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Evil Under the Sun Quizzes, Trivia and Puzzles
Evil Under the Sun Quizzes, Trivia

Evil Under the Sun Trivia

Evil Under the Sun Trivia Quizzes

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Poirot's holiday in Devon is interrupted by the murder of Arlena Marshall, whose body is discovered on the beach of Pixy Cove.
5 quizzes and 50 trivia questions.
1.
  Evil Under the Sun (1941)   great trivia quiz  
Match Quiz
 10 Qns
Match the major characters in this novel with their description. (NO SPOILERS)
Easier, 10 Qns, MotherGoose, Nov 04 21
Easier
MotherGoose editor
Nov 04 21
248 plays
2.
  Average Evil Under the Sun Trivia   great trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
While Hercule Poirot enjoys a summer holiday by the sea, he realizes that a murder is being planned which he can do nothing to prevent. CAUTION- Contains spoilers!
Average, 10 Qns, jouen58, Oct 06 05
Average
jouen58
870 plays
3.
  "Evil Under the Sun": Book vs. Movie   popular trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Have you read the book by Agatha Christie as well as seen the 1982 movie starring Sir Peter Ustinov? If you have, exploring the differences between the two in this quiz should be a piece of cake for you.
Average, 10 Qns, PearlQ19, Apr 30 12
Average
PearlQ19 gold member
363 plays
4.
  Agatha Christie's "Evil Under the Sun"   popular trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
This is the best Christie novel to read on the beach. CAUTION:SPOILERS AHEAD
Average, 10 Qns, Joepetz, May 31 09
Average
Joepetz gold member
695 plays
5.
  Average Evil Under The Sun Quiz - 10 Questions    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
No one was surprised when Arlena Marshall was found strangled at the Hotel. Unfortunately for her killer, Hercule Poirot was also staying there and it wasn't long before he solved the mystery of her death. Caution: spoilers.
Average, 10 Qns, zorba_scank, Mar 14 22
Average
zorba_scank gold member
Mar 14 22
555 plays

Evil Under the Sun Trivia Questions

1. To get you started: The novel is set in Devon, England, at the Jolly Roger Hotel. What is the name and location of the hotel in the movie?

From Quiz
"Evil Under the Sun": Book vs. Movie

Answer: "Chez Daphne", the Mediterranean

The novel opens with a short history of the house on Smugglers Island. It was built by Captain Roger Angmering and later converted into a hotel. The movie is set in the fictional kingdom of Tyrania on the Mediterranean, and Daphne Castle received the hotel, the king's former summer palace, from the king "for services rendered". QUIZMAKER'S NOTE: I'm not going to rehash the entire plot here or explain any characters beyond the requirements of the respective questions, as I'm assuming that you are familiar with either book or movie, or both. If you don't know anything about either, I suggest you stop reading the answer screen right now to avoid major spoilers. This crime story works best if you have no initial clue of who did what, and why :)

2. What was the name of the hotel where the story was set?

From Quiz Evil Under The Sun

Answer: Jolly Roger Hotel

Hercule Poirot was there on holiday but as soon as he saw Arlena Stuart on the beach, he sensed evil around her. Soon after, she was murdered and Poirot set about trying to unmask her killer.

3. The movie includes a scene where Poirot is sent to the hotel by an insurance company to investigate the story behind a fake diamond. Why is Poirot at the "Jolly Roger" in the book?

From Quiz "Evil Under the Sun": Book vs. Movie

Answer: he really is on a vacation

Poirot is really only enjoying a vacation in the book. In the movie, he is sent to Daphne's hotel on purpose to investigate the story behind a fake diamond. That diamond was given to Broadway star Arlena Stuart by Horace Blatt and returned to him upon her marriage. When Mr. Blatt wanted to have the diamond insured, it was found to be a fake. In contrast to the movie, the Horace Blatt in the book does not have any diamonds - fake or not - and is not a friend of Poirot's.

4. Which character created a voodoo doll of Arlena?

From Quiz Agatha Christie's "Evil Under the Sun"

Answer: Linda

Linda felt responsible for Arlena's death.

5. What had Linda purchased from the mainland the morning the murder took place?

From Quiz Evil Under The Sun

Answer: Candles

She wanted to experiment with witchcraft and was going to perform a spell from a book she had bought a few days ago.

