Pauline Moran

Poirot seeks the killer of a woman many wanted dead: Hercule Poirot (David Suchet) accompanies an archaeological expedition searching for the skull of John the Baptist in the Syrian Desert. What the team actually finds is a more recent corpse: the body of Lady Boynton, wife of expedition leader Lord Boynton (Tim Curry, The Rocky Horror Picture Show). The woman had made many enemies during her life, and Poirot has no shortage of suspects. He digs through layers of history to discover who had motive enough to kill.

Poirot tries to clear a woman framed for murder: Distressed young heiress Norma Restarick comes to see Hercule Poirot (David Suchet) about "a murder she might have committed." The detective consults an old acquaintance, crime novelist Ariadne Oliver (Zoe Wanamaker, My Family), who lives in the same building as the young woman and her two roommates. When Norma's childhood nanny is found dead, apparently by suicide, Poirot believes he has identified the victim. Next he must deduce the killer, while Norma's family fears for her sanity.

While traveling from Istanbul to London aboard the luxurious Orient Express, Hercule Poirot (David Suchet) encounters a ruthless businessman who offers him a large sum to expose the person threatening his life. Poirot declines, not caring for the man or his money. But when the businessman gets stabbed to death, the detective is determined to find the killer. With the help of an amateur sleuth (Samuel West, Van Helsing), Poirot begins to piece together the train of events leading up to the murder.

When a jury convicts James Bentley (Joe Absolom, Vincent) for the murder of his landlady, even the police superintendent (Richard Hope, The Bill) believes they've got the wrong man. At the superintendent's behest, Hercule Poirot (David Suchet) begins a search for new evidence. He bumps into an old friend, mystery novelist Ariadne Oliver (Zoe Wanamaker, My Family), who lends her woman's intuition to the investigation. It seems that many of the victim's former employers have "a skeleton in the armoire," as Poirot puts it. But when an unknown assailant makes an attempt on the detective's life, the case takes on greater urgency.