It started as a student exercise, the knife under the drape, the model's pose chalked in place. But before Agatha Troy, artist and instructor, returns to the class, the pose has been re-enacted in earnest. The model will never move again. It's a difficult case for Investigator Alleyn.

The murder of Colonel Protheroe is a shock to everyone in St. Mary Mead, though hardly an unpleasant one. Now the vicar, who had declared that killing the detested Protheroe would be a service to the world, could be considered a suspect. And what about the faithless Mrs. Protheroe, or her lover, the young artist Lawrence Redding? Under the seemingly peaceful exterior of an English country village lurk intrigue, guilt, deception, and death. Miss Marple employs her razor-sharp mind and an intuitive understanding of criminal behavior to solve the case.