The novel features the characters Hercule Poirot and Ariadne Oliver. The story is a “village mystery”, a subgenre of whodunit which Christie usually reserved for Miss Marple. The novel is notable for its wit and comic detail, something that had been little in evidence in the Poirot novels of the 1930s and 1940s. Poirot’s misery in the run-down guesthouse, and Mrs Oliver’s observations on the life of a detective novelist, provide considerable entertainment in the early part of the novel.