The title shows in the story figuratively and literally. The poem, in turn, refers to Belshazzar's feast as related in the Book of Daniel, where the expression the writing on the wall originated. The Moving Finger writes and, having writ, Moves on: not all thy Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it. The book takes its name from quatrain 51 of Edward FitzGerald's translation of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám:

The novel was well received when it was published: 'Agatha Christie is at it again, lifting the lid off delphiniums and weaving the scarlet warp all over the pastel pouffe.' One reviewer noted that Miss Marple 'sets the stage for the final exposure of the murderer.' Another said this was 'One of the few times Christie gives short measure, and none the worse for that.' The male narrator was both praised and panned. She enters the story in the final quarter of the book, in a handful of scenes, after the police have failed to solve the crime. This novel features the elderly detective Miss Marple in a relatively minor role, 'a little old lady sleuth who doesn't seem to do much'. A prominent resident is found dead with one such letter found next to her. They are not the only ones in the village to receive such letters. The Burtons, brother and sister, arrive in the village of Lymstock in Devon, and soon receive an anonymous letter accusing them of being lovers, not siblings. The US edition retailed at $2.00 and the UK edition at seven shillings and sixpence. The Moving Finger is a detective novel by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the USA by Dodd, Mead and Company in July 1942 and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in June 1943.

Agatha christie's the moving finger