Plot summary

St. Mary Mead is all aflutter when movie star Marina Rudd (Dame Elizabeth Taylor) and a movie crew arrive is St. Mary Mead to film Mary, Queen of Scots with Marina in the lead role. At a reception, however, the secretary of the village organizing committee, Heather Babcock (Maureen Bennett), dies from a poisoned cocktail. The drink was Marina's, who had given it to Heather after she spilled her first one. There is already considerable tension between many of the characters, so there are many possible suspects. Jason Rudd (Rock Hudson), Marina's husband and the director of the movie, is having an affair with Production Assistant Ella Zielinsky (Geraldine Chaplin). Lola Brewster (Kim Novak)--Marina's hated rival and friend of Producer Martin N. Fenn (Tony Curtis)--arrives, having been given a small part in the movie. Miss Jane Marple (Dame Angela Lansbury) and her nephew, Scotland Yard Chief Inspector Dermot Craddock (Edward Fox), work together to solve the puzzle.—garykmcd