When the recently orphaned Anne Beddingfield moves to London to live with her late father's solicitor and his wife, she is ready for adventure to find her, and find her it most certainly does. While waiting for the tube after a failed job interview, Anne witnesses a man fall off the Underground platform onto the rails. The police determine the man's death to be "accidental." But the examining doctor fortuitously leaves behind a rather curious note on his way out of the station, and Anne makes the life-altering decision to investigate this "accidental" death on her own. Suddenly, Anne finds herself ensnared in a dangerous plot involving missing diamonds, a murdered ballerina, and even an attempt on her own life. The Man in the Brown Suit also features the first appearance of Colonel Race, a friend of Agatha Christie's famous detective Hercule Poirot, and an excellent investigator in his own right. To save herself and solve this mystery, Anne must work with Colonel Race and journey all the way to Africa. Together, they are determined to crack the case and unmask the killer, an international criminal mastermind known only as "the Colonel," once and for all.