Summary
The story opens on two archaeologists working in an Egyptian tomb, using dangerous explosives to blow open a vault of treasures. One of these is revealed to be naval captain Clive Trevelyan. Twenty five years later, we jump to Trevelyan closeted with the Prime Minister, being chosen as his successor. This man of action is at the height of his political popularity and influence.
He is accompanied in London, however, by his nephew James Pearson, who is a notorious libertine and drunkard. James has received a letter stating that Clive will disinherit him unless he changes his way, but Trevelyan denies writing the letter. James is soon to wed society darling Emily Trefusis .
Traveling by train to his country estate, Sittaford House, Trevelyan is met by Miss Marple and they continue on to the village of Exhampton where both Clive and Miss Marple's nephew live. The area is blanketed by a tremendous snow storm, giving the entire story a closed-in feel. Jane is asked to stay at Clive's estate because of the snow.
Back in London, Jim Pearson is meeting his his fiance Emily, but he's had too much to drink and collapses from excess. Emily takes him home, aided by a helpful young man named Charles Burnaby. The next morning, Charles visits to find that James has left to find his Uncle in Exhampton and Emily wishes to follow. He volunteers to drive her down, claiming that he is a friend whom she doesn't remember.
Trevelyan appears to be putting his affairs in order, including dictating memoirs that bring to his mind a ghostly young woman whom he protests will not "let me rest!" We meet John Enderby, Clive's personal assistant and political manager who manages the estate at Exhampton with the aid of a traditionally-attired Egyptian, Ahmed Ghali.
The next night, however, Capt Trevelyan books a room at the local hotel, The Three Crowns, under the name Frank Arewell, and drives off. James Pearson, the ne'er-do-well adoptee, arrives at the estate looking for Clive, and follows him to the inn. Also at the inn are Mrs Willet and her daughter Violet, along with an American businessman and his personal physician. Mrs Percehouse and Mr Garfield make up the rest of the residents for the evening.
After dinner, they decide upon a mock seance using an Oujia board, and Trevelyan is predicted to die. Up at the house, they receive a similar warning in that the candy sent for Clive was eaten by the hawk who died as a result. Enderby decides he must travel to the Inn, through the snow, to warn Trevelyan. Charles follows after, but the two arrive at the inn to find that Trevelyan has already been murdered, stabbed through the heart.
Enderby decides to take charge of the investigation until the police arrive, and after a brief scuffle imprisons James Pearson in the larder. After several rounds of investigation, a few key elements are revealed:
- Violet Willett produces a marriage certificate showing that she was secretly married to Trevelyan just a few days before. She is now the widow and sole heir of the Trevelyan's fortune.
- Two tickets were found in Mr Trevelyan's room, bound for Argentina.
- Mr. Zimmerman had gotten into a dubious business deal with Trevelyan over manufacturing faulty munitions during the war, a fault which Zimmerman blames solely on Treveylan, who was apparently attempting to dodge blame. However, Zimmerman was listening to a football game on the radio during the evening, aided by his physician on the roof holding an antenna.
- The physician is found dead the next morning, lying next to James in the larder.
- The cook escaped in the night with Mrs Willett,
What Really Happened
Clive Trevelyan drove to the Three Crowns with the intention of meeting his new wife, Violet (nee Willett) Trevelyan. His plan was to leave with her on their honeymoon using the tickets to Buenos Aires, possibly never to return.
The rumors of Trevelyan's stained past are all true. Miss Percehouse was the wife of the archaeologist that Clive double-crossed and murdered in Egypt, and she had connected with Ahmed Ghali to exact vengeance on Trevelyan. Their plan was to poison the candy that was Trevelyan's favorite, but it was accidentally intercepted by the hawk and so everyone was warned.
It was also true that Trevelyan was responsible for the manufacturing defects that caused the death of servicemen during the war. It is partly because this story is about to come out in the next few days that Trevelyan is set to flee the country, leaving Zimmerman to face all the consequences alone. The psuedonym he registered under is abbreviated as F. Arewell, Clive's little joke bidding everyone "Farewell."
