Unlike the original, almost all the action takes place at Chimneys, the episode becoming a "country house" mystery where all the residents might possibly have a motive for killing the Austrian count. Many of the main characters from the original are carried over but have different backstories.
This parallels the Koh-i-noor in the original. Part of the mystery also involves a gemstone, the Mysore diamont believed to have been stolen during a party at Chimneys some 23 years ago.
The common thread with the original is the arrival of a foreign dignitary (in this case from Austria) at Chimneys to negotiate a trade deal with Britain and his subsequent murder. The entire Herzoslovakian political angle is done away with completely as is the plot element of delivering a set of memoirs to a London publisher. Besides the insertion of Miss Marple, the adaptation diverges from the original in many ways. The Secret of Chimneys was not originally a Miss Marple book. (may contain spoilers - click on expand to read) There are several suspects and another member of the household will die before Miss Marple solves the crime. Lord Caterham's eldest daughter Bundle is dead set set against the idea but it all takes a very serious turn when the Count is found murdered.
Everyone is surprised when Count von Stainach says that in addition to signing the trade agreement, he also wants to purchase Chimneys. Except for a maid who disappeared with a valuable diamond in the 1920s, not much of note has happened there for a long time. Chimneys was once the 'in' place to be for a fancy weekend but over many years, it has become somewhat run-down. The weekend has something of a diplomatic air to it as the Austrian Count Ludwig von Stainach is also there to negotiate a trade agreement with the British that will give it access to iron ore. Miss Marple finds herself spending the weekend at Chimneys, the stately home of Lord Caterham whose late wife was her cousin.
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