- Alice Pengelley visits Poirot in London, telling him she thinks she is being poisoned by her husband. When Poirot arrives in Cornwall the next day to investigate Mrs. Pengelley's charges, he is too late, and finds her dead.
- Poirot and Captain Hastings travel to Cornwall at the request of Mrs. Pengelly but arrive to find that the woman is dead. She had told Poirot the previous day that she feared her dentist husband, Edward Pengelly, had been having an affair with his pretty receptionist and that further, he was trying to poison her. Apart from her husband, she has a niece and her fiancé, but no other relatives in the village. When Inspector Japp arrests the husband for murder, the Belgian detective is convinced that the wrong person is in the dock.—garykmcd
- Hercule Poirot is approached by Mrs Pengelley from Cornwall. She is worried that someone, probably her husband, is trying to poison her. She returns to Cornwall and Poirot promises to follow her a day later. When he and Hastings arrive, Mrs Pengelley is dead. The local doctor rules that the cause of death was gastritis but Poirot knows better. Eventually he manages to get the police to exhume the body and they find that she was indeed poisoned. Mr Pengelley is arrested and the evidence all points to him doing it. Poirot is not convinced, however.—grantss
- Mrs. Alice Pengelley arrives in London to visit Poirot, telling him she is being poisoned by her husband. She is convinced her husband is putting weed killer into her food. Poirot makes a trip the next day to visit her in Cornwall, only to find he is too late - Mrs. Pengelley is dead. The main suspect is Mr. Pengelley, her husband, who is having an affair with his young medical assistant. However, Mrs. Pengelley's niece may also be a suspect, as she is in her aunt's will for 2000 pounds. The niece's fiancé may also be involved, as he has apparently been flirting with Mrs. Pengelley while also courting her niece. And what of Mrs. Pengelley's doctor, who changes his story about her condition once he is on the stand testifying against Mr. Pengelley. And the maid seems out to get Mr. Pengelley as well. It all comes to a head when Poirot corners the killer and obtains a written confession, promising the murderer 24 hours head start to get out of town before giving the confession to the police - a promise Poirot does not keep.—Spirit
- Poirot receives a visit from a Mrs Pengelley (Amanda Walker), a middle-aged woman who is afraid that she is being poisoned by her husband, a dentist. She has been ill after eating but her doctor states that she is suffering from acute gastritis. She and her husband live in Polgarwith, a small market town in Cornwall. She has no proof of the allegation, only that she only suffers when her husband is at home, not when he is away at the weekends and a bottle of weedkiller, supposedly unused, is half-empty. There could be no financial motive to suggest why Mr Pengelley should try to murder his wife, but she suspects an affair with his young receptionist. Another resident in the house was her niece, Freda Stanton (Chloe Salaman) (She is the child of Mr Pengelley's sister), but that lady had a row with Mrs Pengelley the week before and left the house after living there for eight years. Mrs Pengelley is vague as to the cause of the row but states that she has been told by a Mr Jacob Radnor (John Bowler) to leave Freda to come to her senses. Radnor is described as "just a friend" and a "very pleasant young fellow". Mrs Pengelley is adamant that there is nothing afoot between Mr Radnor and Freda.
Poirot and Hastings travel to Cornwall the next day and are shocked to find that Mrs Pengelley died half an hour before. Poirot interviews the dead woman's doctor Dr Adams (Derek Benfield), who at first denies that anything could be wrong (he insists that Mrs Pengelley had gastritis and nothing more) but is then astounded to learn she had gone to London to consult the detective. Dr Adams also rubbishes the notion that Mr Pengelley could fall in love with anyone. Adams plays golf with him and knows him very well. They visit Mr Pengelley's dentist office and meet his receptionist Edwina Marks (Laura Girling). Jessie is a stunningly beautiful young woman and Hastings is smitten with her. Their last visit before leaving Cornwall is to Mrs Pengelley's niece. They meet Freda Stanton and Jacob Radnor and discover that the couple is engaged, and that the cause of the row between Freda and her aunt was the older woman's own infatuation with Radnor, a far younger man. The situation became so bad that Freda had no option but to move out. Freda says that there was no basis for her auntie to suspect that Mr Pengelley was poisoning her. Radnor meets Poirot separately and says he doesn't trust Mr Pengelley. But he says he doesn't want to rake up the issue as he doesn't want his future wife's uncle to be tried and imprisoned.
In her will, Mrs Pengelley leaves 2000 pounds to Freda and the remainder 20,000 pounds to her husband. Poirot and Hastings return to London but can follow events in the papers as rumor spreads in the small village (about Mr Pengelley poisoning Mrs Pengelley leading to her death. The rumors gained strength when Mr Pengelley announced his engagement to Edwina Marks) leading to Mrs Pengelley's body being exhumed and traces of arsenic found. Her widower Edward Pengelley (Jerome Willis) is arrested and charged with murder.
Attending the committal hearing (where Radnor testifies that he saw Mr Pengelley preparing a meal once and he was replacing the tin containing weed killer poison), Poirot invites Radnor back to his flat where he produces a written confession for the man to sign. Radnor planned to get rid of both the Pengelleys, one through murder and the other by execution so his new wife, Freda, would inherit their money. Mrs Pengelley fell for Radnor because he made sure she would, flirting with her while at the same time planting seeds in the woman's mind that her husband was trying to poison her. Poirot offers him twenty-four hours escape if he signs the confession before he hands it over to the police and dupes the man into thinking that Poirot's own flat is being watched. Radnor signs and hurries out. Poirot confesses to Hastings that he didn't have any real evidence of Radnor's guilt and that the stunt was his only option to get Mr Pengelley acquitted. He is sure that Scotland Yard will catch up with Radnor, despite the latter's twenty-four hours start.
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