Marble Hall Murders

Susan walks into Causton Books, mentally contrasting it with her former publishing house, Cloverleaf. She asks Michael if he will hire her full-time. He might if the Atticus Pund novel goes well. Atticus was invented by Alan Conway, who wrote nine successful novels in the series. However, Alan was pushed off the tower of his home by Charles, the former head of Cloverleaf. Michael wants a different writer to continue the series because Alan’s partner, James, gave Causton permission to use Atticus.

Michael has the first 30,000 words of a new Atticus novel by Eliot Crace. Eliot had a couple books published at Cloverleaf. Susan expresses concern because Atticus was diagnosed with a terminal illness in the last book Alan wrote, and Eliot’s other books were not successful. The title of the new novel is Pund’s Last Case.

After leaving the office, Susan thinks about Alan’s word games, such as anagrams. The first letters of the titles of Alan’s nine books spell out “an anagram” (18). Pund’s Last Case will make it an “anagramp” (18). Susan doesn’t want to take the job but needs the money. She thinks about other continuation novels. Alan put people he knew in the novels, which resulted in his own death and the near-death of Susan. After Charles killed Alan, he set the Cloverleaf office on fire with Susan inside, permanently damaging her eyesight.

Susan dislikes Eliot’s title because Atticus is always referred to by his first name, not Pund. Eliot is the grandson of a famous children’s author: Miriam Crace. She invented The Little People, a “family of do-gooders who were only two inches tall” (22). The Little People books were immensely popular. Miriam’s life is somewhat mysterious; the only honest and critical biography of her was halted by the Crace Estate’s lawyers. Miriam’s home, Marble Hall, became a museum after her death. Miriam’s son, Jonathan, who is Eliot’s uncle, runs the Crace Estate. In addition to Eliot’s Dr. Gee mysteries underperforming for Cloverleaf, he was a hard author to work with due to his substance use and addiction. Susan starts reading Pund’s Last Case.

In Pund’s Last Case, Atticus visits Dr. Benson about his brain tumor. Lady Margaret Chalfont is in the waiting room. Her daughter, Judith Lyttleton, urges Margaret to hurry to catch their plane to the South of France. Judith looks afraid when Margaret asks Atticus to help her with an urgent matter. He gives Margaret his card so she can write to him. After she leaves, Benson and Atticus discuss his medications; his assistant, James; and his book, The Landscape of Criminal Investigation. Then, Atticus asks about Margaret’s condition. She has terminal mitral stenosis. Benson encourages Atticus to visit Margaret in France; a vacation would be good for his health.

Four days later, Atticus gets up and works on his book. He is writing about how murderers have tells, as in poker, and describes how murderers reveal their tells: involuntary physical reactions. James informs Atticus of various invitations, which Atticus declines. However, he is interested in a letter from Margaret.

Margaret writes that she overheard something shocking about her second husband, Elmer Waysmith, and asks Atticus to come to France and help her discover the truth. Atticus thinks about how the truth can be dangerous. He tells James that they will be going to France. James promises to work on his rusty French. Atticus wants to take the train, but he fears he will arrive too late.

The housekeeper and cook of the Chateau Belmar, Beatrice, goes down the service staircase and begins her morning routine, including cleaning and getting the newspaper. She avoids looking at the painting, Spring Flowers by Cezanne, and brings Margaret her ginger and lemon tea, as well as a telegram. It is from Atticus, sending his arrival time. Margaret realizes someone opened the envelope and read it already.

Lola Chalfont, Margaret’s daughter-in-law, wakes her husband, Jeffrey. He reluctantly admits that he lost money gambling the night before. Lola was an actress before marrying and is trying to get a play, Grab Me a Gondola, financed.

Elmer sits at the breakfast table with his son, Robert; Lola and her son, Cedric; and Judith and her husband, Harry Lyttleton. Robert’s mother, Marion, died by suicide. Robert wanted to be an artist but ended up managing Elmer’s two art galleries. Elmer, noticing Jeffrey’s absence, condemns his gambling. Lola defends Jeffrey. Elmer and Robert talk about a painting being delivered to the gallery at 12:30 pm. Harry talks about the hotel he is trying to build, and Elmer condemns it.

