An Afternoon to Kill

Lancelot Jones is a young Englishman on his way to a small town in India where he will take up a teaching post when his plane is inconveniently grounded miles from his destination. The pilot tells him that it is a minor mechanical problem and repairs should take only a few hours, perhaps the entire afternoon. Upon hearing the news, Lance decides to explore and heads for the first building that he can see which leads him to find Alva Hines, an old woman living in a large house in the desert. He is welcomed in by her servant, and spends the afternoon with her, and learns about her and her love of stories --- one which is a tale of adultery and murder. The afternoon passes easily enough between them, but things are rarely what they seem.