia realizes that Emma was in the French Resistance “for eighteen months” and thinks that Emma had something to do with the shootings (186).
 * However, Emma adds that indeed she is a great shooter, but if she was the one shooting at Letitia then she “wouldn’t have been likely to miss” (187).
 * At that moment, the “sound of a car driving up to the door broke through the tenseness of the moment” and Craddock came in and announced that “Miss Murgatroyd has been murdered” (187).
 * Craddock starts asking everyone where they were the entire day, first starting with Julia Simmons.
 * The phone rings, and the inspector <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">finds out that “Miss Marple hasn’t come back from the vicarage” and that “Mrs. Harmon is worried about her” (188).
 * Mrs. Harmon tells Craddock that she left a scrambled note that didn’t make any sense.
 * Immediately, Letitia starts getting anxious and “the choker of pearls” around Letitia’s neck “broke under the clutch of her nervous fingers” (189).
 * As Phillipa and Craddock are gathering the pearls, they think about the pearls and how they are significant to Letitia.
 * Afterwards, Craddock visits Mrs. Harmon and they talk about Miss Marple disappearing.
 * Craddock mentions the piece of paper that Miss Marple was writing on and Mrs. Harmon brings it out and starts reading it out loud.
 * The words “lamp”, “violets” and “where is bottle of aspirin” are on the <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">note in Miss Marple’s messy handwriting with other phrases as well (190-191).
 * Craddock and Harmon start discussing Letitia’s <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">pearls mentioning how they’re so big and how there might be another reason why she always wears them.
 * Craddock leaves the house thinking that he really needs to find Miss Marple in order to solve the mystery.

=Chapter 21=
 * Dinner at Little Paddocks ends, it had been a "Silent and uncomfortable meal" (193).
 * Inspector Craddock is searching for Miss Marple
 * They begin talking more about the murder'
 * Patrick suspects Hinchliffe as the murderer, he claims she "never left Boulders" but Phillipa fires back claiming that "Hinch was at the station when Murgatroyd was murdered" (194).
 * Miss Blacklock reprimands the group for talking about murder, and only murder
 * Mitzi is too afraid of being killed to cook dinner, so Julia does
 * Inspector Craddock arrives at 8:30
 * Brought Colonial, Mrs, Easterbrook and Mrs, Swettenham and her son
 * Miss Blacklock claims she "<span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Cant cope with the people tonight" (196).
 * Miss Hinchliffe arrives <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">unxpectedly
 * Craddock said she could come if she pleased, Mr. Craddock and the others arrive back at the house.
 * Craddock interrogates a few suspects for the Murder of Murgatroyed
 * Mrs<span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">. Swettenham claimed to be "Upstairs putting a wash basin in the passage where the rain always comes through" (200). Or, in other words, cleaning the gutters.
 * Edmund claims he was fast asleep and did not hear his mother when she called for his help.
 * Mrs Easterbrook claimed to be "Sitting with Archie in his study) but her husband, claimed to have not been there. He said he was "talking to Lampson, the farmer at <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">Croft end " and he <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">didnt get home until after the rain (201)
 * Murgatroyd was the only one who was able to see everything the night of the murder, she was able to tell who was missing.
 * Mitzi runs in in a frenzy, claiming she saw Miss Blacklock with the gun in her hand that night.
 * Craddock then blames Edmund, <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">claming he was doing it for Blacklocks inheritance and that he "Took Colonial Easterbrooks revolver, Fixed up the business with Rudi Scherz, as a good joke" (203).
 * Craddock accuses him of being <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">pip, Phillipa steps up and admits she is in fact Pip.
 * Craddock still suspects Edmund, as he is a "young man who is fond of money"(204).
 * As they are talking, A loud shriek of terror is made from the kitchen.

=Chapter 22=
 * Mitzi sneaks back into the kitchen
 * Blacklock tells Mitzi she is not mad that Mitzi accused her of holding a gun that night or she would "never be out of temper" (206)
 * Miss. Blacklock <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">puts her hands around Mitzi's neck and shoves her head into the sink because she knows Mitzi is "telling the truth for once" (206)
 * She then hears Dora say "don't do it... Lotty!" which is creepy because she is supposed to be dead (207)...
 * It was actually Miss. Marple <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">mimicking Dora. That clever trickster!
 * Miss. Marple informs the room that Letitia Blacklock is actually Charlotte Blacklock
 * Charlotte wears "that choker of pearls" to hide "the scar from the... <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">operation for goiter" (207)
 * Blacklock starts to cry
 * Miss. Hinchliffe attacks Charlotte because she killed Murgatroyd
 * Sergeant Fletcher pulls Hinchliffe off of Charlotte Blacklock, using all his "strength to hold her off" (208)
 * Charlotte admits that she "didn't want to kill anybody" but she "had to" (208). Let's be real though, did she //have// //to// kill all those people? Probably not.
