"Three little girls set off to school one sunny morning. Within an hour, one of them is dead. Fifteen years later, Kitty can't speak and has no memory of the accident that's to blame. She lives in an institution, unlikely ever to leave. But that doesn't keep her from being frightened when she encounters an eerily familiar face. Art teacher Alison looks fine on the surface. But the surface is a lie. She's struggling to make ends meet and to forget...

The unifying premise for this short story collection is the Tuesday Club: six people who meet socially one evening at Jane Marple's home and then decide to meet regularly each Tuesday night to solve a mystery which a group member must relate.

Jacqueline Kirby, retired librarian and avid devotee of King Richard III, is invited to an English country house for a weekend to assist in clearing that king's name of the crimes attached to it. However, a practical joker thinks to enliven the proceedings with recreations of 15th century murder methods and one of the jokes proves fatal.

Realizing that she is too old to travel, Miss Jane Marple decides she is through with crime detection, but a murder that happens almost on her doorstep changes her mind.

The lives of three people--Francine, a child who hears her mother's murder while hiding in her room; Harriet, an aging beauty who seeks out handymen to ease her boredom; and Teddy, a young man who had been ignored by his parents since birth--converge with harrowing results.

"Queen Elizabeth II is looking forward to a traditional Christmas gathering with her family in Sandringham when a shocking discovery interrupts holiday plans. A severed hand has been found--but even more unsettling, she recognizes the signet ring still attached to a finger. It belongs to a scion of the St. Cyr family, her old friends from nearby Ladybridge Hall. Despite the personal connection, the Queen wants to leave the investigation to the police--that...

Journalist Rosalind Leigh is commissioned to write a book about Olive Martin, who murdered her mother and sister five years ago.

Hugh de Singleton, fourth son of a minor knight in Wyclif's England, is newly trained as a surgeon. He receives an invitation to set up his practice in the village of Brampton-- and before long, the request to identify the cause of the terrible injuries suffered by the dead beadle...

Hugh de Singleton, fourth son of a minor knight in Wyclif's England, is newly trained as a surgeon. He receives an invitation to set up his practice in the village of Brampton-- and before long, the request to identify some bones ...