Back-Translated Portuguese Christie Titles Quiz

Answer: "Sad Cypress"

Cleverly plotted and featuring a rather daring alibi (where Christie once again benefited from her comprehensive knowledge about drugs and poison), "Sad Cypress" tells the story of Eleanor Carlisle, who is accused of murdering Mary Gerrard, her wealthy aunt's protégée.
Agatha Christie later regretted that she used Poirot in this story. Thousands of fans beg to differ.

Answer: "After the Funeral" (a.k.a. "Funerals Are Fatal")

The first film version of "After the Funeral" starred Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple and was called "Murder at the Gallops". It took great liberties with the story and setting (such as replacing Poirot with Miss Marple in the first place) but uses the same basic plotline and clues.

Answer: "Peril At End House"

The reference to "diabolic" or "infernal" in the Portuguese title is actually rather fitting, considering that the young lady in question is commonly known as "Nick" (as in "Little Nick", the granddaughter of "Old Nick", the devil). Hastings also makes several comments about the strange atmosphere at End House.

Answer: "And Then There Were None" (a.k.a. "Ten Little Indians")

The title says it all. Ten people receive an invitation from an unknown host to spend the weekend on an island, only to find out that they are accused of several crimes. And then they start dying, one by one...

Variations of this theme have been incorporated into many other works over the years, one example being the TV series "Harper's Island".

Answer: "Mrs. McGinty's Dead" (a.k.a. "Blood Will Tell")

This case takes Poirot to the village of Broadhinny, where he is supported in his investigation by Ariadne Oliver. The book features one of my favorite Mrs. Oliver scenes, where she accidentally hits Poirot in the face with an apple core (carelessly flung from her car) and later refers to that incident as, "Like William Tell, but the other way round." (The actual wording in the book may be a bit different, as this is only a back-translation from the German version, which I read.)

Answer: "Cat Among the Pigeons"

"Cat Among the Pigeons" doesn't introduce Poirot until more than halfway through the novel. The initial sleuthing is done by Julia Upjohn, a bright and creative student at Meadowbanks who is later the one to involve Poirot, whom she heard of through Maureen Summerhayes, a character in "Mrs. McGinty's Dead".

Answer: "At Bertram's Hotel"

"At Bertram's Hotel" is probably the least-known Miss Marple book. Agatha Christie herself considered it one of her weaker novels.

Answer: "Ordeal By Innocence"

Along with "Crooked House", Christie considered this her best book. The final twist is somewhat similar to that in "Curtain", but I will not reveal any details here.

Answer: "N or M"

It is a real pity that Ms. Christie only wrote five Tommy and Tuppence books, as they are all very fast-paced adventures with a good deal of humor. But her trademark has always been the ingeniously clued detective novel, so "N or M" is a very entertaining exception to the rule.

Answer: "Five Little Pigs" (a.k.a. "Murder in Retrospect")

"Murder in Retrospect" was originally a title considered for the book that would eventually be published as "Sleeping Murder". But seeing as "Sleeping Murder" was kept under lock and key for years, the American publishers were faster when they decided to use that title for the US publication of "Five Little Pigs".

Answer: "Sparkling Cyanide" (a.k.a. "Remembered Death")

The woman who died one year previously is suitably called Rosemary (which stands for remembrance). "Sparkling Cyanide" is an expansion of the earlier Christie short story "Yellow Iris" and features Colonel Race, one of Christie's recurring characters.

Answer: "Evil Under the Sun"

"Evil Under the Sun" has everything a true Christie aficionado desires: an elegant setting, a cast of memorable characters, an intricate solution, and Poirot in fine form. The atmosphere of the novel was well-preserved in the 1982 film version starring Sir Peter Ustinov.

Answer: "Hickory Dickory Dock" (a.k.a. "Hickory Dickory Death")

Miss Lemon is hugely embarrassed and confesses to Poirot that she is worried about her sister and therefore her attention slipped. That is the second shock for Poirot: his perfect, almost superhuman secretary has something as ordinary as a sister...
The novel deals with strange thefts and subsequent murders at a students' home in London.

Answer: "4:50 From Paddington" (a.k.a. "What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw!")

This book was first filmed as "Murder, She Said" starring Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple. Since then, it has been filmed two more times: as part of the BBC series starring Joan Hickson, and the ITV series "Agatha Christie's Marple" starring Geraldine McEwan.

Brazilian Christie readers know this book as "A Testemunha Ocular do Crime" ("Eyewitness of the Crime").

Answer: "By the Pricking of My Thumbs"

Like some other Christie books, this one takes its title from Shakespeare; more precisely, "Macbeth".
Personally, I think the title would have been more fitting for a different novel, perhaps "Destination Unknown" or "And Then There Were None", or even "The Clocks", where a character remarks that the victim came to a house to be killed. But the Portuguese publishers seem to disagree.

Answer: "Hallowe'en Party"

Attending a party where a child gets drowned in an apple-bobbing tub can indeed spoil your taste for apples, I imagine.

This novel was filmed for the first time in 2010 for the 12th season of "Agatha Christie's Poirot". It is unusually dark and tragic, dealing with the death of children and featuring an exceptionally cold killer.

Answer: Death on the Nile

By the time the novel ends, there are five people dead, even though two of those deaths technically do not occur on the ship itself but during disembarkation.
Agatha Christie's notebooks contain a note about the initial alibi idea:

(SPOILER:)

"Double Alibi e.g. A and B murder C but - A is accused of trying to murder B at the same time"
(Quote from "Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks" by John Curran).

Answer: "They Do It With Mirrors" (a.k.a. "Murder With Mirrors")

Together with "At Bertram's Hotel", this novel gives readers a glimpse of Miss Marple's youth, as she is meeting with two friends from school.
The novel was published in Brazilian Portuguese as "Jogo de Espelhos" ("Game of Mirrors").

Answer: "Dead Man's Folly"

"Dead Man's Folly" is yet another novel where poor Mrs. Oliver suffers a trauma: the murder hunt she has devised for a fundraiser at a stately manor culminates in a real dead body and the disappearance of the mistress of the house. In contrast to "Hallowe'en Party", though, where Mrs. Oliver declares she will never eat an apple again, this does not seem to make her want to give up writing.

Answer: "Appointment With Death"

"Appointment With Death" deals with the death of family tyrant Mrs. Boynton and the shadow of suspicion that falls on her obedient children. The first part of the novel reads like a psychological thriller, the second part deals with the investigation of the crime.

An interesting side note: One of the characters, Nadine Boynton, tells Poirot that she heard he accepted the official version of what happened on the Orient Express (see "Murder on the Orient Express") - which can only mean that she is acquainted well enough with one of the passengers from that case to have been told the truth by them.