In the short story The Four Suspects, Dobbs was a handyman gardener employed by Dr Rosen. Dobbs lived with Dr Rosen and the rest of his household in the the doctor's cottage at the quiet Somerset village of King's Gnatton. He was a local village man and had never left the village. Dobbs had no alibi for the the time of Dr Rosen's death. He claimed he was in the potting shed having his "elevenses".
Miss Marple considered it important to solve the case in order to clear the innocent from having to live under a cloud of suspicion. However, of all the suspects, she considered that Dobbs would suffer the least. Very little else mattered as long as he could have his "elevenses".