When Ariadne Oliver attends a children's Hallowe'en party in Woodleigh Common with her friend Judith, a young girl Joyce Reynolds boasts of having witnessed a murder years before. Joyce's story is heard by all the party, including her strange brother Leopold, the impeccable hostess Rowena Drake, her bookish son Edmund and the local Reverend Cottrell. Miss Whittaker, the church organist, and Frances Drake, Rowena's feisty daughter, are dismissive of her story but later that evening Joyce is found drowned in an apple-bobbing bucket in the library. It appears that any one of the guests could have slipped out in the dark during the snapdragon game and drowned her. Hercule Poirot arrives in Woodleigh Common at the request of his friend Ariadne to investigate the murder. Though local Inspector Raglan dismisses Joyce's claim and even her step-mother Mrs Reynolds admits her daughter was a liar, Poirot is convinced Joyce's story has some truth to it. When he seeks out the local gossip, charwoman Mrs Goodbody, Poirot discovers that there have been a number of suspicious deaths in the village in recent years which Joyce could have witnessed: a drowned school teacher, a stabbed solicitor's clerk and the passing of a rich old lady. Mrs Goodbody is convinced that old curses still haunt the village, as is the affable gardener, Michael Garfield. But while Poirot pieces together the facts, another child is found drowned in the river. Could a forged codicil, a missing au pair and a secret love affair be the key to solving the crime? Can Poirot act in time to save Judith's ethereal daughter Miranda when he realises she is in danger? Ariadne Oliver attends a Hallowe'en Party in Woodleigh Common where a girl boasts of having witnessed a murder years before. When the girl is found drowned in an apple-bobbing bucket later that evening, Poirot arrives to investigate. He uncovers a series of mysterious deaths in the village that Joyce could have witnessed.