Murder at the Gallop

Our story opens in Miss Marples village of Milchester where she and Mr. Stringer are going door-to-door collecting donations for The Reformed Criminals Assistance League with mixed success. As they approach the large gates of an estate on the edge of town, we see a horseman riding rapidly from the scene, but they don't observe this as Mr. Stringer is trying to talk Miss Marple from soliciting from Mr. Enderby as they have never had success in the past. They proceed, however, and find the door to the mansion ajar. Entering the home they observe Mr. Enderby clutch his chest and fall down the stairs, dead. He has been frightened to death by a cat, of which he was notoriously terrified. Miss Marple picks up a clump of mud from a riding boot; this must belong to the murderer. Chief Inspector Craddock encounters Miss Marple at the police station. He rejects the idea of murder and Miss Marple leaves to do her own investigation. At her cottage she and Mr. Springer bake the mud and make a plaster cast of it. She wonders who benefits financially from Mr. Enderby's death and later she and Mr. Stringer climb up to a window outside the solicitor's office so she can observe the reading of the will. The proceeds are divided equally among Mr. Enderby's 4th cousin George Crossfield, an art dealer, a young attractive woman Rosamund Shane and her husband Michael, his nephew Hector (Robert Morley), and his sister, Cora Lansquenet, who has been long out of the country and is unknown to the village, and is veiled. Cora says that she is sure Mr. Enderby was murdered. CI Craddock happens by and runs off Miss Marple and Mr. Springer. Back at the cottage, battle plans are drawn and the two sleuths scour the village for gossip. Returning to the cottage a decision is made to visit Cora Lansquenet at the house she has rented. There, Miss Marple finds Cora stabbed to death with a hat pin. We are introduced here to Miss Milchrest, Cora's assistant who at first thinks Miss Marple has done the murder. The police are called and Miss Marple gets to do her "I told you so" routine with inspector Craddock. Learning that the rest of the family members are staying at "The Gallop" Hotel which is owned by nephew Hector, Miss Marple arranges for a stay there. At the hotel, which is a rural riding establishment, Miss Marple checks in while Chief Inspector Craddock and Sergeant Bacon are beginning their interviews and at the same time Miss Milchester arrives and asks for a room to stay in for a few days. It turns out that Miss Marple was a champion rider in her youth and Hector is a great admirer but didn't know he had been living near her all these years. He is excited to have her as a guest. They go off for a ride together where Hector is thrown from his horse and injures his foot. We have a scene where Rosamund meets Crossfield in her room. We learn that he needs money and that he has long desired to be with Rosamund. She is presented as hardened and cynical. The Shanes go for an automobile ride. It is their car which startled Hector's horse Black Jack and caused him to be thrown. We learn that Shane also needed money and lied to the Chief Inspector about his whereabouts on the day of the Enderby murder because he had been at the house to ask for money. All the while during her stay, Miss Marple is checking boots for a match with her plaster cast. She comes into conflict with Hillman the hired hand who is rude to her. That night someone tries to kill her by turning on the gas in her room, but she wakes up and turns it off without suspecting anything. She goes out to the tack room where she can check several boots at once. Inside the main building there is a large argument going on in Hector's office. Rosamund and Mr. Crossfield both want a certain painting owned by their Aunt Cora. Hector decides the issue by stating emphatically that *he* is taking it. That night, Miss Marple checks Crossfield's boots which he left in the hallway and they are a match so she thinks she has found the murder. Outside, she overhears Crossfield in his room arguing with someone who can't be seen. Crossfield then goes outside. In the stables the argument continues and the still unknown party locks Crossfield in Black Jack's stall where he is trampled to death. When CI Craddock comes out for the investigation Miss Marple admits she had thought she had discovered the murderer but was mistaken and now wants to set a trap for the real one. The next day is spent by Craddock and Bacon doing their interviews. Miss Marple has stolen the painting and sends it with Mr. Stringer to London for an appraisal. She advises Craddock that she plans a stunt at the annual ball being held that night. At the dance, which is a lively success, Mr. Stringer arrives and says the painting is worth at least 50,000 pounds. They dance the twist and Miss Marple fakes a heart attack. The police surgeon is called and says that any shock to Miss Marple would almost certainly kill her. She is placed in an isolated room on the first floor, as planned. Craddock and Bacon stand guard outside the window. Later, Miss Milchrest comes in to check on Miss Marple and then leaves. Later still, a ghostly figure enters the room in an attempt to scare Miss Marple. It is Miss Milchrest wearing a veil but Miss Marple isn't frightened. Here, Miss Milchrest reveals everything. She knew she was going to inherit the painting and cooked up a scheme to kill Cora Lansquenet to get it. She had to kill Mr. Enderby first however to throw suspicion onto someone else. George Crossfield had been to see Enderby just before the murder, but it was just to ask to borrow money. Miss Milchrest attempts to stab Miss Marple but she fights her off, (while accidentally destroying the painting) and Craddock and Bacon rush in to save the day. The next morning Hector Enderby asks Miss Marple to marry him. She declines and also mentions she is against blood sports. Hector is appalled to hear that and is glad for a close escape.