Miss Jane Marple is shocked when she receives a note from an old friend,Father Gorman only to read in the news* the very same day that he was murdered. He had attended a dying woman, Mrs. D*is, who died the previous evening and it was while he was on his way home that he was apparently attacked. The police h*e put it down to a mugging but the letter Miss Marple received from him intrigues her: a list of surnames and a quote from the bible. The policeman in charge of the case, Inspector Lejeune is skeptical about it all being a murder but when Miss Marple inspects Mrs. D*is* rooms, she finds an identical list to that sent to her by Father Gorman and also a reference to the Pale Horse Inn in Much Deeping, Hampshire. She soon checks into the inn and pursues her own investigation.