Elmer leaves the table and goes to Margaret on her balcony. Margaret’s children hate Elmer because he is non-aristocrat American. She asks him to have tea later, but he has to work. He complains about her children, and she asks him to be kind to them after she dies. Elmer tells her not to worry. He offers to have a private dinner with her on the balcony after work. She is happy about this but has a bad feeling generally. She wonders why Atticus hasn’t come to see her: It’s the day he said he would arrive.

At Elmer’s gallery, the Galerie Werner-Waysmith, Robert tells the director, Madame Dubois, that he’s going to Antibes, then to lunch with Elmer. A man takes pictures of Robert and follows him.

At the Pharmacie Lafayette, its proprietor, Hector Brunelle, welcomes an old man who smells like surgical spirit. The man claims to be a doctor and asks for aconitine. A young woman comes in and asks the old man what time it is. He says it’s 12:15 pm. She asks for a shampoo that they don’t have, then leaves. Hector gives the old man the aconitine—a kind of poison.

At lunch, Elmer and Robert talk about the client Robert visited, Elmer’s business partner, and paintings by Klein. Robert dislikes them, and Elmer says Robert’s hatred of modern art is why he failed to become an artist. Robert says Elmer prevented him from being an artist and thinks about how much he hates his father for this.

Margaret goes to the garden at four o’clock. Elmer is in his study working on a catalog. Harry and Jeffrey are in the garden. Margaret, Harry, and Jeffrey talk about Cedric being unusual and interested in poisons, as well as Lola’s play. Inside, Beatrice makes tea and notices that the lid for Margaret’s special teapot is set to the side, but she remembers putting it on the teapot. She finishes preparing the tea and takes it outside.

Twenty minutes later, Jean Lambert, Margaret’s lawyer, and his secretary, Alice Carling, arrive. Harry runs to Lambert and says Margaret is dead.

Atticus struggles during the train trip and wishes he took a plane. He is physically unable to meet with Margaret the day he arrives. The following day, Atticus and James are approached by Frederic Voltaire, a police officer from the Surete. He tells them that Margaret was murdered. Atticus tells Frederic about Margaret’s letter. Frederic explains Margaret died right after drinking her tea and complaining of a burning throat. Atticus feels guilty for not visiting Margaret sooner. Frederic doesn’t want to work with Atticus, but his superiors told him he must include Atticus in the investigation.

Frederic, Atticus, and James go to the Chateau Belmar. Atticus is surprised that Judith never mentioned him to Harry. Jeffrey and Harry say Margaret was ill and died of natural causes. The teapot that only Margaret used has been sent for analysis, Frederic explains. Jeffrey and Harry account for the whereabouts of the other family members during Margaret’s death: Judith reading her book, Lola learning her lines, Elmer working in his study, and Robert working at the gallery.

Atticus, James, and Frederic talk to Beatrice. James translates her French to English but struggles, and Frederic corrects him. Beatrice explains the teapot lid was off to the side and shows them the kitchen’s entry points, including the servant stairs. After they walk up, Frederic points out the various rooms in the hall. James is surprised that Elmer and Margaret have separate bedrooms. Atticus wants to question Judith.

Lola is also in Judith’s suite. Judith looks upset to see Atticus as he offers his condolences. Lola says this interview is unnecessary and that Harry shouldn’t have called the police. Judith confirms that Margaret invited Atticus, but she didn’t think it was important to tell anyone. She was absorbed in her research about Nazca Lines.

Judith says Margaret changed after marrying Elmer. Lola initially believed he was a gold digger, but he has a substantial income from his art business. They discuss how Elmer’s first wife jumped in front of a train. Judith and Lola say they were in their rooms at the time of the murder, reading and rehearsing, respectively. Lola claims she heard someone go down the creaky servant stairs around four o’clock. Lola suggests talking to Bruno, the gardener. Judith insists there was no murder.

Next, the three men go to Margaret’s room. Atticus notices that the envelope holding his telegram was opened with a serrated knife, and Margaret didn’t have one in her room: Someone opened it before her. Atticus hears Cedric talking to Jeffrey beneath the balcony. He complains about France and threatens to use poison from the garden on his family so he can leave.

