1. Billy Halleck, the protagonist, was in court for which crime?
From Quiz Thinner
Answer:
Vehicular manslaughter
Billy Halleck, a lawyer from Connecticut is charged with vehicular manslaughter before the events of the novel, having accidentally run over a gypsy woman in his car on the way back home with his wife, Heidi. Billy wins the case, though it isn't a fluke; the judge was on his side, and so was the cop who brought him in, deciding not to give him a breathalyzer test and not to take all accounts from witnesses. Despite the ordeal, however, his family is getting back on track. Heidi has taken an optimistic turn while Billy's daughter, Linda, although still receives taunts at school, is watching them pass. There's just one thing though - Billy is nervous about what happened to him after the trial. As Billy walked down the courthouse steps, he was approached by a distinguishable gypsy man with a rather unpleasant nose, and as he attempted to head to the street, the man caressed his cheek like a lover, whispering the word "Thinner" in his ear before receding into the crowd.
Billy and Heidi take a weekend trip to Mohonk and attempt the Labyrinth Trail, an extensive hiking path that they attempted to tackle on their honeymoon, and despite Billy's weight of 245, they manage to finish the route. They take their next day to a fair where Heidi comments that he must be losing weight, and she forces him to use a Wate & Fate scale, weighing him and giving him a small fortune for a quarter. He uses the machine and Heidi's prediction proves true; Billy dropped to 236. As she carries on down the way, Billy receives his fortune, a single word: thinner.