A repugnant Amercian widow is killed during a trip to Petra

Among the towering red cliffs of Petra, like some monstrous swollen Buddha, sat the corpse of Mrs Boynton. A tiny puncture mark on her wrist was the only sign of the fatal injection that had killed her.

With only 24 hours available to solve the mystery, Hercule Poirot recalled a chance remark he d overheard back in Jerusalem: You see, don t you, that she s got to be killed? Mrs Boynton was, indeed, the most detestable woman he`d ever met