At Bertram's Hotel

Bertram's Hotel, a quiet establishment in London's West End, appears frozen in time since the Edwardian era. Its clientele consists of elderly aristocrats, clergymen, and wealthy American tourists charmed by "old England." The manager, Mr. Humfries, explains to Colonel Derek Luscombe, a soldierly regular, that impoverished genteel guests receive reduced rates because they serve as atmospheric décor, attracting Americans who pay handsomely. Behind the desk, Miss Gorringe, the all-knowing receptionist, remembers every guest, while Henry, the regal head waiter, presides over tea.

Miss Jane Marple, an elderly amateur detective from the village of St. Mary Mead, arrives for a holiday arranged by her niece. She stayed at Bertram's as a girl of 14 and requested the return visit out of nostalgia. Though delighted by the hotel's faithful reproduction of the past, she feels uneasy: Everything seems too perfect, more like a stage performance than reality.

Among the guests is Bess Sedgwick, a famous adventuress renowned for solo Atlantic flights, surviving crashes, and a series of marriages. When Bess exits the lift and spots two newcomers, a middle-aged chaperone and a tall girl of about 17 with long flaxen hair, she freezes and abruptly retreats. Miss Marple notices this reaction with interest.

The girl is Elvira Blake, Luscombe's ward and goddaughter. Alone with him, Elvira asks pointed questions: Does she have money? Who inherits if she dies? Does her mother want to see her? Luscombe fumbles, admitting her mother is "a wonderful person" but not a safe one. Later, Ladislaus Malinowski, a world-champion racing driver, strides into the hotel and leaves a note for Bess Sedgwick. He asks loudly for the hotel's telephone number, and Miss Gorringe corrects him. That evening, Elvira dials the number Malinowski spoke aloud, revealing it as a prearranged code for contacting him.

Canon Pennyfather, a gentle and absent-minded clergyman, checks in before traveling to a biblical studies congress in Lucerne. He confuses his dates, misses his flight, sees a film called The Walls of Jericho, and returns to the hotel after midnight. Opening his room door, he is struck on the head.

At Scotland Yard, Chief-Inspector Fred Davy, nicknamed "Father" for his avuncular manner, identifies a pattern in a series of large-scale robberies: Respectable figures were spotted near crime scenes yet had solid alibis. Both were guests at Bertram's Hotel.

Bess intercepts Luscombe and insists he remove Elvira immediately, calling herself "dangerous." She then recognizes the hotel's Irish doorman, Michael Gorman, as someone from her past. Their exchange turns threatening when Gorman mentions "Ballygowlan," an Irish village, implying he holds a damaging secret. Bess warns she would shoot him as easily as she would a rat. Two people overhear from armchairs in the writing room: Elvira, who rises pale-faced and slips away, and Miss Marple.

Elvira enlists her friend Bridget to cover for her and raise airfare by stealing and pawning a bracelet from a Bond Street jeweler. She flies to Ballygowlan and returns grim and frightened. She visits Richard Egerton, one of her father's trustees, who tells her she will inherit roughly 600,000 to 700,000 pounds at 21 or upon marriage. She asks who inherits if she dies: her next of kin, her mother. Egerton warns Luscombe the girl seems preoccupied with inheritance and death.

In the early hours following the Canon's disappearance, the Irish Mail train is stopped by a tampered signal and robbed. A white racing car, a Morris Oxford driven by a man resembling a clergyman, and other vehicles relay the stolen goods. The Canon is found days later at a cottage in Milton St. John with concussion, remembering nothing.

Father uses the Canon's disappearance as a pretext to investigate Bertram's Hotel. Miss Marple provides a crucial detail: Though the Canon left the hotel on Thursday evening, she saw him again at roughly 3:10 a.m., leaving his room and descending the stairs. Father notes Malinowski's car parked nearby with false number plates. Through a powerful contact named Mr. Robinson, he discovers Bertram's is controlled by the Hoffman brothers, international financiers who bankroll questionable enterprises through holding companies.

During her London excursions, Miss Marple spots Elvira in Battersea Park with Malinowski and is troubled that he is involved with both mother and daughter.

On a foggy November night, gunshots ring out near the hotel. Father rushes outside and finds Elvira terrified, backed against railings, with Michael Gorman dead on the pavement. Elvira claims someone shot at her and Gorman was killed rushing to shield her. Inside, she sees Bess emerging from the lift, breaks free, and runs to her crying "Mother!" Their long-concealed relationship is publicly exposed.

Elvira claims this was the second attempt on her life and denies knowing Malinowski. Father detects the lie. Malinowski's pistol, found nearby, is identified as the murder weapon; he claims it was stolen from his car. Father interviews Bridget, who reveals Elvira's secret trip to Ballygowlan and her hidden photograph of Malinowski.

Father summons Miss Marple back to Bertram's and stages a reenactment. Watching Canon Pennyfather walk down the corridor, Miss Marple realizes the man she saw at 3 a.m. was not the Canon but a younger impostor. The Canon's memory returns: He entered his room that night and saw what appeared to be himself sitting in a chair before being struck. Father realizes that lookalikes impersonated respectable guests near crime scenes as part of the syndicate's operations.

Father confronts Bess with the full truth. Gorman was her first husband, secretly married in Ballygowlan when she was 16. She later realized the marriage was valid, making her subsequent marriages bigamous. Father reveals that Elvira overheard the exchange between Bess and Gorman, then traveled to Ireland to verify the marriage. He exposes Bertram's Hotel as a crime syndicate's headquarters, staffed partly by actors, financed by the Hoffmans, and using impersonators of real guests to sow confusion near crime scenes. Bess, he declares, is the operational mastermind.

Bess admits to running the syndicate, calling it "glorious fun." She then claims she shot Gorman and insists Miss Marple witness her confession. Before Father can respond, Bess smashes the window, scales the building's parapet and drainpipe, reaches her car, and speeds away. Minutes later, the car crashes into park railings. She is killed instantly.

Father turns to Miss Marple: Bess's confession was a lie, crafted to protect her daughter. Miss Marple names the real killer: Elvira. Having confirmed in Ireland that Gorman's marriage to her mother was legitimate, Elvira concluded that her mother's subsequent marriages were bigamous, which she believed would cost her the fortune she expected to inherit. Without the money, she feared losing Malinowski, who she believed would only marry her for her wealth. She planned the murder coldly: She stood by the railings, fired a deliberate miss at herself, screamed, and when Gorman rushed to help, shot him with the pistol she had stolen from Malinowski's car.

Elvira enters, having heard the crash. Father tells her that her mother is dead and confessed to the murder. Elvira says quietly she has nothing to add. Miss Marple asks Father if he intends to let her escape justice. He slams his fist on the table and declares he will not. Miss Marple responds: "May God have mercy on her soul."