Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel

From her seat in the breakfast room, Catherine Narracott watches the sled. She is horrified when the covering loosens and a discolored hand falls out before being tucked back in. As other guests stare, the hotel manager approaches Catherine, informing her that her husband was found dead at the top of the gondola. Catherine faints.

As Catherine lies unconscious on the floor, a young, bespectacled man rushes to her aid. Announcing that he is a medical student, he takes charge, elevating Catherine’s legs on a chair. From his knapsack, he produces a doctor’s case and injects her with adrenaline to treat the shock. Diana and Miss Marple get a clear look inside the case and notice vials, one labeled “morphine” and another marked with a skull and crossbones. Aware of their scrutiny, the young man quickly shuts the case.

Bruno feels triumphant and vital after learning of Anthony’s death. Believing he has won in their rivalry, he hikes up the mountain in a snowstorm to the hut where they stashed the stolen gold. He plans to take it and flee the country. As he climbs, he reflects on his resentment toward Anthony and a past crime that Anthony blackmailed him with. He also wonders about the significance of the Resistance flag. When Bruno reaches the hut he finds the gold gone. Enraged, he realizes Anthony must have double-crossed him.

In Mrs. Bantry’s private sitting room, Diana, Miss Marple, and Mrs. Bantry discuss Anthony’s murder while a snowstorm isolates the hotel. Miss Marple is convinced Anthony was murdered, dismissing the alternatives of suicide or natural causes. She theorizes that someone poisoned the coffee in Anthony’s flask while it was at the reception desk. Their conversation is cut short by a scream in the hallway.

While resting in her room, Catherine is attacked by Bruno, who breaks down her door. He grabs her by the throat and furiously demands to know where Anthony hid the “stuff,” convinced she was in on a plan to cheat him of his share. Catherine insists she knows nothing. Bruno ransacks the room, tearing through her belongings. Catherine screams for help.

Hearing a second scream, Diana grabs a walking pole for defense and runs into the hall, where she meets the young medical student. They find Bruno ransacking Catherine’s room. Other guests arrive as Bruno confronts Catherine again, shaking her and demanding to know where Anthony hid the stolen goods. Catherine cries out, asking if Bruno killed her husband for it. He denies the murder, but the guests are unconvinced and seize him, intending to lock him in the wine cellar. The hotel manager intervenes, announcing that the Swiss police are due to arrive by train within the hour.

Realizing he is the primary suspect, Bruno knows he must escape before the police arrive. He returns to his room and packs his belongings, including two gold bars he had taken the night before while Anthony wasn’t watching. With no other way off the mountain, he decides to steal the train, despite having no idea how to operate it.

From Mrs. Bantry’s window, Miss Marple spots Bruno hurrying through the snow toward the train station. Diana says she will go to alert the driver. She runs to the platform but arrives too late to warn him: Bruno knocks out the driver and climbs into the train’s cabin. Diana makes a desperate lunge to grab a door handle and hauls herself aboard.

In her room, Sylvia feels trapped by Anthony’s death and haunted by ghosts from her past. She reflects on a small gold bar Tony gave her, telling her to keep quiet about their affair until a certain matter was resolved and promising there would be much more to come. Frustrated, screams into a pillow.

Bruno drives the train down the mountain at a terrifying speed. He is gripped by fear but also relieved to have escaped the hotel. Though he doesn’t know how to control or stop the train, he feels a sense of freedom. Over the loud clatter of the cog railway, he hears someone shouting his name.

Diana confronts Bruno in the driver’s cabin, pleading with him to stop the speeding train before he kills them both. Bruno refuses and, as the train rocks on the track, he stumbles and falls onto the controls, causing it to accelerate violently. The train hurtles into a mountain tunnel, derails, and crashes into the rock wall. Diana is knocked out, waking to find herself injured and the cabin dark and tilted at an angle. Bruno is also alive and she helps him to get out before the tunnel collapses.

Diana returns to the hotel with a bleeding head wound. She explains to Miss Marple, Mrs. Bantry, and other guests that she and Bruno survived the train crash. The hotel manager confirms that the wreck has completely blocked the tunnel, and the severe weather makes climbing impossible: They are all trapped. Christophe—whom Diana previously met in a gondola—introduces himself as Detective Inspector Moreau of the Paris Judiciaire, vacationing at the hotel. After Mrs. Bantry enthusiastically recommends Miss Marple’s detective skills, Moreau agrees to let her assist him in an unofficial investigation until the Swiss police can arrive. Moreau also asks Diana for her camera film in case she captured any clues, but she declines, citing the risk of improper development.

Inspector Moreau begins his investigation in the hotel’s smoking room, with Miss Marple assisting and Diana taking notes. Moreau reveals that almond oil is a possible cause of death and that an empty bottle was found in the snow outside the library windows. The poisoning probably occurred at the reception desk while Anthony was distracted by a deliberately falsified phone call. Moreau mentions that an unfamiliar maid was seen nearby at the time. Mrs. Bantry raises the hypothesis that someone may have disguised themselves in a generic maid’s uniform and Miss Marple acknowledges this as a possibility.

Moreau interviews Catherine. She portrays Bruno Crane as a coarse, resentful man and describes his violent search of her room. She also brings up earlier incidents—rat poison in their first room and nuts in a dessert—that she now sees as threats by Bruno. Catherine accuses Sylvia of the murder, but Moreau points out Sylvia has an alibi, as she was at the spa when the poisoning must have occurred. Catherine then shifts suspicion to the young medical student, claiming he was aggressively following and frightening her husband.

Inspector Moreau and Miss Marple interview the young medical student, Charlie Levitt, who is agitated and defensive. He denies killing Anthony, citing the ethics of his medical vocation. Miss Marple dismisses the idea he is an assassin and instead proposes he is Anthony’s estranged son, noting their physical resemblance.

Stunned, Charlie admits this is true. He claims he saw his father by chance in Paris and followed him to the hotel, wanting only to get to know him. Anthony rejected him and even tried to ski him off a cliff. Miss Marple finds his story of a spontaneous meeting illogical: She deduces that Charlie has a gambling problem and came to blackmail his father for money. Charlie’s demeanor hardens, and he confirms Anthony refused to give him money, saying “I’m glad he’s dead” (169).

Sylvia is interviewed by Inspector Moreau, flirting with him. She openly admits to her affair with Anthony, insisting that he was planning to leave his wife for her once he came into some money. She asserts he had already spent most of his wife’s fortune. She suggests that Catherine is the most likely murderer, driven by pride and jealousy, but also confirms she saw Catherine at the spa that morning solidifying both of their alibis. She suggests they investigate Catherine’s finances.