My Dear James, You have always been one of the most faithful and kindly of my readers, and I was therefore seriously perturbed when I received from you a word of criticism. You complained that my murders were getting too refined-anaemic, in fact. You yearned for a "good violent murder with lots of blood." A murder where there was no doubt it's being murder!

So this is your special story-written for you. I hope it my please. Your affectionate sister in law,Agatha 我親愛的詹姆斯： 你一直是我最忠實最寬容的讀者之一，正因為這樣，當我受到你一點兒批評，我就為此感到極大的不安。 你抱怨說我的謀殺事件變得太文雅了，事實上是太貧血了。稱渴望一件“血淋淋的暴力謀殺”，一件不容質疑的謀殺案： 這就是特別為你而作的故事。我希望它能讓你滿意。 你摯愛的嫂子阿加莎 （此處“嫂子”應為“小姨”，為翻譯的誤譯；詹姆斯是阿加莎·克里斯蒂的姐夫）