 * Charlotte Blacklock cries again with "her head on her hands" (208)
 * Are we supposed to feel bad for her or....?
 * She only ever cared about Dora (so she didn't care about the real Letty a.k.a. her sister?!) because she "really loved" her (207)
 * Fletcher arrests Charlotte Blacklock for her attempt to drown Mitzi along with murdering Rudi Sherz, Dora Bunner, and Amy Murgatroyd

=Chapter 23=
 * Miss Marple, Bunch, Julian Harmon, Inspector Craddock, “Julia,” Patrick, Edmund, and “Phillipa” are at the vicarage.
 * Inspector Craddock asks Miss Marple to unravel the mystery, but she insists that he <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">do it. Bunch tells them to “<span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">tell it together” (209).
 * Miss Marple explains that “the most obvious person… to have arranged the holdup was Miss Blacklock herself” (209).
 * She was the only person who contacted Rudi Scherz.
 * She turned the central heating on instead of using a fire in order to <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">black the room of all light.
 * Inspector Craddock adds that Rudi Scherz was an orderly at Dr. Adolf Koch’s clinic in Berne, a world famous clinic for goiter surgery.
 * He once saw Miss Blacklock at the Royal Spa Hotel, recognized her as a patient for goiter surgery, and foolishly went up to talk to her.
 * Charlotte Blacklock was a “pretty, lighthearted, affectionate girl” who grew up with a father who did not believe in goiter surgery (210).
 * Letitia Blacklock was a woman who “would never have contemplated any kind of fraud for a moment” (211). She was worried for her sister; she wrote letters to cheer Charlotte up in her morbid state.
 * After their father died, Letitia left her job as a secretary for Randall Goedler and took Charlotte to Switzerland, where she underwent a successful operation on her throat.
 * Shortly thereafter, Letitia caught the flu and died.
 * Charlotte buried her sister under her name and began calling herself Letitia Blacklock.
 * Miss Marple points out that it would have been very easy for Charlotte to impersonate Letitia because they were “not so really unlike in mentality” and age and because so few people knew Letitia personally (213).
 * Bunch asserts that there must have been //some// people who knew Letitia too well for Charlotte to impersonate her.
 * Miss Marple says that someone who noticed a change in “Letitia” Blacklock would have dismissed it as a case of people changing over time. Additionally, Charlotte knew every detail of Letitia’s life because Letitia <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">had wrote about so much of it in her letters to Charlotte.
 * “Solely from her kindness of heart and her naturally affectionate nature,” Charlotte then made the mistake of accepting Dora Bunner into her home (214).
 * Dora often slipped and called her “Lotty,” which is short for Charlotte, instead of “Letty,” which is short for Letitia.
 * The biggest “<span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">blow to Charlotte’s security,” however, was that Rudi Scherz recognized her at the hotel (215).
 * Inspector Craddock reasons that Scherz had no reason to blackmail Blacklock. Miss Blacklock had made a plan and had “decided to act on it” (215). He was just roped into her scheme.
 * Rudi Scherz visited Miss Blacklock before the murder, and she showed him where he would enter the house.
 * On the day of the murder, Miss Blacklock let Rudi in at 6:00 and gave him his mask and flashlight.
 * Miss Blacklock predicted that when the clock struck 6:30, everyone would look at the clock. Everyone did — except Dora Bunner, who saw Miss Blacklock pick up a vase of violets.
 * She had previously frayed the cord of the lamp. In less than one second, she spilled the water on the bare wires and turned the lamp on.
 * The next morning, Sergeant Fletcher did not find any frayed cords or burned wires because the lamp had been switched.
 * Miss Marple tells everyone that she realized that only Miss Blacklock could have caused the electrical fuse to blow because she was the only one near the lamp.
 * Inspector Craddock kicks himself for not making the connection when Dora Bunner told him that there was “a <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">burn on the table where someone had ‘put their cigarette down’ — but nobody had even lit a cigarette” (217).
 * The violets were dead because there was no water in the vase.
 * Inspector Craddock reasons that Miss Blacklock tried to turn suspicions toward Patrick.
 * As soon as the room was dark, Miss Blacklock sneaked out the oiled door, got behind Rudi with a revolver and gardening gloves, waited for the flashlight beam to hit the spot on the wall where she would have been standing, and fired two shots.
 * When Rudi turned around, confused, she shot him, dropped the revolver next to his body, and threw her gardening gloves on the hall table.
 * She then nicked her ear and returned to her spot in the room.
 * Miss Marple suggests that she nicked her ear with nail scissors.
 * Inspector Craddock reveals that the crucial discovery <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">to the case was that the second door was oiled. It strongly suggested that someone had intended to kill “Letitia” Blacklock.
