After a period of ill health Miss Marple leaves St. Mary Mead for the tropical Caribbean paradise of St. Honoré where an English couple - Tim and Molly Kendall - run a quaint little resort called the Golden Palms. Among the many guests which include the innocuous Hillingdons their unseemly American friends the Dysons and gruff business tycoon Jason Rafiel is garrulous Major Palgrave who is friendly to all - much to everyone's chagrin. When Palgrave launches into his infamous storytelling routine one afternoon only an uninterested Miss Marple is his audience. Talk quickly turns to murder and Palgrave coyly asks her if she'd like to see a photograph of a serial killer. But before he can pull it out he sees something - or someone - and quickly changes the subject. After a night of excessive drink and entertainment including a voodoo show Palgrave is found dead in his room the next morning - the cause of death being a heart attack...