Modern interest in this book stems at least partly from its role as a precursor of other books with a similar design, such that the underlying circumstances of a series of murders appear to be related to an external source, such as, in this instance, Mother Goose stories. Many other later Golden Age mystery novels are constructed around a formal scheme. Agatha Christie used this motif in "Ten Little Indians" and a number of other novels constructed around the basis of a nursery rhyme ("Hickory Dickory Dock", "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe", etc.), or another linking device like the alphabet ("The A.B.C. Murders").