The Tuesday Club Murders (1933) Quiz

Answer: The Thirteen Problems

"The Thirteen Problems" was published in the U.K. in 1932 and in the U.S. the following year under the title "The Tuesday Club Murders". It was based on a number of short stories published in various magazines between December 1927 and November 1931. Miss Jane Marple actually debuted in print in the "Royal Magazine" in December 1927, not in the novel, "The Murder at the Vicarage" (1930), which is the first Miss Marple novel.

Answer: St Mary Mead

The Tuesday Night Club evolves from a gathering at Miss Marple's house in St Mary Mead. St Mary Mead is a fictional village, allegedly in the south-east of England, approximately 25 miles (40 kilometres) from London, and about 12 miles (19 kilometres) from the coast. This would most likely place it in the county of Hampshire, although Agatha Christie placed it in several fictional counties (including Downshire, Radfordshire, and Middleshire) throughout her books.

The members of the Tuesday Night Club are Raymond West, Joyce Lempriere, Sir Henry Clithering, Dr Pender, Mr Petherick and their hostess, Miss Jane Marple.

Answer: Sir Henry Clithering

Sir Henry tells the first story about three people - a married couple and the wife's companion - who fall ill with food poisoning after a dinner of tinned lobster. Only the wife dies and it is discovered that she died of arsenic poisoning, not botulism. There is plenty of gossip but no evidence as to who poisoned her. Various solutions to the crime are suggested and Sir Henry is able to confirm that Miss Marple's solution is the correct one, thanks to a recent deathbed confession.

The incorrect answer options are also Scotland Yard detectives but none are a former Commissioner.

Answer: Mesopotamian Queen of Heaven

Dr Pender, a clergyman, tells the Tuesday Night Club about the time he saw a man "stricken to death by apparently no mortal agency", a seemingly supernatural death where a man is stabbed at a pagan shrine, the Idol House of Astarte, and, while there were several witnesses, no-one was actually near the man when he was stricken down.

Miss Marple declares that the death was not a supernatural one, but an opportunistic murder and correctly deduces the who, the how and the why.

Astarte was a goddess who was worshipped by a number of cultures in the Middle East and Mediterranean regions, including Egypt. She was the Queen of Heaven to the Canaanites, Phoenicians and Hittites, as well as Goddess of war and protector of many of the port cities, such as Tyre and Sidon. Astarte was known by a variety of names, including Ishtar and Ashtoreth.

Answer: nephew

Raymond begins his story with the disclaimer that he does not know the solution to the mystery, which involved the disappearance of gold bullion from a ship, either before it set sail or after it was wrecked off the Cornish coast. As it happened, Sir Henry Clithering was familiar with the case and knew all the details, including the outcome.

He was able to verify that Miss Marple had correctly identified the thieves.

Answer: from a bathing suit hung out to dry

While on holiday in Cornwall, Joyce Lempriere, an artist, discovers that while painting a scene, she has painted blood stains on the pavement in front of an inn. When she checks, there are indeed blood stains on the pavement but when she checks again later on, they are gone. Joyce challenges the Tuesday Night Club to determine whether it was a tragic accident, a supernatural omen, or premeditated murder. Because of her vivid and accurate description of the surroundings, Miss Marple is able to work out where the blood stains came from.

It was indeed murder! Serial murders, in fact.

Answer: will tampering

Mr Petherick related a story about a will he composed for a client. When the client died a few weeks later, the will was found to be blank. The conundrum was concerning who had tampered with the will because those with motive had no opportunity, and those with opportunity had no motive. No prizes for guessing who solved the mystery! It was Miss Marple!

Answer: fish

Miss Marple's "light bulb moment" came when she saw a fresh haddock in the window of the fishmonger's shop. Miss Marple had gathered a number of pieces of information concerning the death of her niece Mabel's husband. It was the sight of the haddock which inspired her to put them all together to work out who really killed him.

The "thumb mark of St Peter" is a nickname given to the distinctive, dark oval spot found behind the gills of a haddock or John Dory. According to Christian folklore, this mark was left when, at Jesus' command, St Peter grabbed the fish to retrieve a coin in order to pay the temple tax.

