

His late arrival, jarring, given the established atmosphere, led her to claim in her Autobiography that she ruined the novel by the introduction of Poirot. Agatha Christie, who often admitted that she did not like Poirot (a fact parodied by her recurring novelist character Ariadne Oliver), particularly disliked his appearance in this novel. The novel is an example of a "country house mystery" and was the first of her novels in four years to feature the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot-one of the longest gaps in the entire series. A paperback edition in the US by Dell Books in 1954 changed the title to Murder after Hours. The US edition retailed at $2.50 and the UK edition at eight shillings and sixpence (8/6). in 1946 and in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club in November of the same year.

The Hollow is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the United States by Dodd, Mead & Co.