6. To what does Poirot compare the rows of bodies lying in the sun?

From Quiz Evil Under the Sun

Answer: To bodies at the morgue.

Poirot holds a low opinion of the habit of sunbathing; to him, the rows of bronzed torsos basking in the sun resemble bodies on a slab at the Paris Morgue, or to slabs of meat at the butchers (recent medical research concerning skin cancer proves that he had a point!). This observation has particular resonance later in the novel, when Emily Brewster is tricked into believing that she had seen the dead body of Arlena Marshall, when in fact it was the live body of Christine Redfern. When sunbathing, as Poirot points out, one moderately well-made woman is very like another.

7. The hotel owner, Mrs. Castle, is barely mentioned in the book. In the movie, however, Daphne Castle plays a major role. When you think about it, which other character from the book has been incorporated in the character of Daphne Castle?

From Quiz "Evil Under the Sun": Book vs. Movie

Answer: Rosamund Darnley

Daphne Castle was played by an exceptionally charming, and very red-haired, Maggie Smith. Her function in the plot is similar to that of Rosamund Darnley in the book: she is an old friend of Kenneth Marshall and tries to support his alibi.

8. Which character's lines mostly consist of the phrase "Yes, darling"?

From Quiz Agatha Christie's "Evil Under the Sun"

Answer: Mr Gardener

Mrs Gardener tends to ramble on and on, so Mr Gardener pays little attention to her and replies with "Yes, darling."

9. Poirot realizes that a murder is being planned after hearing a conversation between which two people?

From Quiz Evil Under the Sun

Answer: Patrick and Christine Redfern

Poirot overhears (not entirely by accident) an argument between an angry, jealous Christine Redfern and her indignant, defensive husband regarding Patrick's excessive attentions to Arlena Marshall. Here, the author flashes forward to a later conversation between Poirot and Hastings, in which Poirot admits that he deliberately listened in on the argument, and knew at that point that a murder had been planned. The argument was, in fact, staged for Poirot's benefit by the Redferns with the intention that he should overhear. The Redferns were deliberately playing the parts of jealous wife and philandering husband to avert any suspicion that they might be collaborating on the murder of Arlena Marshall. Poirot is not fooled; the argument (as well as Christine's subsequent lamentations about her husband's philandering) is so conventional that it might have come from a book. Poirot realizes that they are planning something but, as he points out to Hastings, if someone is determined to commit a murder, it is not easy to prevent them.

10. What is the name of the island the guests are staying on?

From Quiz Agatha Christie's "Evil Under the Sun"

Answer: Smuggler's Island

Pixy Cove is an attraction on Smuggler's Island.

11. Who was Patrick Redfern with when he discovered Arlena's body?

From Quiz Evil Under The Sun

Answer: Emily Brewster

When Emily Brewster set out for her morning row, Patrick offered to accompany her. They happened to see Arlena lying on the beach at Pixy Cove. When they realized that she was dead, Patrick stayed with the body while Emily went off to fetch the police.

12. Who knew that Linda bought candles and was into witchcraft?

From Quiz Agatha Christie's "Evil Under the Sun"

Answer: Mrs Redfern

This is why the Redferns decided to frame Linda for the murder.

13. What did Christine say she had worked as, before her marriage to Patrick?

From Quiz Evil Under The Sun

Answer: School teacher

Christine always tried to project herself to be more intellectual than athletic. She even professed to have a fear of heights. In reality, she had been a games mistress and was far from the delicate woman she pretended to be.

14. The novel has a number of characters that did not appear in the movie. But look at it the other way round: Which character from the movie did not appear in the book?

From Quiz "Evil Under the Sun": Book vs. Movie

Answer: Rex Brewster

Rex Brewster, deeply despised by Linda, is a rather pompous writer who wants Arlena's permission to publish her biography, which she flatly refuses. His name, "Brewster", is the only thing he has in common with the book, where there is a character called Emily Brewster (whose main function was to discover Arlena's "dead body" together with Patrick, a role taken over by Mrs. Gardener in the movie). The other options are all characters from the book that were omitted from the movie or incorporated into other characters.

15. Which character almost got conked on the head with a suntan bottle?

From Quiz Agatha Christie's "Evil Under the Sun"

Answer: Miss Brewster

Mrs Redfern threw the bottle out the window after she applied its contents to appear as Mrs Marshall. This seemed unimportant, but it was odd that no one admitted to what appeared to be an innocent act.

