On vacation in a tiny village, Miss Silver investigates a murder with a decades-old motiveThe citizens of Melling are perfectly ordinaryexactly the sort one finds in just about everycozy English villageand to a certain person they might even appear boring. But to Miss Silver, people are always interesting. It has been some years since she gave up work as a governess to become a detective, and her interest in people has served her well. She comes to Melling on vacationa long postponed visit to an old school chumbut Miss Silver's business is murder, and her vacations never last long.The town's prodigal son has returned, wealthy and without nostalgia for the village of his birth. He intends to sell his manor house and be done with Melling forever. But Melling has not finished with him.