While in Egypt in his younger days, Trevelyan fell in love with a young nurse named Violet. He promised to marry her, but when she became pregnant he abandoned both Violet and her baby. Her family was disgraced and disowned her and she died a few years later in an Egyptian slum, having given birth to a boy named Charles. This is the ghostly women that will not let him rest.
The boy survived and grew to be a young man, living on the streets and eventually making his way to England with the express purpose of taking revenge on his father, a man he never knew but who was responsible for ruining his mother. That boy was Charles Burnaby.
Charles found a way to get close to Trevelyan, blackmailing Emily Trefusis with the threat of publishing news that would be damaging to her family. While up at the house, when John Enderby set out through the snow for the two hour trek to warn Trevelyan about the attempt on his life, Charles left as well. Instead of walking, however, Charles used skis to quickly cover the ground in half an hour. He went to Trevelyan's room and murdered him. Then he went back outside to find Enderby and pretend to catch up with him, as if he had been walking the whole time. This established his alibi for the time Trevelyan was murdered, since he was supposed to be walking through the snow after Enderby.
During the night when the doctor was on the roof with the radio antenna, Dr. Burt saw Charles arriving on skis. He attempted to blackmail Charles with this information but was instead killed himself.
Also present that evening was the suspicious cook, who was not actually a cook. Instead, he was the prisoner who had escaped from Dartmoor prison. The innkeeper, Stanley Kirkwood was a distant cousin and had taken him in to shield him from the police. Mrs Willett was also in on this scheme, having visited Harold Wells/Archie Stone on her many bird watching trips onto the moor and fell in love with his helpless plight. The two made arrangements for his escape, leaving clothes and supplies in a "missing" knapsack. They attempted to flee in the night, being completely innocent of the murder of Trevelyan.
Cast of Characters:
1. The Energetic Young Woman. Emily Trefusis. She is the driving force behind the investigation to find Trevelyan's killer. It is her journey to Exhampton, following he fiance, that sets in motion the murder.
2. The Efficient Professional. John Enderby is introduced as Trevelyan's political agent, a high level personal assistant who is used to dealing with the Prime Minister as well as the neighbor.
3. The Batty Eccentric. Elizabeth Percehouse. The wife of the archaeologist whom Trevelyan murdered to claim his credit and his proceeds from the discovery in Egypt.
3.5 The Cloud-headed Girl. Violet Willett. Suppressed and crushed by her critical and domineering mother, she appears to fade into the scenery with her "beigeness".
4. The Doctor. Dr. Ambrose Burt, struck off the medical register for professional misconduct. He is reduced to being the private physician of the American industrialist, who abuses him with menial tasks.
7. The Specialist. Donald Garfield, Whitehall vetter of the potential Prime Minister Trevelyan. He plays only a very minor part of the story.
8. The Policeman. John Enderby, a corporal of Captain Trevelyan during the war, takes on the responsibility of becoming the official presence since no policeman is available.
9. The Temptrix. This is definitely subdued, but Emily Trefusis is presented as someone who enjoys dalliances with many men, some of which she takes too far. For example, she was engaged to marry Marple's nephew Raymond West but broke it off, breaking his heart so that he fled to France according to Miss Marple. She left Raymond in preference to James Pearson, social bad boy, but having known Charles for barely an evening is now ready to throw that off in favor of Charles. In her defense, however, she remains loyal to James and tries to prove his innocence throughout the story, seemingly turning over a new leaf.
10. The Rake. James Pearson, a drunken wastrel engaged to the lovely Emily Trefusis. He is the "nephew" and adopted heir of the wealthy Clive Trevelyan, but actually the orphaned son of the gardener and housemaid. Given Clive's past, James is possibly treated, out of guilt, as the son that Trevelyan abandoned to the Cairo slums.
