A Spot of Bother is the second adult novel by the author Mark Haddon, who is best known as the writer of his prize-winning first novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. This is Haddon's second novel to deal with mental health issues from the point-of-view of the patient, the first being The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.
An early excerpt of A Spot of Bother (at that point titled Blood and Scissors) was published in the book New Beginnings, the proceeds from which benefited the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.