Having been lured to the village of Marsden Leigh under false pretenses - the local hotel owner is unable to solve the crime in his own manuscript and so invites the detective to solve a "murder" - Poirot and Hastings are asked to look into the death of Mr. Mantravers, owner of the local manor house. The local rumor mill has it that the Marsden Manor is haunted by several ghosts and Mantravers' wife is convinced that her husband was frightened to death. In the end, Poirot initiates a clever ruse to obtain a confession from the murderer.