Desperate to catch infamous art thief MARRASCAUD, the Metropolitan Police build what they imagine is a perfect trap. The Le Mesurier family are to announce the society debut of their beautiful daughter LUCINDA, who will be wearing an exceptionally expensive diamond necklace. On display will be 'Hercules Vanquishing the Hydra', a priceless work by Marrascaud's favourite artist Van Druys. Last but not least, the great HERCULE POIROT will be in attendance. How can Marrascaud resist? The results are catastrophic. Marrascaud pinches the painting and the jewels from beneath Poirot's nose, leaving behind the butchered body of Lucinda. Poirot is devastated and falls into a heavy depression. DR BURTON does all he can to revive the detective's spirits, but it is not until a lonely chauffeur begs the detective to find his missing true love, the maid of a famous Russian dancer, that Poirot feels he can return to his work. The quest for Nita takes Poirot to the Swiss Alps, where fate plays a hand: against all odds, Poirot has stumbled upon HOTEL OLYMPOS, now thought to be Marrascaud's hideout. As an avalanche cuts off access to the hotel, Poirot finds himself in a game of cat-and-mouse with a villain he fears and despises. What is the secret of bedridden dancer KATRINA SAMOUSHENKA and her missing maid? What are the true intentions of her Freudian therapist DR LUTZ? Why is Member of Parliament HAROLD WARING, dogged by salacious Fleet Street rumour, in hiding in Switzerland? Will ANNABEL RICE and her daughter ELSIE CLAYTON escape the wrath of Elsie's abusive husband PHILIP? Is effusive Italian hotel owner FRANCESCO to be trusted? Who is the enigmatic parlour-game enthusiast SCHWARTZ? Just when it seems like the situation couldn't be more baffling (nor more dangerous) there is another arrival at the hotel: none other than the jewel thief COUNTESS VERA ROSSAKOFF, whom Poirot has not encountered for over twenty years. This vivacious Russian emigre is the only woman to have stirred his heart - could she really be a killer? And what of her prodigious daughter, criminologist ALICE CUNNINGHAM, and her ghastly bulldog BINKY? Any one of these people could be Marrascaud - but is the disoriented Poirot in a fit state to tell psychology from stagecraft, passions from posture, fact from fiction - before his nemesis kills again?