A Mrs Ernestine Todd, from Clapham, asks Poirot to help her find her cook, Eliza, who has disappeared. Poirot, who aims to accept only really significant cases, is at first insulted by such a trivial request. However, after he sees the contents of the missing cook's trunk, he decides the case could prove to be worthy of his talents.

Within hours of the Bonfire Night fireworks beginning Poirot finds himself investigating a violent death in Hastings' mews garage.

Country squire Marcus Waverly calls on Poirot for help in dealing with kidnap threats against his son. Hastings is appalled by the thought of someone going around kidnapping children and it becomes a race against time to find the identity of the mystery letter writer.

At a London restaurant where he often eats, Poirot notices that another regular customer has diverted from his usual meal. As old Anthony Gascoigne lies dying in Brighton, his estranged twin brother, Henry, falls to his death. A tragic accident, or murder? Poirot begins to see connections and decides the answer to the mystery lies in a blackberry pie.

A new tenant two floors below Poirot's flat asks to meet the woman living above her. Bored, Poirot joins Hastings at a murder-mystery play, only to find Patricia Matthews, her roommate, and their dates are there too — and a real mystery unfolds.

On holiday in Rhodes, Poirot observes glamorous divorcée Valentine flirting with a married man while vacationing with her fifth husband. The man's wife confides in Poirot as tensions rise, and what looks like a reconciliation between the two couples ends in tragedy at a cocktail hour.

Aboard a cruise, Poirot and Hastings observe controlling Mrs. Clapperton and her put-upon husband, a former music-hall performer. When most passengers go ashore, two young women coax the Colonel into joining them while his wife stays behind in her cabin — or does she?

Industrialist Lord Mayfield hosts an Air Marshal at his estate to review classified aircraft designs. Among the guests are an unscrupulous widow and an MP who's brought Poirot along fearing her influence over Mayfield. When the plans vanish, Poirot investigates.

Hastings and Poirot visit a film set where an overbearing studio boss bullies the cast and humiliates an aging actor he later fires. That night the boss is found dead at home from a head wound, a playing card left nearby, and Poirot joins Japp to find the killer.

Millionaire business man Benedict Farley, a well known eccentric, consults Poirot about bad dreams he has been having. Mr. Farley has dreamed repeatedly of killing himself. Sadly, he does not follow Poirot's advice. When Farley is found dead, Poirot fails to believe that it is suicide and suspects a murder plot relying on hypnosis.