His youngest daughter, Edith ("Edie"), died four years before the novel begins. The eldest of Luther Crackenthorpe's children, Edmund, died during World War II. The house itself will be inherited by Luther Crackenthorpe's eldest surviving son or his issue. Luther Crackenthorpe is merely the trustee of Rutherford Hall and hence, according to the will, cannot sell the house. After Luther's death, the capital is to be divided equally among Luther's children. To preserve the family fortune, Josiah has left his considerable fortune in trust, the income from which is to be paid to Luther for life. His son, Luther, now a semi-invalid widower, had displayed spendthrift qualities in his youth. Josiah Crackenthorpe, purveyor of tea biscuits, built Rutherford Hall in 1884.
Lucy Eyelesbarrow, a young professional housekeeper and an acquaintance of Miss Marple, is sent undercover to Rutherford Hall. Comparison of the facts of the murder with the train timetable and the local geography lead to the grounds of Rutherford Hall as the only possible location: it is shielded from the surrounding community, the railway abuts the grounds, and so on. The first task is to ascertain where the body could have been hidden. Only Miss Marple believes her story as there is no evidence of wrongdoing. Mrs McGillicuddy describes the woman as wearing a fur coat and with blonde hair. When arriving at Miss Marple's cottage, she tells all to her.
She reports it to a ticket collector who does not believe her.
Then, a blind in one of the compartments flies up and she sees a man with his back to her strangling a woman. On the way, her train passes another train running parallel to her. Elspeth McGillicuddy has come from a shopping expedition to visit her old friend Jane Marple for Christmas.
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