J.D. Robb "Witness In Death" Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Witness for the Prosecution

Eve is enjoying an evening out with Roarke at the New Globe Theatre, which is owned by him, and witnesses the moment the murder is committed on stage. Realising something is wrong and that a death has occurred, she quickly rushes to the stage, orders the exits to be secured and calls for backup and a crime scene team.

'The Witness for the Prosecution' is a short story by Agatha Christie which appears in 'The Hound of Death and Other Stories', which was published in the UK in 1933. The same story was published in the US in 1948 in the collection 'The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories'.

Answer: Richard Draco

Richard Draco was the first victim. He was playing the lead role of Leonard Vole, a man who murdered a rich widow for her money. Leonard was saved by the evidence of his wife, Christine, who lied for him.

The part of Christine Vole was played by Areena Mansfield. Michael Proctor was Draco's understudy and Kenneth Stiles played the part of Sir Wilfred, Draco's barrister. Richard Draco was not liked by his fellow actors, most of whom had known him for several years, because he was selfish, arrogant and difficult to get along with, and had caused heartbreak to many of them in the past.

Answer: Knife

When Draco, in character as Leonard Vole, returns to the courtroom flaunting another woman on his arm after his acquittal, Christine confesses to having lied under oath to save him. Furious at discovering his infidelity after all she has done to save him, she picks up what is supposed to be a dummy knife from the evidence table and stabs him.

When Draco collapses and does not get up, it quickly becomes apparent that the dummy knife has been swapped for a real one. The prop knife is later found hidden amongst roses in Areena Mansfield's dressing room.

Answer: Nadine Furst

Nadine Furst, Channel 75's top reporter, told Eve in confidence about the relationship and also that she had met with Richard Draco again on the evening of his death, a meeting which had ended in an argument when she threw champagne in his face.

When Eve searches Draco's apartment with Roarke they find several sex tapes of Draco with various women, including one of Nadine taken six years previously. Nadine is very shaken when Eve tells her this, but Eve is pleased because her shocked reaction removes the motive that Nadine might have been aware of the tape's existence and killed Draco to get it back. She later gives the tape to Nadine because it is not required in evidence, much to Nadine's relief.

Answer: Linus Quim

Head stagehand Linus Quim was always very observant and had worked out who had switched the knives. He wrote a blackmail note to the murderer asking for $500,000 and arranged a meeting backstage when no one else was around. The murderer drugged him with a tranquiliser and persuaded him to write a brief suicide note, then climb a ladder, put his head through a noose and jump off. Quim had intended to retire to Tahiti on the proceeds of his blackmail; Eve's check on his records later revealed he had been online looking for flights to Tahiti and had recently applied for a passport.

Joe Quimby is familiar to viewers of 'The Simpsons' as 'Diamond Joe' Quimby, Mayor of Springfield. Harley Quin is better known as 'The Mysterious Mr Quin', the eponymous character of a book of short stories by Agatha Christie.

Answer: Kenneth Stiles

Kenneth Stiles plays the part of the barrister in the play and is one of the chief suspects in Draco's murder. In his interview he told Eve and Peabody he had been in love with Anja Carvell, but Draco had fathered a child with her only to end their relationship when he found out she was pregnant. Anja had tried to kill herself and Stiles had stopped her, but he told Eve he had not seen her for many years and did not to know her whereabouts. Eve had already discovered that Draco had nearly ruined Stiles financially 24 years previously, in a civil lawsuit he took out against Stiles for assaulting him over Anja.

Ralph Biden is the New Globe Theatre's janitor. It was he who alerted Roarke to the locked stage door, where together they found the hanged body of Linus Quim.

Answer: Roarke

Eve was going to watch the tape in her office, but was persuaded by Roarke to watch it on one of their huge wall screens at home, so they sat and watched it together, sharing a bowl of popcorn. The substitution took place during the interval and although they could not see the actual switch take place, they were able to zoom in to see the prop knife on the evidence table at several points and see when the real knife appeared in its place. Shortly after that they noticed Linus Quim, who had been directing operations, look sharply at some point downstage, hesitate, and then move off in that direction, which led Eve to believe he had followed whoever had made the switch and then planted the prop knife in Areena Mansfield's dressing room.

Answer: Troy Trueheart

Trueheart has been keeping Kenneth Stiles under surveillance at his flat but Stiles gives him the slip wearing a disguise. He is later reported to be at Grand Central Station. Eve, Peabody and Trueheart go to Grand Central where Eve's efforts to take charge are hampered by the transit police. Trueheart has chased Stiles and is set to tackle him when one of the transit police pulls out his stunner and fires, accidentally hitting Trueheart.

He and Stiles both fall onto the train tracks and are taken to hospital. Trueheart is unconscious and has been badly injured, but makes a full recovery.

Answer: Mother/daughter

Carly Landsdowne is the daughter of Areena Mansfield and Richard Draco. Areena had travelled to Switzerland to give birth to Carly when she was 18 under the assumed name of Anja Carvell and gave her up for adoption. Carly had no idea Areena and Draco were her natural parents.

She was horrified and totally devastated when Eve told her, as she had been seduced and then let down by Draco who, unlike her, had had full knowledge of their blood relationship.

Answer: Areena Mansfield

Eve assembles all the actors onstage at the theatre and accuses Carly of the murders, and tells her that she is under arrest. Areena steps in to protect her daughter and admits she killed Draco to protect Carly because he was taunting her about his relationship with her, and had then killed Linus Quim because he was blackmailing her. Eve, drawing on her own childhood experiences with her abusive father, had staged the scene believing that Areena would do anything to protect her daughter, which would help Carly in the future to know that one of her natural parents loved her. Eve arrests Areena for the murders and later advises her privately to try to gain media sympathy at her trial to lessen her sentence.