[1] Set in the 1930s and written in the vein of an Agatha Christie novel, it has all the classic ingredients of a 1930s mystery[2] and is, according to the author, "at one and the same time, a celebration, a parody and a critique not only of Agatha Christie but of the whole Golden Age of English whodunits",[2] but also "a whodunit in its own right, so that those readers who were completely uninterested in literary games of the so-called postmodern type could nevertheless settle down comfortably with a good, gripping and intentionally old-fashioned thriller.

[5] There are many more references to prominent crime writers and their works,[7] including, tongue-in-cheek, an anachronistic allusion to critic Edmund Wilson's 1945 essay, "Who Cares Who Killed Roger Ackroyd?".

[8] Colonel ffolkes and his wife Mary have invited a few house guests to spend the Christmas holidays[5] at their remote country seat on Dartmoor.

[9] Selina ffolkes, the Colonel's 21-year-old daughter, arrives on Christmas Eve with two others: Donald Duckworth, a young American art student; and Raymond Gentry, an ill-mannered gossip columnist[5] who, uninvited and slightly drunk, soon gets on everyone's nerves.

[5] Snowed in[9] and unable to call the police, the party decide to ask their neighbour, a retired Chief Inspector with Scotland Yard, for help.