Mrs. Otterbourne was based on the real-life author Elinor Glyn. Given the fact that Agatha Christie makes Mrs. Otterbourne’s character an alcoholic with poor sales figures, it seems safe to assume that Christie wasn’t a fan of Glyn’s work. Just when it seems like the mystery of Rosalie has been cleared up, however, her pause before answering Poirot implies that she’s hiding something else—she likely saw something when she was throwing the alcohol overboard, but she won’t admit it to Poirot.