Dead in the Clouds

Hercule Poirot travels back to England on the midday flight from Paris to Croydon Airport in London. He is one of eleven passengers in the plane's rear compartment – the others include: mystery writer Daniel Clancy; Armand Dupont and his son Jean, French archaeologists; dentist Norman Gale; Doctor Bryant; French moneylender Madame Giselle; businessman James Ryder; Cicely, Countess of Horbury, and her friend Venetia Kerr; and Jane Grey. As the flight begins to get close to landing, a wasp is spotted flying around the rear compartment, before a steward finds that Giselle is dead. Poirot, who slept through most of the flight, dismisses the belief she died from a wasp sting. Instead he points out a dart on the floor, which is found to have a poisoned tip. Giselle was stung in the neck with it. The question remains how she was murdered without anyone noticing.