It is 1947. Our dear friend, Detective Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh), would rather live a quiet life in Venice, tending to his garden and only allowing access to the pastry delivery gondolier. A bodyguard named Vitale ( John Wick 2 s Riccardo Scarmarcio) imposes the cordon sanitaire. Yet mystery author Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey) slips through and eventually makes that offer Hercule can t resist.