Final Curtain Trivia Quiz

Answer: New Zealand

Alleyn had spent the previous four years doing intelligence work in New Zealand during World War II. Both Alleyn and Troy were worried about how this long separation would affect the marriage once they reunited. Troy was worried her husband had lost interest in her, while Alleyn worried they would have nothing to talk about.

Answer: Macbeth

Sir Henry Ancred was a famous stage actor who loved playing Macbeth, and was the rare actor who did not believe in the superstitions of that play. Troy initially refused to take the commission because Ancred wanted the painting completed in two weeks, which was not a sufficient amount of time, and he would only sit for one hour a day. Troy was persuaded into accepting the commission by Ancred's youngest son Thomas, because she found him so fascinatingly bizarre she had to see the rest of the family.

Answer: Putting snakes in a jar of peanut brittle

Sir Henry's young granddaughter Panty is blamed by most members of the family for pulling the pranks. Only Panty's mother, Pauline, and Troy believe she is innocent. It later comes to light that Panty absolutely could not have vandalized the portrait as she was in bed at the time. Moreover, Troy remembers seeing Cedric, Sir Henry's oldest grandson, with red paint on his hands, and red paint was found on the banister.

Other pranks that were played were the raspberry (akin to a whoopee cushion) and the writing on Sir Henry's mirror. Both sent the patriarch into a fury and he noted that Panty (who had been the favorite) had fallen from grace in his eyes.

Answer: Paul and Fenella

Paul and Fenella are completely cut out of their grandfather's new will. Paul Kentish and Fenella Ancred are first cousins, and engaged to each other against their grandfather's wishes. Their engagement also resulted in their mothers, Pauline and Jenetta, being disinherited as well. The chief beneficiaries of the new will were Sonia Orrincourt (Sir Henry's much younger mistress), Cedric (who had hoped to receive more), Thomas, Desdemona (one of Sir Henry's daughters) and Millament (Cedric's mother and Sir Henry's daughter-in-law and chief caretaker).

However, after Sir Henry's death the will on file leaves everything to Sonia Orrincourt except for the family estate, which goes to Cedric.

Answer: Ringworm

Panty has ringworm, which forces her to live in a separate part of the house and take doses of a thallium medicine that will cause her to lose her hair. Dr. Withers, who attends to the children in the school and to Sir Henry, is puzzled when Panty does not start shedding her hair like she should.

He blames the pharmacist for measuring the medicine incorrectly. The pharmacist blames Dr. Withers administering the medicine wrongly.

Answer: A book on embalming

On her visit, Troy caught Sonia Orrincourt rifling through an old book about embalming. Millament also caught Sonia looking in it at a different time. Sonia denies she has even seen the book to Alleyn. This book winds up in the cheese dish and seems to suggest that Sir Henry was poisoned by arsenic, one of the ingredients the book lists in the embalming fluid.

In addition, a tin of arsenic has long been missing and turns up in Miss Orrincourt's room.

Answer: Cedric and Sonia Orrincourt

Sonia denies the pranks, but Cedric admits he and Sonia did them together. Cedric says he wanted his grandfather's money after he died, so he had to incriminate Panty as she was her grandfather's favorite. This worked, but not the way Cedric intended.

He only got a small share of the money and not all of it, according to the will Sir Henry announced. In the will that actually went into effect, Cedric only got the family manor but no money to run it. However, Cedric hints that he Sonia were actually in a relationship, so it did not matter that he received nothing from the will because he intended to marry her.

Answer: It's bald

Sir Henry had a full head of hair, however his corpse was bald and the loose hair was found in the casket. The same thing happened to Carabbas the cat. Carabbas shed his hair and had to be put down after it was believed he caught ringworm from Panty.

Answer: No

Sir Henry was poisoned with thallium from Panty's ringworm medication. Thallium causes hair to fall out, which is why Sir Henry's corpse was bald. The killer had taken some of Panty's medicine and replaced Sir Henry's medicine with it. The killer replaced the missing ringworm medication with water. This is why Panty did not lose her hair.

The killer wanted Sir Henry's death to appear to be from natural causes, or at least from arsenic poisoning. Sir Henry was obsessed with being embalmed in an old fashioned technique that used arsenic. However, Mr. Mortimer, the mortician, lied to Sir Henry. He told the actor he could be embalmed in that fashion. In reality, the means to do so no longer existed, so Mr. Mortimer embalmed him in the modern technique that did not use arsenic. The killer's intention was that an autopsy would be inconclusive because the arsenic in the embalming fluid would render any results moot. However, no arsenic was found at all and that was bad news for the killer.

Answer: Millament

Millament wanted her son Cedric to inherit everything. She had seen the will that in which Cedric received a large share of the estate. However, her plans went awry when Sonia was announced as the sole heiress. Millament resorted to her back up plan of framing Sonia for the murder. She sent all of the Ancreds anonymous letters hinting Sonia was a killer and planted the arsenic tin in Sonia's room. However, that plan failed when it was revealed that there was no arsenic in Sir Henry's body. Millament then killed Sonia with the remaining thallium in the hopes that Cedric would inherit after her.

There was not much evidence which Alleyn used to figure this out. One clue was the death of Carabbas. Millament was the one who suggested the cat had ringworm and had him euthanized. In reality, that cat had gotten hold of the thallium and Millament had done away with it after it started losing its hair.

Inspector Fox speculates that Millament will not be hanged, while Alleyn wonders if a conviction is at all possible.