A Haunting in Venice
In 1947, Hercule Poirot lives in retirement in Venice, having lost his faith in God and humanity, while employing ex–police officer Vitale Portfoglio to act as a bodyguard. On Halloween, mystery writer Ariadne Oliver convinces Poirot to attend a Halloween party and séance at the palazzo of famed opera singer Rowena Drake and to expose Joyce Reynolds, a World War I army nurse turned medium, as a fraud. The palazzo itself is claimed to be haunted by the spirits of children who, when the palazzo was an orphanage, were locked up and left to die when a plague swept through the city, with rumors that the spirits torment any nurses and doctors who dare to enter.
A Haunting in Venice
Rowena has hired Joyce to help her commune with her daughter Alicia, who reportedly died by suicide after her fiancé, chef Maxime Gerard, broke off their engagement. Among the guests in attendance are Maxime, Rowena’s housekeeper Olga Seminoff, Drake family doctor Leslie Ferrier and his son Leopold, and Joyce’s Romani assistant Desdemona Holland. During the séance, Poirot deduces that Joyce has two assistants, revealing Desdemona’s half-brother Nicholas hiding in the chimney. Joyce suddenly speaks in Alicia’s voice and reveals she was murdered by one of the guests. Poirot attempts to confront Joyce, who tells him to lighten up and gives him her mask and robe. Seconds after an unknown assailant nearly drowns Poirot when he is apple bobbing, Joyce is found impaled on a statue in the courtyard.
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