The Times reviewed the play twice, firstly in its edition of 3 April 1940 when they commented on Sullivan's portrayal of Poirot stating that he "preserves the essentials of the man, and there is never any doubt that he is indeed the greatest detective in the world".
They further commented that the nature of Christie's books meant that they "do not struggle and protest against the limitations of the stage as so many detective stories seem to do when they are adapted".
The second reviewer, in the edition of 2 May 1940, felt that Poirot was too talkative and that "there are times when we should prefer that the syllogisms were acted rather than spoken, but talk is on the whole agreeably lucid and vivid, and though the solution, when it comes with a sudden rush of action, seems larger and more complicated than the mystery, it cannot be said that the tale anywhere conspicuously hangs fire".
Ivor Brown reviewed the play in The Observer's issue of 5 May 1940 when he said, "Miss Christie knows how to complicate a crime.
The reviewer then committed the cardinal sin of identifying the murderer in his somewhat ironically-written final paragraph when he said, "There can be no harm in divulging that this play's apparent heroine is really its villainess.
"[3] Bernard Buckham in the Daily Mirror of 3 May 1940 said the production, "has its exciting moments , but more action and less talk would have made it a better play.
The play was adapted by Mollie Greenhalgh, produced by William Hughes and starred Austin Trevor who had appeared in three films in the 1930s as Poirot: Alibi (1931), Black Coffee (1931) and Lord Edgware Dies (1934).