When Lucy Angkatell hosts a weekend get-together at her country estate, she appears to overlook the obvious fact that all her guests loathe one another. Poirot enjoys a ringside seat for the bizarre goings-on, but he is thrust into an active role when the proceedings suddenly turn deadly.

"At a Hallowe'en party, Joyce--a hostile thirteen-year-old--boasts that she once witnessed a murder. When no one believes her, she storms off home. But within hours her body is found, still in the house, drowned in an apple-bobbing tub. That night, Hercule Poirot is called in to find the 'evil presence.' But first he must establish whether he is looking for a murderer or a double murderer ..."--Back cover.

Poirot is called to the family estate of Simeon Lee, after he is found lying in a pool of blood on Christmas Eve.

When the host is found dead at a card game, four investigators - including Poirot himself - look for clues as they set out to discover which guest is the killer.

"From seat No. 9, Hercule Poirot was ideally placed to observe his fellow air passengers. Over to his right sat a pretty young woman, clearly infatuated with the man opposite; ahead, in seat No. 13, sat a countess with a poorly concealed cocaine habit; across the gangway in seat No. 8, a detective writer was being troubled by an aggressive wasp. What Poirot did not yet realize was that behind him, in seat No. 2, sat the slumped, lifeless body of a...

"It's December 19, 1931. Hercule Poirot and Inspector Edward Catchpool are looking forward to a much-needed, restful Christmas holiday, when they are called upon to investigate the murder of a man in a Norfolk hospital ward. Cynthia Catchpool, Edward's mother, insists that Poirot stay with her in a crumbling mansion by the coast, so that they can all be together for the festive period while he solves the case. As Poirot digs into the mystery, he discovers...