 * Miss Marple conjectures that because Phillipa Haymes looked like Sonia Goedler, Miss Blacklock knew that she was Pip. She knew that “there //was// someone with a motive” to kill her (219).
 * However, she intended to raise Phillipa as a daughter and didn’t want her to get into trouble with the police, so she told Inspector Craddock that Sonia, Phillipa/Pip’s mother, was “small and dark” and removed the photographs of Sonia from the photo album herself (219).
 * Miss Marple reflects that her conversation with Dora Bunner in the café “sealed Dora’s fate” (220). Miss Blacklock noticed that Dora had a tendency to reveal too much information.
 * Miss Blacklock realized that there was no other way.
 * She gave Dora Bunner as painless of a death as she could after a big birthday celebration with all of her friends and favorite foods.
 * The conversation turns to the death of Amy Murgatroyd.
 * Miss Marple acknowledges that a terrified human has no self-control.
 * Miss Marple speculates that her last sentence, “She wasn’t there,” meant that Miss Blacklock was not in front of the wall where and when the bullets hit.
 * The guests stir as the coherence of the events begins to form.
 * Miss Marple believes Charlotte Blacklock’s last statement in the kitchen, “I didn’t want to kill anybody” (223). Charlotte felt that life owed her something because she had a condition in her throat and justified her actions based on that.
 * Miss Marple points out that in Letitia’s letters to Charlotte, she had spelled both instances of the word “<span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">enquiries ” with an //e// but that in a note written by Charlotte, “inquiries” was spelled with an //<span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">i //. This was a big giveaway that they were two different people.
 * Miss Marple says that she knew, due to the reputation of great skill held by Swiss surgeons, that it was highly unlikely that Charlotte died from her surgery and notes that pearls were not Charlotte or Letitia’s style but just the right size for hiding a scar.
 * Inspector Craddock recalls Miss Blacklock <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">appearing very agitated when the string holding her pearls together broke.
 * Miss Marple recalls another case where a woman successfully drew another woman’s pension because they looked alike.
 * Miss Marple says that once she figured the mystery out, there wasn’t enough time to let Miss Blacklock run.
 * She talked Sergeant Fletcher into standing where he could witness Miss Blacklock attempt to drown Mitzi.
 * She then convinced Mitzi to participate by inventing stories of <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">heroic members of the Resistance movement.
 * She and Mitzi rehearsed the part until it was perfect. Mitzi was instructed to wait until Inspector Craddock came.
 * Mitzi, playing her part, told Inspector Craddock that “blackmail //had// been on her mind” but that she now wanted to tell the truth, which was that she had seen through the keyhole Miss Blacklock firing the revolver (225).
 * Miss Marple admits that she had banked on the fact that Miss Blacklock wouldn’t remember that Mitzi could not have seen through the keyhole because //the key was in the keyhole//.
 * Inspector Craddock continues the story: he made an immediate attack on a previously unsuspected person: Edmund Swettenham.
 * Edmund replies that he played his part of “hot denial” very well (225). He turns to Phillipa and tells her that no one had expected her to come out as Pip.
 * Miss Marple adds that, from Charlotte Blacklock’s point of view, the only person who knew the truth was Mitzi.
 * At that point in the plan, Mitzi walked into the kitchen alone, allowing Miss Blacklock to corner her.
 * Sergeant Fletcher was behind the scullery door, and Miss Marple was in the broom cupboard.
 * Bunch points out that surely Miss Blacklock couldn’t have hoped to get away with killing Mitzi.
 * Miss Marple responds that Miss Blacklock was a trapped <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">animal neck-deep in murder.
 * Miss Marple imitated Dora Bunner’s voice because she knew that it would break Miss Blacklock.
 * The meeting starts to come to a close. Edmund and Phillipa are getting married. The fake Julia Simmons, who is really Emma, says that she also wishes to go into theater, just like the real Julia Simmons.
 * Edmund reveals that he wrote a play, //Elephants Do Forget//, and that it is being produced.
 * The last statement is that Tiglath-Pileser, the cat, “ought to be a very proud cat” because he “showed us how the lights went out” (229).

=Epilogue=
 * Edmund and Phillipa return from their honeymoon. They visit Mr. Totman to order papers.
 * Edmund tells Mr. Totman about his play, //Elephants Do Forget//.
 * Edmund orders the //Daily Worker// and the //Daily Telegraph//.
 * Phillipa orders the //Spectator// and the //Chronicle//.
 * Mr. Totman is shocked that neither one of them wants the //Chipping Cleghorn Gazette//. He can barely contain his disbelief.
 * I would be <span class="GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct">shocked to if i was him, how dare Edmund not want the G//azzette//.
 * Mr. Totman tells his mother the names of the papers ordered.
 * Mrs. Totman scoffs at the idea of not wanting the //Gazette//.
 * Who wouldn't want the //Gazette//...