When Hercule Poirot and his associate Arthur Hastings arrive in the
French village of Merlinville-sur-Mer to meet their client Paul Renauld,
they learn from the police that he has been found that morning stabbed
in the back with a letter opener and left in a newly-dug grave adjacent
to a local golf course. Among the plausible suspects are Renauld's wife
Eloise, his son Jack, Renauld's immediate neighbor Madame Daubreuil, the
mysterious ""Cinderella"" of Hasting's recent acquaintance, and some
unknown visitor of the previous day--all of whom Poirot has reason to
suspect. Poirot's powers of investigation ultimately triumph over the
wiles of an assailant whose misdirection and motives are nearly--but not
quite--impossible to spot.