Elmer and Robert sit in Elmer’s study. The catalog, written in turquoise ink, is in front of Elmer. Robert compares Margaret’s death with the death of his mother. Elmer says Margaret couldn’t have died by suicide; she died of natural causes. He insists that he would never harm her. Robert asks about Elmer’s argument with Werner; Elmer says it’s unimportant.

Atticus, Frederic, and James enter the study. Elmer is upset, and Atticus assures him that Margaret invited him. Frederic asks about the death of Elmer’s first wife, and Elmer eventually reveals she was treated by a psychiatrist for “housewife syndrome” (127). She died by suicide while Elmer was away on business and Robert was 11. Robert says it was hard to lose his mother. Elmer mentions Robert’s failed career as a painter. Elmer asks Robert to leave the room.

Elmer tells the three men that Margaret’s children don’t like him because he’s American and not an aristocrat. Elmer discusses money issues: Jeffrey’s gambling, Judith’s project in Peru, Harry’s hotel, and Lola’s play. They all wanted Margaret to help with these financial endeavors. Elmer doesn’t know what conversation Margaret mentioned in her letter to Atticus and wasn’t aware she called Lambert. Elmer insists they wait for the reading of the will to discuss it.

Atticus notices a book about poison sticking out slightly in Elmer’s bookcase. Elmer says he uses it to research poisonous aspects of paint, such as lead and cadmium. After they leave the study, Atticus tells James and Frederic that he is surprised no one hated Margaret.

Atticus, James, and Frederic visit Jean Lambert and his secretary, Alice Carling. Lambert worked with Margaret’s first husband to purchase Chateau Belmar, then worked with Margaret on her will. When Frederic says Margaret has probably been murdered, Alice doesn’t believe it because Margaret is so beloved. Lambert agrees with Alice. Lambert confirms that Margaret called him and made an appointment to talk about the will before she went to London. Lambert also advised Harry against getting loans from disreputable people for his hotel.

When Lambert arrived at Chateau Belmar, he saw Harry in shock. Harry asked Lambert to call the police because he doesn’t speak French. Alice confirms the time of Margaret’s call. Lambert is sad to lose Alice; she is resigning because she is getting married. She claims her fiancé is a doctor named Charles Saint-Pierre. Back at Frederic’s car, a police officer delivers the report about Margaret’s tea. It contained the poison aconitine.

The next day, after Atticus spends time working on his book, he meets Frederic and James for breakfast. Frederic believes that Elmer killed Margaret because she was going to change her will. Atticus finds it odd that Margaret would call her lawyer and a detective; the lawyer would be called if she were certain that Elmer had done something terrible, but Atticus was called because she wasn’t certain. Atticus also questions why the murderer would be careless enough to leave the teapot lid off. Frederic has officers checking the pharmacies to see where the aconitine was sold. Atticus also wants to investigate the poisons in Margaret’s gardens.

The three men arrive at Chateau Belmar for the will reading. Robert pulls them aside and apologizes for Elmer’s rudeness. Lambert talks privately with Robert before going inside. Lola tells Cedric he can’t attend the will reading. Atticus notices that the painting by Cezanne has been replaced. Lambert begins reading the will. Chalfont Hall in England goes to Jeffrey, because he is the male Earl.

Margaret included a note in her will stating that she made decisions about her will without malice but worries that wealth is destructive for some people. Jeffrey, Judith, Harry, and Cedric will receive 20,000 pounds each. Robert will receive 10,000 pounds. Elmer gets Chateau Belmar and the rest of her money.

Jeffrey demands to see the will and thinks Elmer influenced Margaret’s will. Harry agrees. Judith is upset; she thought Margaret would give her more money for her cause. Robert wonders why he gets so much less than everyone else. Elmer reminds everyone that 20,000 pounds is a lot of money. Lola says it is a tenth of what Elmer is inheriting. Elmer is upset at the children squabbling over money instead of being upset that Margaret is dead. He asks Frederic, Atticus, and James to leave.

Outside, Frederic smokes and thinks Elmer is the prime suspect. James agrees and asks why someone would kill a woman who is dying. Atticus says her terminal illness doesn’t matter.