Hardest Agatha's Arsenal Trivia Quiz | Christie, Agatha

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. "Good old-fashioned rat poison is good enough for me. Or the reliable blunt instrument. NOT firearms if possible. Firearms are so tricky". Which of Agatha Christie's regular characters expressed Christie's own feelings about murder weapons with this quote?

Answer: Ariadne Oliver

Ariadne Oliver was a character that Agatha Christie modelled on herself and she often allowed Ariadne to express her own feelings and opinions. This quote is taken from the first chapter of "The Pale Horse".

2. Despite her reluctance to use firearms as a murder weapon, Christie used this method of disposal in which of the following novels?

Answer: All of the choices are correct

Salome Otterbourne was shot moments before she could reveal the murderer of Louise Bourget in "Death on the Nile". Michael (Mickey) Gorman, the commissionaire doorman at Bertram's Hotel, was shot to death and Colonel Lucius Protheroe was found dead at the St Mary Mead vicarage. According to the website, www.agathachristie.com, Christie employed guns as murder weapons in 19 of her novels.

3. In the novel "And Then There Were None", ten people are lured to an island, left stranded and then murdered one by one. The murder methods corresponded to an old English rhyme. Which character's skull was crushed by a heavy white marble clock?

Answer: William Henry Blore

William Henry Blore was the eighth victim. In her autobiography, Agatha Christie said "I had written the book "Ten Little Niggers" because it was so difficult to do that the idea had fascinated me. Ten people had to die without it becoming ridiculous or the murderer being obvious. ... I do think in some ways that it is a better piece of craftsmanship than anything else I have written". "Ten Little Niggers" has been republished as "And Then There Were None" and "Ten Little Indians" because the original title was considered offensive.

4. No weapon was necessary in "4.50 From Paddington". The murderer used his bare hands to strangle his victim. Who witnessed the tall dark man strangling a woman on the train?

Answer: Elspeth McGillicuddy

"Murder She Said" and "What Mrs McGillicuddy Saw" are alternative titles for this novel. Elspeth McGillicuddy witnessed this murder when she took the train home after Christmas shopping. Mrs McGillicuddy relates her experience to Jane Marple who in turn asks Lucy Eylesbarrow to investigate on her behalf. Lucy discovers the body in a sarcophagus on the grounds of Rutherford Hall, home of the Crackenthorpe family.

5. In "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd", with which weapon was Roger Ackroyd stabbed to death?

Answer: a Tunisian dagger

Roger Ackroyd was murdered with his own ornamental Tunisian dagger, a gift from his friend Hector Blunt. "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" was one of Agatha Christie's most controversial novels because her use of a device which had never before been employed in a "whodunit".

In her autobiography, Christie credits her brother-in-law, James Watts, and Lord Louis Mountbatten for the idea. This novel is now considered to be a landmark in mystery and detective fiction. If you have read it, you will know why. If not, I won't spoil it for you!

6. In "Hallowe'en Party", who was found drowned in a bucket of water?

Answer: Joyce Reynolds

When Joyce Reynolds met Ariadne Oliver while preparing for the Hallowe'en party, she boasted that she had been a witness to a murder. She was later found dead in the bucket used for the "bobbing for apples" game. Her brother, Leopold, tried to blackmail his sister's murderer and was found drowned in the village stream.

7. In which novel was Simeon Lee found murdered on Christmas Eve, lying in a huge pool of blood with his throat cut?

Answer: All three titles are the same story

The original title was "Hercule Poirot's Christmas". This novel was written for Agatha Christie's brother-in-law, James Watts. In the foreword, Agatha Christie wrote "My dear James ... You complained that my murders were getting too refined - anaemic in fact. You yearned for a "good violent murder with lots of blood".

A murder where there was no doubt about its being murder!" She certainly obliged him with this story.

8. In "The ABC Murders", a series of "alliterative" murders occurs. Which victim was strangled with his or her own belt?

Answer: Betty Barnard of Bexhill-on-Sea

Both Alice Ascher and Sir Carmichael Clarke were killed by a blow to the back of the head. George Earlsfield was stabbed with a knife while sitting in a movie theatre. According to Janet Morgan in her biography of Agatha Christie, when "The ABC Murders" was made into a film, it was renamed "The Alphabet Murders" so that "the public would not shun the chain of ABC cinemas that showed it".

9. In "Witness for the Prosecution", Leonard Vole is accused of murdering Miss Emily French. By what method did he allegedly murder her?

Answer: Bludgeoned with a crowbar

Miss Emily French was "killed with a heavy blow from a crowbar, and the crowbar was found lying on the floor beside the body". "Witness for the Prosecution" was originally published as a short story in 1933 and adapted as a play in 1953. It was one of Agatha Christie's personal favourites.

10. In the course of the novel "Easy to Kill" (also known as "Murder is Easy"), there are at least seven suspicious deaths - one death by gastroenteritis (actually poisoning), a drowning, a fatal fall, an "accidental" poisoning, one death by septicaemia (deliberate infection), a hit-and-run "accident" and one fatal blow to the head. Who eventually solves these murders?

Answer: Bridget Conway

Although Luke Fitzwilliam is a retired policeman actively investigating these cases, it is his "sort of cousin of a cousin", Bridget Conway, who first realised who the murderer was. And as Miss Pinkerton suggested, "the person in question is just the last person any one would suspect".

Source: Author MotherGoose

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor agony before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Agatha's Arsenal Trivia Quiz

This is a companion quiz to "Murder by Poison". Although poison was her favourite method, Agatha Christie did not lack imagination when it came to weapons and other methods of murder. (NO SPOILERS).

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>