Agatha Christie Who's Who Trivia Quiz

Answer: DCI James Japp

Japp and Poirot's association precedes Agatha Christie's first book, "The Mysterious Affair at Styles". It goes back to the days when Poirot was with the Belgian Police and Japp was a detective, not a DCI, with Scotland Yard. Previous cases they worked on have been alluded to, which Agatha Christie did not chronicle, such as the Abercrombie forgery case and the Baron Altara case. Japp appeared with Poirot in eight novels and seven short stories.

Answer: Miss Jane Marple

Miss Marple may reside in a little village but she is wise to the ways of the world. Miss Marple explains her insight by stating that "Human nature is much the same everywhere and, of course, one has opportunities of observing it at close quarters in a village". She also acknowledges that "You simply can't afford to believe everything that people tell you".

Answer: Roger Ackroyd

***SPOILER ALERT***. In Agatha Christie's sixth novel, Hercule Poirot retires to the country to grow vegetable marrows but is soon involved in the murder of Roger Ackroyd. In this novel, Agatha Christie "broke the rules" of crime fiction by revealing the narrator of the story to be the murderer - a plot twist which had never been done before. Christie credits her brother-in-law, James Watts, and also Lord Mountbatten, with the original idea.

Answer: Romaine Heilger Vole

***SPOILER ALERT***. Romaine Heilger Vole was married to Leonard Vole, who was accused of murdering an elderly lady, Emily French. To ensure Leonard's acquittal, Romaine created an elaborate web of lies to ensure her testimony was discredited, thereby creating the illusion that Leonard was innocent.

Answer: Dolly Bantry

Dolly Bantry is a close friend of Miss Marple's who, of course, solves the mystery of the body found in the library at Gossington Hall. After the body was found, she said to Miss Marple, "What I feel is that if one has got to have a murder actually happening in one's own house, one might as well enjoy it, if you know what I mean."

Answer: Miss Felicity Lemon

Miss Lemon was secretary to Parker Pyne, a former statistician, who set up his own detective agency when he retired. Miss Lemon later went to work for Hercule Poirot. She appeared in two Parker Pyne stories and eight Hercule Poirot stories. She was the perfect secretary for Poirot, as both were meticulous about order.

Answer: Ariadne Oliver

Agatha Christie loosely based Ariadne Oliver on herself. In an article in John Bull Magazine in 1956, Christie was quoted as saying, "I never take my stories from real life, but the character of Ariadne Oliver does have a strong dash of myself". Like Agatha Christie, Mrs Oliver loves apples, wrote a book called "The Body in the Library", expresses feminist viewpoints, and detests the foreign detective she created.

Answer: Raymond West

Raymond West is a "background" character in the Miss Marple stories - often mentioned but rarely seen. He finances Miss Marple's holiday in the Caribbean ("A Caribbean Mystery") and treats her to a week at her favourite London hotel ("At Bertram's Hotel"). He is mostly seen in the collection of short stories, "The Thirteen Problems" (also known as "The Tuesday Club Murders").

Answer: Countess Vera Rossakoff

Hercule Poirot met Countess Vera Rossakoff for the first time in the short story "Double Clue" (from the collection, "Double Sin"). She also appears in one novel, "The Big Four", and another short story, "The Capture of Cerberus" (from the collection, "The Labours of Hercules"). Poirot pronounced her to be "a remarkable woman".

Answer: Jason Rafiel

Jason Rafiel and Miss Marple met in "A Caribbean Mystery" and he was very impressed with her deductive skills. He nicknamed her "Nemesis" after the Greek goddess of retribution. Jason Rafiel also appeared posthumously in the novel, "Nemesis" when he left Miss Marple an inheritance, subject to her investigating a crime - the murder of Verity Hunt. Jason's son Michael, who was Verity's fiancee, was in prison for her murder.