The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side Quiz

Answer: Alfred Lord Tennyson

The poem tells the tragic story of the mysterious Lady of Shalott, who has been told that a curse will befall her if she sets eyes on Camelot. Consequently, she spend her days before a mirror watching the daily events of Camelot reflected through her window, which she weaves into a long tapestry on her loom. Disaster befalls her when she sees Lancelot in her mirror and is compelled to turn and gaze at him out of the window. At this point, according to the poem:

"Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror crack'd from side to side;
'The curse is come upon me' cried
The Lady of Shalott."

This passage comes to Dolly Bantry's mind when she sees the strange "basilisk" look come over Marina Gregg's face at the reception at Gossington Hall, only she misremembers "curse" as "doom". Shortly afterward, Heather Badcock (who had been talking to Marina at the time) suddenly takes ill and dies.

Answer: True

Although there would be four more Miss Marple novels, this is the last to take place in St. Mary Mead. "A Caribbean Mystery" (1964) takes place at a Caribbean island resort. "At Bertram's Hotel" (1965) takes place entirely at the hotel of the title, in London. "Nemesis" (1971), a sequel to "A Caribbean Mystery", begins in St. Mary Mead, but concerns a murder committed years before in the village of Jocelyn St. Mary and takes place during a Famous House and Gardens tour, where another murder occurs. "Sleeping Murder" (1976), Christie's last published novel, takes place at Dillmouth, where Miss Marple helps solve another murder committed many years before.

Answer: The Body in the Library

"The Body in the Library" involved the murder of a gold-digging young dancer, whose body was apparently found at Gossington Hall (though she had been killed elsewhere). The discovery of the body had made the Bantrys the subject of much unkind and ill-natured gossip. The case is discussed briefly in this novel by Mrs. Bantry and Ella Zielinsky.

Answer: Mary Queen of Scots

The role of the tragic and headstrong young queen, who was ruled by her heart rather than her head, was ideally suited to the beautiful, but emotionally unstable Marina. At the time the story takes place, she and her husband are planning a film comeback in which she will play another beautiful and tragic monarch, the empress Elizabeth of Austria.

Answer: Gene Tierney

Tierney, who starred memorably in "Laura" and "Leave Her to Heaven" among other films, was at one time married to fashion designer Oleg Cassini. She was pregnant with Cassini's child when she went on a War bond tour during WWII and entertained at the Hollywood Canteen.

A kiss from a fan who had contracted German Measles led to her unborn child developing brain damage during the pregnancy. When the child, Daria, was born, doctors told her that she would never be able to speak or fully develop mentally. Tierney eventually, and reluctantly, agreed to have Daria institutionalized when she was four years old.

The ordeal took a considerable emotional toll on the actress, who eventually divorced the philandering Cassini in 1952 and had numerous unhappy love affairs with, among others, John F. Kennedy and Howard Hughes. Years after her daughter's birth, Tierney was approached by a fan who apologetically admitted that she had been sick with Rubella when she had met the actress during WWII and said she hoped Tierney herself hadn't gotten ill. Tierney quietly walked away in a state of shock.

In the novel, a similar episode provides the motive for Heather Babcock's murder; fortunately for Tierney's fan, the actress did not similarly react to her revelation.

Answer: Miss Knight

Miss Marple's testy exchanges with Miss Knight and her subterfuges to get the meddlesome woman out of her way provide moments of comic relief in this otherwise quite tragic story. Miss Knight believes Miss Marple to be a poor old dear who has led quite a sheltered life, and musn't be troubled with stories of murder and gangsters and such, which might give her nightmares (!).

Inspector Craddock, who has collaborated with Miss Marple on previous cases, finds Miss Knight's concerns amusing, to say the least.

In "Nemesis", Miss Marple has trouble remembering Miss Knight's name and keeps thinking of her as Miss Bishop. She muses "Soon I'll be calling her Miss Rook."

Answer: The painting of the Madonna and Child

While Heather was telling Marina her story which, unbeknownst to Heather, revealed how Marina's child had come to be born retarded, Marina looked just past her at the painting on the wall, a copy of Bellini's "Laughing Madonna". The combination of shock over the realisation that Heather had caused her misfortune and the cruelly contradictory image of maternal happiness shown in the painting had caused the frozen, doomed look to appear on Marina's face.

Answer: Margot Bence

Margot, the photographer who snapped a photo of Marina Gregg just as the lok of doom came over her face, was Marina's forgotten adopted daughter (there had also been a boy, who doesn't turn up in the novel). When she is found out, Margot is quite obliging in detailing her motive to the police: "Why shouldn't I hate her? She did the worst thing to me that anyone can do to anyone else. Let them believe that they're loved and wanted and then show them it's all a sham."

Answer: Calmo

Calmo is (or was)the brand name for a popularly prescribed tranquilizer, whose technical name is hyethyldexylbarboquindelorytate (please don't ask me how that's pronounced!). It is harmless taken as prescribed, but an overdose can be fatal. Heather was given six times the prescribed amount.

Answer: Lola Brewster

Lola had taken a pot shot at her husband, actor Eddie Groves, during an argument. She shrugs this off when interviewed by Inspector Craddock ("Oh, that was just because we'd had an argument...I lost my temper."). She similarly dismisses threats she had made against Marina after the latter ran off with Lola's previous husband: "I was just mad at the moment, you know. One says all sorts of things when one's mad at people."

Answer: She sneezes

Ella has been suffering from hayfever and lets out a sneeze just before replacing the receiver. The murderer poisons her by adding prussic acid to the nasal spray she is using to clear her sinuses.

Answer: She didn't want her to be killed.

Gladys had told Cherry that Marina had caused Heather to spill the drink deliberately. She didn't realize the importance of what she had seen and, because of the awkward way she had phrased it, she led Miss Marple to believe that Heather had deliberately spilled the drink on herself.

When Miss Marple realizes what Gladys had actually meant, she sees that the girl is in terrible danger, especially after the deaths of Ella and Giovanni. She gives her some money and sends her to Bournemouth on holiday, telling her not to write home.

Answer: The vicar

Jason Rudd tells the inspectors that Heather had said she had the 'flu at the time (a deliberate misstatement on his part). Dolly Bantry thinks that she said nettlerash. Dr. Haydock thinks it was chicken pox. But, astoundingly, it is the perpetually forgetful vicar who remembers that Heather had been suffering from German Measles.

Answer: Arthur Badcock

Arthur had, apparently, been Marina's first husband, though she hadn't recognized him at the reception. His name was Alfred Beadle at the time of their marriage; Marina had divorced him when her career began to take off, whereas he was perfectly satisfied selling real estate and simply couldn't keep up with him.

After the divorce, he changed his name, but not his profession. Miss Marple opines that he will probably remarry soon; unfortunately, she believes it will probably be someone very much like Heather.

Answer: True

Miss Marple strongly suspects that Jason Rudd administered the overdose that killed Marina. He guessed that she had committed the crime, as well as the murders of Ella and Giuseppe, and wanted to protect her from eventual arrest and prosecution, as well as prevent any more murders. Miss Marple believes that he acted out of sheer desperation and hints to him that she suspects that he administered the fatal dose himself.

He does not answer her implication directly, but says "She was- so lovely- and she had suffered so much." Miss Marple does not reply, but merely quotes to herself the final lines of "The Lady of Shalott". One is left with the strong impression that she will not press the matter.