This novel is one of two to differ significantly in American editions (the other being "Three Act Tragedy"), both hardcover and paperback. Most American editions of "The Moving Finger" have been abridged by about 9000 words to remove sections of chapters, and strongly resemble the "Collier's" serialisation which, mindful of the need to bring the magazine reader into the story quickly, begins without the leisurely introduction to the narrator's back-story that is present in the British edition, and lacks much of the characterisation throughout.