Death in the Clouds (1935) Trivia Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. French moneylender who goes by an alias; she is murdered on the voyage from France to England and nobody noticed

Answer: Madame Giselle

Madame Giselle's real name was Marie Angelique Morisot. Her clientele were mostly upper-class English people who required discretion in their dealings. She had been poisoned with a dart dipped in the venom of the South African boomslang (tree snake). Now who among the suspects would have access to such a rare poison?

2. Scotland Yard detective who meets the plane when it lands at Croydon and collaborates with the French police to work on solving the murder

Answer: Inspector James Japp

Japp met the plane and passengers at the Croydon Airport. At first he did not recognise Poirot because he was "all muffled up". Japp's attitude made it clear that he did not consider Poirot a suspect. At the inquest, he teased Poirot with a grin saying, "That jury certainly didn't like the look of you...Best joke I've heard for a long time".

3. Elderly foreign gentleman with patent leather shoes, large mustaches and an egg-shaped head

Answer: Hercule Poirot

In most English inquests, there is no jury and the coroner determines the outcome. However, a jury may be required in some circumstances. In this story, there was a jury and they thought Hercule Poirot was the guilty party. The evidence against him was that Poirot had picked up the poisoned dart from the floor, a blowpipe was found pushed down behind the cushion of his seat, AND he was foreign! The coroner rejected their first verdict implicating Poirot and an amended verdict was returned a few minutes later with the finding that "the deceased came to her death by poison, there being insufficient evidence to show by whom the poison was administered." It is now up to Hercule Poirot to clear his name.

4. A pretty, young hairdresser's assistant; her name "sounds like a history book"

Answer: Jane Grey

Jane Grey won 100 pounds in the Irish sweepstakes and used the money to finance a trip to Le Pinet in France - something she would not ordinarily have been able to afford. While there, she met Norman Gale at the baccarat table and then again on the flight home to England. She fell in love with him without realising he was a man with some big secrets.

During the investigation, Japp commented to Poirot that her name "sounds like a history book". This is an allusion to Lady Jane Grey, who ruled England and Ireland for just nine days in 1553.

5. A handsome dentist with an attractive smile; he is infatuated with a fellow passenger

Answer: Norman Gale

Norman Gale was already married but when he fell in love with Jane Grey, he started thinking about ridding himself of his wife so he can marry Jane. When word spreads that he was a passenger on the fatal voyage, many of his patients cancelled their appointments. At Poirot's instigation, Gale pretends to blackmail Lady Horbury, who was in debt to Madam Giselle.

6. A writer of detective stories; the police are suspicious when he tells them he owns a blowpipe

Answer: Daniel Clancy

Daniel Michael Clancy was Japp's favourite suspect simply because he was a crime and mystery author, declaring that "...these detective story writers, always making the police out to be fools, and getting their procedure all wrong...set of ignorant scribblers! This is just the sort of fool murder that a scribbler of rubbish would think he could get away with".

7. A tall grey-haired doctor, a Harley Street ear and throat specialist, who plays the flute

Answer: Roger Bryant

Roger James Bryant was briefly suspected as being the murderer because he brought his flute on board and was seen to raise it to his lips, the implication being that a flute could be used as a blowpipe. Dr Bryant told Poirot, "My flute, M. Poirot, is my oldest companion. When everything else fails, music remains."

8. A "horsey, country type" who is in love with another woman's husband; she thinks the wife is a "bloody little tart"

Answer: Hon. Venetia Kerr

The Honorable Venetia Anne Kerr is a childhood friend of Stephen, Lord Horbury. She is in love with him and the feeling is mutual, but unfortunately he is not available. Behind the scenes, Poirot encourages Lady Horbury to divorce her husband. At the end of the novel Poirot predicts that Venetia and Stephen will eventually marry.

9. A peeress by marriage not birth, with a "delicately made-up Dresden china face", who lied when she claimed she did not know the deceased woman

Answer: Cicely, Countess of Horbury

Cicely Horbury (nee Bland) was the wife of Lord Stephen, Earl of Horbury. She lost a lot of money on the baccarat table at Le Pinet. Although Cicely denied knowing Madame Giselle, she later became a prime suspect when it was proved that she had borrowed a considerable amount of money from M. Giselle and had no way to repay it.

10. A brusque businessman who sells his eyewitness account of the murder to reporters and makes enough money to bail himself out of trouble

Answer: James Bell Ryder

James Bell Ryder was the Managing Director of a cement company and was having financial difficulties. Poirot and the police wondered whether he was a client of Madame Giselle but Ryder denied it. At the inquest, he was somewhat hostile and was reprimanded twice by the coroner for "adopting a highly improper tone".

Source: Author MotherGoose

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Questions		Choices
1. French moneylender who goes by an alias; she is murdered on the voyage from France to England and nobody noticed		Cicely, Countess of Horbury
2. Scotland Yard detective who meets the plane when it lands at Croydon and collaborates with the French police to work on solving the murder		Hercule Poirot
3. Elderly foreign gentleman with patent leather shoes, large mustaches and an egg-shaped head		Inspector James Japp
4. A pretty, young hairdresser's assistant; her name "sounds like a history book"		Roger Bryant
5. A handsome dentist with an attractive smile; he is infatuated with a fellow passenger		Norman Gale
6. A writer of detective stories; the police are suspicious when he tells them he owns a blowpipe		Hon. Venetia Kerr
7. A tall grey-haired doctor, a Harley Street ear and throat specialist, who plays the flute		Daniel Clancy
8. A "horsey, country type" who is in love with another woman's husband; she thinks the wife is a "bloody little tart"		Jane Grey
9. A peeress by marriage not birth, with a "delicately made-up Dresden china face", who lied when she claimed she did not know the deceased woman		Madame Giselle
10. A brusque businessman who sells his eyewitness account of the murder to reporters and makes enough money to bail himself out of trouble		James Bell Ryder

Also published under the title "Death in the Air". Match the major characters in this Agatha Christie novel with their descriptions. (NO SPOILERS)