The book was written following the successful publication of the novelisation of the 1930 play Black Coffee in the previous year. Like that book, the novelisation is a straightforward transfer of the stage lines and directions of Christie's script into a written narrative. Osborne chose not to add characters, lines or scenes which would alter in any substantial way what had been presented on the stage forty-one years earlier although minor amendments were made to produce suitable chapter endings. The following year, Spider's Web underwent a similar novelization process, again by Osborne.