Murder in Motion Trivia Quiz

Answer: Parker Pyne

I know, this is not the answer you expected when you read the question, as the adaptations of the novel starring Hercule Poirot have made that story familiar to a wider audience. These are some of her sleuths who will be familiar to avid readers, but maybe not to those who know her work via other media.

A retired civil servant, Parker Pyne undertook a new career via a newspaper classified ad that read, "Are you happy? If not consult Mr Parker Pyne, 17 Richmond Street." He acted more as a counsellor than as an investigator in most stories.

In 'Death on the Nile', he is happily cruising down the Nile when a fellow passenger confides her fear that she is being poisoned. Following her death shortly afterwards, he manages to determine who was responsible for it all.

Answer: Albert Finney

David Suchet featured in the 2010 movie-length episode of the television series 'Agatha Christie's Poirot'; Kenneth Branagh undertook the role in the 2017 movie; a 2001 made-for-television version, seriously modernised, starred Alfred Molina. A 1992 radio play starred John Moffatt, and a 2017 audio book used the voice of Tom Conti.

In 2017, a stage adaptation featured Allan Corduner. The plot involves one of Christie's best-known twists: Whodunnit? They all did.

Answer: Tourist bus

The plot details and characters differ dramatically in the adaptations, but they all start with Miss Marple receiving a bequest from a man she had met in the Caribbean who had subsequently died. The bequest was contingent on her solving an (unspecified) old mystery, and achieving justice - hence the reference to the Greek goddess of revenge and retribution.

A bus trip to visit stately homes and gardens brings together all the relevant characters.

Answer: Paris

The first US edition altered the title to 'Death in the Air'. While Poirot is returning from a trip to Paris (flying to avoid a Channel crossing, due to his much-noted tendency to seasickness), one of the passengers is killed with a poisoned dart. Since a blowpipe is found in Poirot's seat, he must find the real killer to clear his name.

This is one of the Christie works in which it is a crucial fact that people tend to overlook anyone dressed in a uniform (especially that of a servant) and behaving appropriately for that role.

The television series 'Agatha Christie's Poirot' adapted the story for a 1992 episode.

Answer: Ocean liner

As Poirot demonstrates, they were actually stolen before the liner left, so the packet that disappeared en route from London to New York was just to make it appear as if they must have been stolen by the clerk carrying them. In the 1924 story, the liner is the Olympia, and a key plot point is that it is slower than another liner, the Gigantic.

In the 1991 television adaptation, the bonds are supposedly being carried aboard the Queen Mary's maiden voyage, allowing the producers to insert archival footage of that event.

Answer: 4:50 From Paddington

The movie differed significantly from the original story. In the movie, it is Miss Marple who witnesses the apparent killing of a woman on a passing train, and she who goes to stay at the hall where she believes the body was dumped. The original story has her friend Elspeth McGillicuddy witness the event, and her young friend Lucy Eyelesbarrow on the site to investigate.

While the guilty party remained the same, the manner in which he was tricked into revealing himself was changed. The three incorrect options are the names of the other three films in which Margaret Rutherford portrayed Miss Marple.

Answer: Hidden object

Players in this game (and several other adaptations of Christie works along the same lines) must find hidden objects at a series of scenes, before the characters provide information about the mystery. The objects are generally irrelevant - finding them just gives players something to do along the way to having the story details revealed. Occasionally, however the process does reveal some aspect of the scene that is of interest.

The plot of the game is close to that of the original novel, but less complex.

Answer: Alexandria

The original title, when this story was published in 'The Strand' in 1936 was 'Poirot and the Crime in Cabin 66' (although the cabin number was not actually mentioned in the story). It was renamed to 'Problem at Sea' when it was published in various collections of short stories, including 'The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories' (US, 1939), 'Poirot Knows the Murderer' (UK, 1946) and 'Poirot's Early Cases' (UK. 1974).

There were slight editing changes in the various collections, but the substance of the story was unchanged.

In 1989 it was adapted for television as part of the series 'Agatha Christie's Poirot'. The adaptation retained Poirot's use of a ventriloquist's dummy to reveal the murderer, but used a young girl instead of a stewardess as the one who he incorporated into the reveal.

Answer: rolling dice

The game had ten original mysteries (with more added later), in each of which one or more of the eight characters on the train was guilty. By moving through the carriages and collecting information, players try to decide both who is guilty, and their motive. Periodically the train moves one station closer to Istanbul; when it arrives, players must produce their best solution.

Answer: Kenneth Branagh

This was the Northern Irish actor's second portrayal of Poirot, following from 'Murder on the Orient Express' in 2017. Kenneth Branagh first achieved prominence as director and star of several film adaptations from Shakespeare in the 1980s and '90s, and has since gone on to international success in a range of roles. The core story of Linnet Doyle's murder on the steamer Karnak remains the same, but a number of the minor characters were changed.

Peter Ustinov played Poirot in a 1978 film, David Suchet in a 2003 television adaptation, and John Moffatt in a 1997 radio serial.