Murder by Poison 3 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Geoffrey Denman ("The Thumb Mark of St Peter")

"The Thumb Mark of St Peter" is a short story in the collection "The Thirteen Problems" (1932), published the following year as "The Tuesday Club Murders" in the USA. In this story, Miss Marple's niece Mabel was married to Geoffrey Denman. He was an abusive man who bullied his poor wife and father. Geoffrey was poisoned with atropine eyedrops in a glass of water and Miss Marple helped Mabel to prove her innocence when she was wrongly accused of the crime.

Answer: Molly Kendall ("A Caribbean Mystery")

Molly Kendall and her husband Tim own the Golden Palm Hotel in "A Caribbean Mystery" (1964). Molly suffered from hallucinations, nightmares and blackouts as a result of belladonna being placed in her cosmetics with the intention of upsetting her mental stability. Belladonna, also known as deadly nightshade, is one of the world's most toxic plants as every part of the plant is poisonous.

Answer: Mona Symmington ("The Moving Finger")

Mona Symmington was the wife of Lymstock's solicitor in "The Moving Finger" (1942). After receiving an anonymous letter declaring that her husband was not the father of their two sons, Mona was found dead. The inquest concluded her death was caused by ingestion of cyanide placed inside her prescription medicine cachet which she took each afternoon.

The verdict was "suicide while temporarily insane". Of course, Miss Marple proved it was murder, not suicide.

Answer: Lydia Horton ("Murder is Easy")

Lydia Horton was the first to be murdered in "Murder is Easy" (1939), published in the USA under the title "Easy to Kill". However, her death was not recognised as such at the time. The murderer had two reasons for killing Mrs Horton. One, to frame someone else as the killer out of spite, and two, as retaliation for a perceived insult by Mrs Horton.

The frame-up was a failure because Lydia's death was attributed to natural causes (gastritis) and the piece of gossip (which was meant to implicate someone else) was not repeated.

The killer later admitted that it was fun to slip arsenic into Lydia's tea.

Answer: Sylvia Keene ("The Herb of Death")

"The Herb of Death" is a short story in the collection "The Thirteen Problems" (1932), also known as "The Tuesday Club Murders". In this story, foxglove leaves were substituted for sage which was used to stuff the ducks for dinner. The leaves of the young plants can easily be confused. Everybody at the dinner party falls ill but only Sylvia dies because the murderer gave Sylvia an extra dose of digitalin, a drug derived from the foxglove plant and used to treat heart conditions. Digitalin can be beneficial if administered correctly but the difference between a beneficial dose and a toxic dose is marginal.

Answer: Mr Amberiotis ("One, Two, Buckle My Shoe")

Mr Amberiotis is described in "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe" (1940) as "a Greek gentleman of somewhat doubtful antecedents" who was a spy during the war (WW1) and a blackmailer afterwards. He and Hercule Poirot attended the same dentist, Mr Morley, and on the same day both the dentist and Mr Amberiotis died.

When Mr Amberiotis attended his appointment, the killer impersonated Mr Morley (whom the patient had never met) and administered a fatal dose of dental anaesthetic in the form of novocaine and adrenaline.

Answer: Madame Giselle ("Death in the Clouds")

In the novel "Death in the Clouds" (also published as "Death in the Air", 1935), Marie Angelique Morisot, more commonly known as Madame Giselle, was a French money-lender who was murdered during a flight somewhere between France and England. She was poisoned with a thorn dipped in the venom of the South African boomslang, or tree snake (scientific name Dispholidus typus). One of the problems that Poirot had to resolve was who among the suspects would have access to such a toxin, which was rare, strictly regulated and extremely difficult for a member of the general public to obtain.

Answer: Anne Johnson ("Murder in Mesopotamia")

Anne Johnson was a member of Dr Leidner's archaeological team in "Murder in Mesopotamia" (1936). It was Anne's custom to have a glass of water by her bedside that she could access during the night. Someone replaced the glass of water with a glass of hydrochloric acid. Poor Anne died an agonising death when she drank the acid while half-asleep, before realising it wasn't water.

Answer: The Crackenthorpe family ("4.50 from Paddington")

In "4.50 from Paddington" (also published as "What Mrs McGillicuddy Saw", 1957), members of the Crackenthorpe family were taken ill after dinner, which consisted of mushroom soup, curried chicken and rice, and fruit jelly, but Alfred was the only one to die. Testing revealed the cause was arsenic in the curry but Miss Marple maintained that the poison was actually in the cocktail jug and that arsenic was added to the curry before it was sent away for testing in order to mislead the investigation.

Answer: Carlotta Adams ("Lord Edgware Dies")

Carlotta Adams, an American impressionist, was found dead by her maid in "Lord Edgware Dies" (1933). At first it was believed that it was an accidental overdose of the drug Veronal, which was commonly prescribed to assist sleep and which Carlotta was known to take. However, Poirot believed that she was murdered and that the Veronal was administered to her in a celebratory drink.

Veronal is a barbiturate. It was first marketed in 1903 but was withdrawn from sale in the 1950s because of its unpredictability and potentially deadly side effects.