"The Lottery Winner" by Mary Higgins Clark Quiz

Answer: She destroyed evidence

By simply cleaning up, Alvirah destroyed evidence. She and Willy returned from vacation and found a few messes. First, she wiped off fingerprints from the coffee table. Then, she washed the two champagne glasses left out. All of the evidence from the murder was wiped away.

Answer: Brian

Brian, Willy's nephew, agreed to watch their apartment. He lived in a crowded area and needed someplace quiet to write his plays. Alvirah was shocked to see that their expensive bottle of champagne had been left out; she knew that Brian never would have touched it without their permission.

Answer: Diane/Beth

Brian and Emmy decided that Beth would be a better name for the independent, strong-willed main character. This turned out to be the pivotal clue for the story. Victoria claimed to have read the new, revised play before Fiona Winters had been killed.

But she made the mistake of saying to Emmy, "Someone your age should play the role of Diane." This proved that Victoria had read the older version, the one Fiona had, making her the murderer.

Answer: She had been in jail

Cynthia had spent over twelve years in prison. She had weighed 125 pounds when she entered, and left weighing 110. Even her hair, which was once dark blonde, had dulled to a medium-brown. She had been framed by her step-sister Lillian and Ned Creighton.

Answer: Mooncusser

The restaurant, which was large and beautiful, was built by Ned. Twelve years before the beginning of the story, he took Cynthia out to dinner and on a trip on his boat. Ned pretended his boat had broken down in order to keep Cynthia away from the murder.

He had always wanted a restaurant, and suddenly had the money to do so after Cynthia's incarceration. Lillian had given him three million dollars for his help in framing her sister.

Answer: Lillian

Cynthia was accused of the murder because she had no believable alibi. As it turned out, Lillian's mother lied to investigators and claimed that her daughter had been with her when Stuart Richards had been murdered. In the end, Lillian admitted that it was she who had murdered her own father.

Answer: Louie, Al, Lefty

Sister Maeve, a former cop, enlisted the three men. They were more than willing to help because they respected her. Louie spent seven years in jail and was a black-belt; Al served four years for assault; and Lefty stole cars. Together, the group was able to free Willy.

Answer: Willy played their song on the bathroom's pipes

The kidnappers did order large amounts of food, but they weren't the only ones. Clarence, who could no longer deal with the dripping faucet in the bathroom, had Willy, an experienced plumber, work on it. Willy had heard Alvirah's voice earlier, so he knew that she was in the building.

He would bang around the pipes and perform "And the Band Played On," their song. Alvirah heard it and knew he was there.

Answer: 802

The Lincoln Arms Hotel had ten levels of rooms, and the ones on top tended to hold larger parties. Alvirah knew that there had to be at least two kidnappers along with Willy, so she checked all of the order slips from the last few days, looking for large orders. 802 was one of those rooms, and that was where Willy was being held.

Answer: Crème brulee

Nelly and Tim purchased one lottery ticket a week for years, always picking the same numbers. One week, their numbers were drawn, and Nelly assumed that they had won the lottery. To celebrate, she made Tim's favorite dessert: crème brulee. Tim told her he picked different numbers, and they in fact had not won. Tim ate all of the dessert anyway.

Answer: A recording of the murder

Nelly tried to trick Tim and Roxie into telling her about their scheme to steal the winning lottery ticket. She had borrowed Alvirah's sunburst pin that held a recording device, but she couldn't get it to work properly. She was accused of murdering her former husband and had no proof. So, Alvirah hatched a plan to prove Nelly innocent; she made a fake movie showing the crime.

But Nelly found the sunburst pin, rewound the tape, and everyone heard Roxie shoot Tim. Nelly was cleared of all charges.

Answer: A sand wedge golf club

Elyse's clubs were delivered to her, and one of them was sticky. Alvirah discovered blood, skin, and hair on it. The detective in charge said that the club, which was a sand wedge club, is the heaviest golf club and made a strong weapon. This led Alvirah to believe that whoever had committed the murder must have known that.

Answer: He had gambling debts

Bobby was just like his father when it came to money. They gambled too much and owed people all of the time. Nadine had convinced Cotter to switch the insurance policy on the jewelry so he could get the commission, but he only gambled away the premium, and the jewelry was stolen.

Answer: A bottle of gin

Alvirah had the sheriff spread a false rumor that the stolen pieces of jewelry were paste copies. Then Elyse was spied upon to see if she would dump the supposed fakes. When she pulled out a bottle of gin, she incidentally proved herself innocent. However, Min and Helmut were disappointed in Elyse because it was forbidden to have alcohol at the Spa.

Answer: It was old-fashioned and expensive

Alvirah saw the kidnapper of the O'Brien baby right before she visited, not knowing she was being abducted. Later, she realized that she recognized the beautiful yellow bunting with the white satin lining. She had been shopping for the O'Brien's baby for a week and thought she had seen it somewhere for sale. Alvirah returned to all of the shops she'd visited, only to have them tell her that the bunting she spoke of was old-fashioned and quite rare.

The bunting ended up being crucial to finding the newborn baby.