The Idol House of Astarte

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Summary

Genre: Murder Mystery

Format: Short Story

Location: England

Recurring Characters: Miss Jane Marple

Synopsis

Dr Pender tells of a visit he made to a country house on Dartmoor when a young man. There are nine guests in total including Diana Ashley, a noted society beauty and the host Richard Haydon. One evening a fancy dress party takes place in a clearing in the wood where there is a summerhouse. The clearing is surrounded with a circle of trees and many of the guests feel the presence of evil. Diana, dressed as Goddess of the Moon starts to behave in a strange way. Richard plays along with her but as he is approaching her he falls over. They discover he has been stabbed to death – but no-one was close enough to have killed him! No one was ever found guilty but Miss Marple believes she knows who the killer was!

Published in 1928 in Royal Magazine in the UK and Detective Story Magazine in the USA. In the USA the story had the title The Solving Six and the Evil Hour. It forms one of The Thirteen Problems.

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