There are some winks to Sherlock Holmes in this episode. The writer's home is called Abbey Grange, which is a reference to a Holmes story by that name. There is a reference to a clue found in a butter dish, which is a sort of reference to "The Adventure of the Six Napoleons," where it's mentioned that Holmes deduced a crime by the depth to which parsley had sunk in butter. Also Arthur Conan Doyle grew to hate Holmes though the detective stories made him rich and famous, which parallels the author and his creation in this story.
The character James Taylor and neighbor Jack White share their names with American musicians.
Atticus Pund's sidekick is named James Fraser. Hugh Fraser portrayed Hercule Poirot's sidekick Captain Hastings.