The late 1960s quest of Countess Renata and Nye to stop the "fascist crusade", causes them to travel from the United Kingdom to an 18th-century Schloss, which the text places in proximity to Berchtesgaden. Berchtesgaden is described as "Hitler's mountain lair". The Schloss of the novel serves as the headquarters of Gräfin Charlotte von Waldsausen, the place from where she devises strategies for world domination and trying to convert individuals into an obedient mass. The novel notes that Charlotte's original family name was "Krapp". Christie intended the name as a pun, connecting the villain of the novel with the Krupp family of industrialists, which was essential for Hitler's war machine. The Gräfin is depicted as explicitly supporting the Holocaust, when she fondly recalls deaths in gas chambers and torture cells. Her personal wealth, essential for financing her schemes, is described in the novel as deriving from the exploitation of the world's natural resources. She reportedly earned this wealth through exploitation and control over oil, copper, goldmines in South Africa, armaments in Sweden, uranium deposits, nuclear developments, and "vast stretches" of cobalt.