Jane Marple is an elderly lady from St Mary Mead who possesses an uncanny knack for solving even the most perplexing puzzles. Even worse, one Snooper hadn’t made it back from the slopes when the avalanche hit.Īs each hour passes without any sign of rescue, panic mounts, the chalet grows colder, and the group dwindles further…one by one. The storm brewing inside the chalet is no match for the one outside, however, and a devastating avalanche leaves the group cut off from all access to the outside world. But as soon as one shareholder upends the agenda by pushing a lucrative but contentious buyout offer, tensions simmer and loyalties are tested. When the cofounder of Snoop, a trendy London-based tech start-up, organizes a weeklong trip for the team in the French Alps, it starts out as a corporate retreat like any other: PowerPoint presentations and strategy sessions broken up by mandatory bonding on the slopes. Unless that company happens to be eight coworkers…each with something to gain, something to lose, and something to hide. Especially when there’s a breathtaking vista, a full-service chef and housekeeper, a cozy fire to keep you warm, and others to keep you company.

Getting snowed in at a luxurious, rustic ski chalet high in the French Alps doesn’t sound like the worst problem in the world. But, she maintains, she’s not guilty-at least not of murder-but somebody is. She admits that she lied to obtain the post, and that her behavior toward the children wasn’t always ideal. It wasn’t even the way she was left alone for weeks at a time, with no adults around apart from the enigmatic handyman. It wasn’t just the girls, who turned out to be a far cry from the immaculately behaved model children she met at her interview. It wasn’t just the constant surveillance from the home’s cameras, or the malfunctioning technology that woke the household with booming music, or turned the lights off at the worst possible time. Writing to her lawyer from prison, she struggles to explain the events that led to her incarceration. What she doesn’t know is that she’s stepping into a nightmare-one that will end with a child dead and herself in prison awaiting trial for murder. And when Rowan Caine arrives at Heatherbrae House, she is smitten-by the luxurious “smart” home fitted out with all modern conveniences, by the beautiful Scottish Highlands, and by this picture-perfect family. But it seems like too good an opportunity to miss-a live-in nannying post, with a staggeringly generous salary. When she stumbles across the ad, she’s looking for something else completely.

Ruth ware one by one summary