Miss Jane Marple is shocked when she receives a note from an old friend,Father Gorman only to read in the newspaper the very same day that he was murdered. He had attended a dying woman, Mrs. Davis, who died the previous evening and it was while he was on his way home that he was apparently attacked. The police have 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. Davis 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.