Jane Marple (Joan Hickson) may not be the youngest of them all, but in the 1930s she solves the most baffling criminal cases, regularly outshining professional detectives in the process.
When a young blonde is found strangled in the library of Gossington Hall, Dolly Bantry quickly calls in her old friend Miss Marple to help her with some sleuthing.
Miss Marple and Dolly Bantry investigate the millionaire Conway Jefferson and his entourage at a seaside hotel.
The identity of the killer is revealed, as is the dubious motive for the crime.
It's such a nice village - who would have thought it held so many dirty secrets?
The truth about the murders - and the poison-pen letters - gradually emerges, although Miss Marple herself is menaced.
A newspaper advertisement suggests that a murder will occur at an address in an English village. Is it a joke? People assume so - until a man is killed.
The inspector visits a dying millionairess in Scotland, whilst another murder takes place in the village.
A third murder occurs, and Miss Marple is only just able to prevent a fourth.
When the poison which killed Rex is identified as deriving from yew, it is on the household and staff at Yew Tree Lodge that suspicion falls.
To Miss Marple the connection with the nursery rhyme is all too clear, as is who the next victim will be. She sets off at once for Yew Tree Lodge