Answer: geranium

In the year following the Tuesday Night Club meetings at Miss Marple's house, Sir Henry Clithering is staying with his friends, Colonel Arthur and Dolly Bantry. Dolly is organising a dinner party and Sir Henry suggests inviting Miss Marple, much to Dolly's surprise. The dinner party guests also include Jane Helier and Dr Lloyd.

At dinner, Dolly entreats Arthur to tell their guests his ghost story, "The Blue Geranium", about a superstitious woman who was told by a fortune-teller that, "The Blue Primrose means Warning; the Blue Hollyhock means Danger; the Blue Geranium means Death". She became more and more frightened as pink flowers on her wallpaper turned blue as predicted, until one morning she was found dead, apparently from shock. On the wall beside her, a pink geranium had turned blue.

As Sir Henry had predicted, Miss Marple went "straight to the truth like a homing pigeon".

Answer: village parallels

Dr Lloyd tells the story of two English tourists, a wealthy lady and her companion, who take a trip to the Canary Islands. The day after they arrive, one of the women drowns. Although he has no evidence, Dr Lloyd senses that there is more to this "accident" than meets the eye. The puzzle is solved by Miss Marple using her ability to make inferences from her knowledge of local village people and incidents which parallel the circumstances in the current case.

"The Companion" was first published in the U.K. under the title "The Resurrection of Amy Durrant" in "The Story-Teller magazine" (February 1930). The following month it was published in the U.S. in "Pictorial Review" (March 1930) under the title "Companions". Elements of the story were later used by Agatha Christie in her novel "A Murder is Announced" (1950). The mysteries in both "The Companion" and "A Murder is Announced" are solved by Miss Marple.

Answer: names of varieties of dahlias

Sir Henry Clithering's tale, "The Four Suspects", involves the murder of Dr Rosen, a former member of the German Secret Service, and four suspects, members of his own household. Sir Henry claims, "It isn't really guilt that is important - it's innocence". Until the truth is uncovered, three innocent people remain under a cloud.

Miss Marple gets to the bottom of things, modestly crediting her cleverness to the good education provided by her governess, as well as the "village parallel" involving Mrs Arthur, a daily woman, whose honesty was in doubt after a theft, despite being innocent.

Answer: Keston Hydro Spa near London

Miss Marple's story takes place at Christmas-time at the Keston Hydro Spa near London. Hydro spas were very popular in the early 19th century. As the name implies, they specialised in water-based therapies including drinking spring water. While at the Hydro, Miss Marple meets a woman, Mrs Sanders, and realises she is about to be murdered, which places her in a quandary.

She has no proof whatsover and is sure that Mrs Sanders would not heed any warning she might give her. While pondering what to do, the inevitable happens, sooner than expected.

Although Miss Marple is not able to prevent the murder, she is instrumental in bringing the killer to justice.

Answer: sage

At a cursory glance, sage and foxglove leaves are easily confused, however, if you know what to look for, it is not difficult to distinguish between the two. Arthur and Dolly Bantry were guests at a dinner party where foxglove leaves were picked along with sage and used to stuff some ducks. Everybody was very ill and one person died. Miss Marple discerned the motive and culprit because the situation reminded her of Mr Badger, the chemist.

Answer: burglary and jewellery theft

When Jane began her story, she claimed it involved "a friend". All the guests were quite convinced that Jane's "friend" was herself and they were correct. When Jane revealed that she did not know the solution to her mystery, she said, "I thought you were all so clever one of you would be able to tell me". Miss Marple did deduce Jane's motive for telling this story but did not reveal it to the others.

Instead, she had a discreet word with Jane as she was leaving the dinner party.

Answer: Sir Henry Clithering

In "Death by Drowning", the thirteenth and final problem, Miss Marple is convinced that Rose Emmott would never have drowned herself, despite being "in trouble". She had no proof, but her knowledge of human nature led her to believe that Rose was murdered and she was sure that she knew "whodunnit".

She wrote the name down on a piece of paper and gave it to Sir Henry Clithering, asking him to investigate and see if she was correct. Of course she was!