writing for "the times literary supplement" of 11 november 1939, maurice percy ashley stated, "if her latest story has scarcely any detection in it there is no scarcity of murders... there is a certain feeling of monotony inescapable in the regularity of the deaths which is better suited to a serialized newspaper story than a full-length novel. yet there is an ingenious problem to solve in naming the murderer", he continued. "it will be an extremely astute reader who guesses correctly."