Agatha Christie's Opening Lines 2 Quiz

Answer: The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side

According to a number of websites, part of this novel's plot parallels an incident in the life of the actress, Gene Tierney, who contracted rubella (German measles) during her pregnancy in 1943 and as a result gave birth to a daughter who was intellectually and physically handicapped. Gene Tierney did not know how she contracted rubella until years later, when she met a female fan who told her that, during the World War II, she was a Marine. Even though she was under quarantine for rubella, she had sneaked out in order to meet the actress.

There is no firm evidence that Agatha Christie actually knew about this particular incident or that she based the novel on it.

Answer: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

"The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" was Agatha Christie's most controversial novel because her use of a device which had never before been employed in a "whodunit". In her autobiography, Christie credits her brother-in-law, James Watts, and Lord Louis Mountbatten for the idea.

This novel is now considered to be a landmark in mystery and detective fiction. If you have read it, you will know why. If not, I won't spoil it for you! This novel was the first of Agatha Christie's novels to be made into a play.

The play was renamed "Alibi".

Answer: The Mystery of the Blue Train

In her autobiography, Agatha Christie said "I have always hated "The Mystery of the Blue Train", but I got it written, and sent off to the publishers. It sold just as well as my last book had done. So I had to content myself with that - though I cannot say I have ever been proud of it ... Each time I read it again, I think it commonplace, full of clichés, with an uninteresting plot.

Many people, I am sorry to say, like it. Authors are always said to be no judge of their own books".

Answer: Murder at the Vicarage

In her autobiography, Agatha Christie said "'Murder at the Vicarage' was published in 1930, but I cannot remember where, when or how I wrote it, why I came to write it, or even what suggested to me that I should select a new character - Miss Marple - to act as the sleuth in the story. Certainly at the time I had no intention of continuing her for the rest of my life. I did not know that she was to become a rival to Hercule Poirot".

Answer: Sparkling Cyanide

The original novel, "Remembered Death", was published in 1945. Agatha Christie did not like the new title "Sparkling Cyanide". She felt it was "a flippant title for a really rather serious book". The novel was derived from a short story, "Yellow Iris", in the collection "The Regatta Mystery" (1939).

Hercule Poirot was the detective in "Yellow Iris" but Agatha Christie eventually tired of Poirot, so she made Colonel Race the investigator in the novel "Remembered Death".

Answer: Hallowe'en Party

When Joyce Reynolds met Ariadne Oliver while preparing for the Hallowe'en party, she boasted that she had been a witness to a murder. At first Mrs Oliver believed Joyce is merely seeking attention but later Joyce is found dead - drowned in the bucket used for the "bobbing for apples" game. This caused Ariadne to lose her legendary passion for apples.

Answer: All three titles are correct - they are the same story

In this story Simeon Lee found murdered on Christmas Eve, lying in a huge pool of blood with his throat cut. The original title was "Hercule Poirot's Christmas" but it is also known by the other given titles. This novel was written for Agatha Christie's brother-in-law, James Watts.

In the foreword, Agatha Christie wrote "My dear James ... You complained that my murders were getting too refined - anaemic in fact. You yearned for a "good violent murder with lots of blood". A murder where there was no doubt about its being murder!" She certainly obliged his wish with this story.

Answer: Nemesis

Nemesis was the Greek goddess of retribution and vengeance. In "A Caribbean Mystery", Miss Marple is likened to Nemesis. At the end of the book, Mr Rafiel says to Miss Marple: "If you knew what you looked like that night with that fluffy pink wool all around your head, standing there and saying you were Nemesis. I'll never forget it".

It appears that he did not forget it because in the follow-up novel, "Nemesis", Jason Rafiel has died but leaves Miss Marple a letter asking her to be Nemesis once more.

Answer: The Body in the Library

Dolly Bantry appears in all four books listed in the question. She is Mrs Marple's closest friend in St Mary Mead. Naturally when a body is found in her own library at Gossington Hall, she immediately calls Miss Marple.

Answer: Death on the Nile

Agatha Christie loved Egypt and travelled there many times. She used it as the background for a number of stories and novels, including "Death on the Nile", "Death Comes as the End" and her play "Akhnaton". She usually included some of her own personal experiences in the plots, particularly her archaeological experience.