16. Who attempted suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping pills?

From Quiz Evil Under The Sun

Answer: Linda Marshall

Linda had performed witchcraft in a childish attempt to get rid of Arlena, the same morning that Arlena was murdered. When she realized that the police suspected her father to be involved in the murder, she tried to commit suicide and left a note claiming that she had killed Arlena.

17. The novel features a subplot about a different crime which serves as a red herring for a while but turns out to have nothing to do with the murder. It was omitted from the movie. Which subplot am I talking about?

From Quiz "Evil Under the Sun": Book vs. Movie

Answer: drug smuggling

During the investigation of the murder of Arlena Marshall, the police discovers heroin on the beach where she was killed. While at first they assume that Arlena might have inadvertently come upon the smugglers, it turns out that this plot point is entirely unrelated to the murder.

18. Which character did Poirot suspect had to have been involved from the beginning?

From Quiz Agatha Christie's "Evil Under the Sun"

Answer: Mr Redfern

Poirot knew that Mr. Redfern was involved because Arlena Marshall was meeting someone in secret. The only people she would have met with in secret would have been a blackmailer or Mr.Redfern. Since she wasn't being blackmailed, it had to be him.

19. While Poirot was going through the list of women victims of strangulation given by Inspector Colgate, he found another murder similar to that of Arlena. What was the name of that murder victim?

From Quiz Evil Under The Sun

Answer: Alice Corrigan

Poirot noticed that the cases had a striking similarity - the husband had a water-tight alibi in each case.

20. Which vital clue to the solution of the case exists only in the movie?

From Quiz "Evil Under the Sun": Book vs. Movie

Answer: the cannon at noon

It is a rather major plot point in the movie that a cannon is fired every day at noon. That cannon helps Poirot determine the chronology of that morning and to establish who was where when it went off. He manages to do that without any acoustic help in the book. The bottle and the bath feature in both, book and movie, while the pair of scissors found on the beach where Arlena was killed was omitted from the movie. In the book, Poirot remarks that this pair of scissors was the only thing that the murdering duo forgot.

21. What was Mr Marshall's alibi?

From Quiz Agatha Christie's "Evil Under the Sun"

Answer: He was writing letters

The letters took over an hour to type and he was seen typing by Miss Darnley and the maid.

22. Why did Linda try to commit suicide?

From Quiz Agatha Christie's "Evil Under the Sun"

Answer: She felt responsible for Arlena's death

She made the voodoo doll and stabbed it through the heart. According to legend, the victim would soon die afterwards.

23. Who killed Arlena Marshall?

From Quiz Evil Under The Sun

Answer: Patrick Redfern

Patrick had pretended to be in love with her and swindled a large sum of money. He had planned to kill her before her husband came to know about it and had called her to Leathercombe Bay with this in mind. Christine was his partner in crime.

24. What was the motive for the crime?

From Quiz Evil Under the Sun

Answer: Money

Although Arlena Marshall had certainly inspired a great deal of jealousy, resentment, and passion, in the end she was murdered simply (and quite cold-bloodedly) for monetary gain. Patrick, a ruthless fortune hunter, had bilked her out of nearly all of the money she had inherited from a wealthy, elderly admirer by persuading her to hand him over large sums for "investment". Realizing that there would be hell to pay when Arlena's husband discovered the swindle, he coldly planned to murder her before she would have a chance to tell Kenneth where the money had gone. To explain the disappearance of the money, Christine fabricated a story about having overheard someone blackmailing Arlena. Poirot found this story hard to swallow (Rosamund Darnley also found it "incongruous"); Arlena simply wasn't the type to be successfully blackmailed. Moreover, it was she who had been murdered; why would the blackmailer kill the source of his money? The murder of Arlena Marshall was the second (possibly the third) murder which Patrick had committed for financial gain. Previously, under the name Edward Corrigan, he had murdered his wife Alice Corrigan in order to collect on her insurance policy. In this crime, he had been provided with an alibi by a woman named Christine Deverill (Christine Redfern), who claimed to have "found" the body before the murder had actually been committed. Strangulation was the modus operandi in both cases; Poirot believed that Patrick employed this method because he enjoyed the act of killing; it was he, not Arlena Marshall, in whom Poirot instinctively (and correctly) sensed the presence of evil at the beginning of the novel.

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Last Updated Mar 23 2024 5:50 AM
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