11. The Rival. Charles Burnaby, the journalist who falls for Emily, even though she is already engaged to James.
12. The Mirror. Clive Trevelyan and Charles Burnaby, the father and the son, become mirrors for each other. Outwardly charming and successful, apparently morally upright and honest, but actually a snake underneath. Both very clever, according to Miss Marple. Both accomplished liars. Both capable of multiple murders.
From another angle, James Pearson and Charles Burnaby are also mirrors, but inverted. Both orphans, but while James had every advantage, Charles had nothing. James turned into a drunken lout and Charles, at least outwardly, seems to have matured into a responsible adult.
Superficially, the two Violets, one from Trevelyan's past and one in the present. Two young women, innocent but with full potential, both with relatives on the scene. Both were in love with him, and liaised with him all too briefly before being abandoned, one by Clive's hubris, and the other by Clive's murder.
13. The Loving/Lonely Wife. In the past, Violet was the hopeful fiancee to Clive Trevelyan, and bore him a son though he abandoned them both.
14. The Housekeeper. Stanley Kirkwood is the proprietor of the local inn where everything happens. In the book, he is a lawyer, checking a different box, but here he is assigning rooms, carrying bags, and serving dinner.
17. The Cantankerous Old Woman/ Cruel Old Man. Mrs. Evadne Willett. Constantly berating her daughter, Violet. (A willett is a species of sandpiper and Evadne is fond of birdwatching)
18. The Industrialist. Mr. Martin Zimmerman, the American businessman, involved with Trevelyan in war contracts. Manufacturing of faulty munitions led to the death of service men during the war.
19. The Politician. Clive Trevelyan. Next in line to become Prime Minister, preferred by Winston Churchill and at the apogee of his career as a public figure.
20. The Dubious Man from India - The Overseas Connection. Ahmed Ghali, an Egyptian working for the Trevelyan estate, and who has secretly vowed to kill Trevelyan. In desecrating an ancient tomb, Trevelyan had taken a valuable artifact, the Scorpion, which Ghali believed should have been left undisturbed. Ghali, who is depicted as a man of honor, feels that Trevelyan's actions were sacrilegious and led to his own misfortune. Consequently, Ghali seeks retribution by murdering Trevelyan.
21. The Social Outcast. Harold Wells, Prisoner # 46329. An inmate of Dartmoor prison has been reported loose on the moor, having escaped from his cell. It is revealed that he is secretly the husband/boyfirend of Evadne Willett. He gains momentary refuge with his cousin, Mr. Kirkwood, who keeps him on at the inn as the cook under the alias of Archie Stone.
Unused:
5. The Lawyer.
6. The Vicar.
15. The Maid. If John Enderby is Clive's personal assistant, then Ahmed Ghali fills the function of the maid; taking care of Miss Marple at the big house, lighting fires, preparing rooms, giving Jane access to Trevelyan's memoirs. One of Christie's brushes with "the Butler did it."
16. The Daughter.
22. The Shopkeeper.
A. The Time Gap. Twenty years ago, Mr Trevelyan was in Egypt, working on an archaeological dig. There, he fathered a son which he later abandoned along with the child's mother. He also murdered his digging partner to take all the credit for the finds. Eventually, both those evil acts came back to haunt him, ultimately leading to his death.
B. The Ominous Event. The events in Egypt appear to haunt Trevelyan and not leave him a moment's peace. It is as though a curse hangs over him, represented by the Egyptian scorpion. Throughout the story, references are made to Clive's memories, and they seem to trouble him more and more. Because of those actions, he realizes that he can never be prime minister, a position for which he is favored. Instead, he chooses to run away to Argentina and leave behind his position, his friends, and his accolades.
C. The Obscure Relationship. Our charming journalist and unreliable narrator is actually the son of Clive Trevelyan though he claims to have no connection to him.
D. The Convoluted Will. Trevelyan's original will left everything to his wastrel adoptee, James Pearson. He even claims that he didn't change it, when pressed by James. But in reality, he had changed it and left his entire estate to his new bride, Violet.
E. The House. Sittaford House, for which the book is named. Though actually most of the action seems to take place in the inn at Exhampton, The Three Crowns Hotel, and not at the House.
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