The Sittaford mystery, by Agatha Christie

 

The Sittaford Mystery is a standalone story that doesn't include any of Agatha Christie's usual detectives. After a séance in which the message is received that Captain Trevelyan has been murdered in his cottage six miles away, Major Burnaby walks to the cottage only to find that Captain Trevelyan has indeed been murdered. Trevelyan's nephew James, who visited him that afternoon, is arrested for the murder, but James' fiancée, Emily, is unwilling to accept his guilt and travels to the village to ferret out the true murderer. The six people who attended the séance seem innocent by default, but could one of them have had preknowledge of the crime? What about Trevelyan's sister, niece, and other nephew? Or his assistant and his new wife, of whom Trevelyan didn't approve? Emily teams up with a reporter, Charles Enderby, to investigate other potential suspects, and both work occasionally with Inspector Narracott who also shares information with them, eventually leading up to a surprising but satisfying conclusion.