Bonsoir, mes amies! Ze police have drawn up a summary of the murdered woman, Madeleine, and the six suspects and their movements on the night in question. Please to consider the evidence and make your first accusation (person, place, weapon) to Monsieur Poirot via the private message, oui? Bonne Chance, mes amies!

Madeleine is the daughter and eldest child of the wealthy Lord Valentine. She was an attractive, vivacious and popular young lady.

On the day of the murder, Madeleine was in high spirits. She had visited the village hall worksite, to see how the extension was going, with her father, Peter and fiancée Fred, and spent some time talking to Simon, the project manager.

She had met her friend Brenda in Brenda’s lunch break. They had eaten sandwiches sitting on the bench in the village square discussing Madeleine’s forthcoming marriage

In the afternoon she complained of a stomach ache and went to lie down, but had recovered by teatime, when, according to the cook, she quarrelled with her brother Dave

At around seven, she walked to the church for her marriage preparation course run by the local Vicar. Fred had a prior engagement, so agreed with Madeleine she would go alone, give his apologies and he would come as soon as possible. Madeleine and the vicar waited half an hour but Fred had not arrived so they postponed the session till next week.

According to our notes, this was the last anybody saw of Madeleine.

Simon works in the building trade. He seems to be a typical, rugged, manual labourer in the mid. Madeleine had an on off relationship with him until she met her fiancée. Simon appears to be a man not capable of expressing finer emotions but breaking up with Madeleine is said to have hit him hard. He is barely civil to her or her fiancée. Simon is currently working on the extension of the Village Hall. On the evening of the crime he claims he was working alone at the building site doing paperwork until about ten, when he went home, alone. There are no witnesses.

Frederick, 40, is Madeleine’s fiancée. Village opinion is that he was in the relationship for the money, but seems to have plenty himself with several thriving businesses. Through Lord Valentine’s influence, Fred is the chairman of the local Cricket Club, and has just donated a large sum of money for various club necessities including a new boundary rope and club uniforms. On the evening of the crime he was at an important meeting. He then went home, changed into more suitable clothes, arrived at the Church only to find Madeleine had already left. He spoke to the vicar, and then went to Valentine’s Manor to wait for Madeleine, but she did not arrive. Later Lord Valentine returned and Frederick went home.

Peter, Lord Valentine, lives at Valentine’s Manor. He is 63, a wealthy landowner, and much respected in the village. Peter disapproved of Madeleine’s dalliance with Simon, but seemed only too delighted with her choice of Frederick. Indeed, he was planning to settle a large sum of money on Madeleine on her marriage. On the evening of the crime, Peter had gone for a drive at around six, and at 8 went to the local pub for a pint, returning to the Manor House. On his return both men had a nightcap, agreed it was too bad of Madeleine to stand Frederick up, and Frederick went home.

Vernon the Vicar has worked in Valentine’s Village for seven years and is in his early thirties. Madeleine not a great churchgoer, but is a good family friend, so Vernon agreed to take her and Frederick through a pre marriage course. Vernon is very community minded and is heavily involved with young offenders, currently supervising Dave and a few other lads doing community service in the church yard- digging graves, trimming hedges and so on. Vernon is finding Dave in particular a trial, with several items of church and garden equipment going walkabout. On the evening of the crime the Vicar was the last to see Madeleine, he then spoke to Frederick briefly before locking the doors, heading home, turning up his ipod and whiling away several hours listening to the latest Christian rock music.

Brenda, Madeleine’s best friend and confidante, works in the village store. There is some suggestion that she was slightly jealous of friend’s looks and social position. Brenda is a plain girl with rabbity teeth and a nervous manner. On the evening of the crime, Brenda worked until closing time at 5, sent home the teenage assistant, then spent an hour tidying up the shelves ready for the next day. Then she walked to her flat, let herself in and watched telly all evening. There are no witnesses.

Dave is Madeleine’s brother and the future Lord Valentine, heir to all his father’s estate. He is 21 and already an unsatisfactory character. Used to work for Simon, but was sacked before a week was up. He is currently doing community service digging graves under the supervision of the Vicar. His latest misdemeanour was mugging an old lady- he didn’t need the money, he did it for the fun of it. Lord Valentine has excused Dave’s behaviour for a long time, but has recently started to take it more seriously and has once or twice threatened to disinherit him. On the evening of the crime Dave worked till 4.30, then went to the bus stop to see his mates off. He then went to the village store for some beers, slouched around the village for a bit, before gracing the local bar and getting very drunk indeed.