Miss Marple revisits a posh London hotel from her youth, and finds it now caters to the nostalgia for an earlier age. But beneath the polished veneer and deluxe service, she sees something malign. Then an absentminded guest unexpectedly returns to his room, and discovers he is already there. This acutely observed 1965 novel is presented here in a handsome new edition, and belongs in everyone's mystery library. The star of a dozen novels and twenty short stories, the shrewd and curious Jane Marple was inspired by Agatha Christie's grandmother and her cronies in the leafy London suburb of Ealing. Miss Marple's independent mind and acute sense of human nature—not unlike Christie's own—have made her an enduring prototype in detective fiction.

"A joy to read from beginning to end, especially in its acute sensitivity to the contrasts between this era and that of Miss Marple's youth."—NYTimes