They were playing bridge that evening with Josie.

The three grieving survivors, son-in-law Mark, daughter-in-law Adelaide, and Conway, made up a household. Then his wife, son and daughter were killed in an aeroplane crash eight years earlier. Conway calls Sir Henry Clithering to join the investigation Sir Henry sees Miss Marple at the hotel and in turn invites her to investigate.Ĭonway made large financial settlements for his children at the time each married. Conway tells police he has revised his will to favour Ruby, until the legal adoption is completed.ĭolly and Miss Marple move to the Majestic to investigate further. Guests saw Ruby as late as 11 pm dancing with George Bartlett, but Ruby did not appear for her dance demonstration at midnight. Josie Turner, employee at the hotel, identifies the body as that of her cousin Ruby. Hotel guest Conway Jefferson reports Ruby Keene, an 18-year-old dancer at the Majestic Hotel in Danemouth, as missing. She shares these observations with Dolly. Miss Marple notices that the appearance of this girl is not right, from her bitten fingernails to her old dress. Dr Haydock’s autopsy reveals that the young woman, healthy but not fully mature, died between 10 pm and 12 midnight the previous evening, had been drugged and then strangled, and was not sexually molested.

Trying to identify this dead young woman, Melchett heads to the nearby cottage of Basil Blake, but Blake’s girlfriend Dinah Lee, a platinum blonde, is very much alive and arrives at the house while Melchett is interviewing Blake. The police investigators include Colonel Melchett and Inspector Slack. The colonel calls the police, and Mrs Bantry calls her old friend, Miss Marple. He finds the dead body of a young woman on the hearth rug in the library, with heavy makeup, platinum-blonde hair, and a silver-spangled dress. The maid at Gossington Hall wakes Mrs Bantry by saying, “There is a body in the library!” Dolly Bantry then wakes her husband, Colonel Arthur Bantry to go downstairs.

The body in the library book