The novelisation was first published in the United Kingdom by HarperCollins on 2 November 1998 and in the United States by St. Martin's Press on 31 December 1998. It features Christie's famous literary creation Hercule Poirot, a London-based Belgian private detective. Until the 1998 publication of the novel, the play on which it was based was one of the least known pieces in the Christie canon. The publication proved successful enough to warrant adaptations by Osborne of two other Agatha Christie plays, namely The Unexpected Guest in 1999 and Spider's Web in 2000.