<p><i> The first Miss Marple mystery, one which tests all her powers of observation and deduction.</i></p> <p> ?Anyone who murdered Colonel Protheroe,? declared the parson, brandishing a carving knife above a joint of roast beef, ?would be doing the world at large a favor!?</p> <p> It was a careless remark for a man of the cloth. And one which was to come back and haunt the clergyman just a few hours later?when the Colonel is found shot dead in the clergyman?s study. But as Miss Marple soon discovers, the whole village seems to have had a motive to kill Colonel Protheroe.</p>