Halloween Party Trivia Quiz

Answer: Helping with preparations for a Halloween party

Mrs. Ariadne Oliver is the bestselling author of a series of mystery novels featuring a vegetarian Finnish detective, Sven Hjerson. She had been invited down to Woodleigh Common to stay with her friend Mrs. Judith Butler. As the story begins, Mrs. Oliver has gone with Judith to The Apples, the home of Mrs. Rowena Drake, to help with the preparations for a Halloween party.

She actually was doing more talking (and getting in the way) than helping! The first Christie book in which Mrs. Oliver appears is "Mr. Parker Pyne, Detective" (1934), also known as "Parker Pyne Investigates".

She was described as "handsome in a rather untidy fashion...substantial shoulders, and a large quantity of rebellious grey hair with which she was continually experimenting."

Answer: Joyce boasts that she once witnessed a murder

Joyce Reynolds was a 13-year-old with a big imagination who enjoyed attention. When the children began to talk to Mrs. Oliver about her mystery novels, Joyce began to boast that she had once witnessed a murder when she was young. She said she had not realized it was a murder until just a month or so ago. Everybody thought Joyce was just bragging--except, of course, the person who murdered her. Joyce was just pretending to be the one who witnessed a murder.

It was actually her best friend, Miranda Butler, who saw the murder and told Joyce about it.

Answer: Her head was held down in a bucket of water used for apple bobbing

Joyce was found dead in the library after the Halloween Party. Her head had been forced down into a large, galvanized bucket of water used for bobbing for apples. Joyce did not feel any fear of her killer, or she would not have been lured into the library alone, knelt down, and stuck her head under the water.

Answer: Superintendent Spence

Mrs. Oliver, very upset by Joyce's murder, hurries to London, and asks Hercule Poirot's help in finding the killer. Superintendent Spence had retired from the police force, and now lived in Woodleigh Common with his widowed sister, Elspeth. He agrees to help Poirot all he can.

This is not the first case that involved Spence, Poirot, and Mrs. Oiver. They worked together to solve Mrs. McGinty's murder in "Mrs. McGinty's Dead" (1952), also known as "Blood Will Tell". Hastings was not in "Halloween Party". Roger Ackroyd was the victim in "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" (1926). Justice Wargrave was on Indian Island in "Ten Little Niggers" (1939), also known as "And Then There Were None" and "Ten Little Indians".

This book did not feature Poirot, but is a fine mystery, anyway.

Answer: Garfield

Mrs. Llwellyn-Symthe hired Michael Garfield to turn the old rock quarry on her property into a garden. He created a lovely sunken garden that Poirot described as "magical".

Answer: Leopold Reynolds

Joyce's younger brother, Leopold, saw something the night of the Halloween Party--something that could implicate the killer if he told. Leopold, who was an unlikeable, sneaky child, decided to blackmail Joyce's killer. This turned out to be a very stupid decision on his part.

A few days after Joyce's murder, Leopold was walking home from school when he was forced down into the brook, his head held underwater until he drowned.

Answer: True

Yes, she did. Mrs. Leaman told Mrs. Oliver that she seen Mrs. Llwellyn-Symthe write the codicil and acted as a witness to the change in the will. The codicil disinheirted the Drakes and made Olga her new chief beneficiary. The will that Solicitor Fullerton saw after Mrs. Llwellyn-Symthe's death had a deliberately sloppy codicil forged by Lesley Ferrier to make it appear that Olga had forged the codicil herself.

Answer: Well in the Quarry Wood

Olga's body was found in the old well in the Quarry Wood. Nobody thought there was any foul play involved in her disappearance. It was assumed that Olga had fled Woodleigh Common to avoid facing criminal charges for tampering with Mrs. Llwellyn-Symthe's will. Miranda had been hiding in Quarry Wood the night of Olga's murder. It was this incident that Miranda told Joyce Reynolds about.

Answer: Rowena Drake

Mrs. Drake thought someone had been in the Quarry Wood the night she and Michael Garfield disposed of Olga's body. When she heard Joyce bragging about witnessing a murder, she thought it was Joyce who had seen her and Michael carrying Olga's body. During the Snapdragon Game, she lured Joyce into the library and murdered her. Mrs. Drake and Michael Garfield were quite a murderous pair.

Not only did they murder Olga, Lesley, Joyce, and Leopold, but Miranda Butler almost became a victim, too. Together they really cut a path through the population of Woodleigh Common, didn't they? (There are teasers in the book that they might have murdered even more). Murderers: Rowena Drake and Michael Garfield. Motive: Mrs. Llewellyn-Symthe's money.

Answer: Dates

I can certainly see why Mrs. Oliver was turned off by apples. After all, Joyce was drowned in the apple bobbing bucket in a house called The Apples. She still has a craving to munch, but now her hand is constantly in a box of dates. If you enjoyed this Poirot-Oliver mystery, perhaps you would enjoy their other novels.

The pair first meet in "Cards On The Table" (1936). They were also in: "Mrs. McGinty's Dead" (1952), "Dead Man's Folly" (1956), which is my favorite, "Third Girl" (1966), "Halloween Party (1969), and "Elephants Can Remember" (1972). Mrs. Oliver was also in "Pale Horse" (1961), which was an excellent mystery, without Poirot. Thank for taking my quiz.

This story had so many plots and twists going that I hope I did it justice.