A strange past that casts a shadow on another generation. The double suicide of General and Lady Ravenscroft had caused a flurry headlines, but the case had been satisfactorily dealt with by the police and forgotten by the public. Fifteen years later, Mrs. Ariadne Oliver, the novelist, was asked to answer a startling question: had the husband killed the wife or the wife killed the husband? This question concerned her goddaughter, Celia Ravenscroft. Mrs. Oliver then brought the problem to our Hercule Poirot.