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Quiz about Agatha Christies Opening Lines 2
Quiz about Agatha Christies Opening Lines 2

Agatha Christie's Opening Lines 2 Quiz


Can you select the correct title to go with each of the first lines? Each question gives the opening lines to a novel as well as other clues to help you.

A multiple-choice quiz by MotherGoose. Estimated time: 5 mins.
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Author
MotherGoose
Time
5 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
195,046
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
7 / 10
Plays
3718
Awards
Top 5% quiz!
Last 3 plays: dj144 (5/10), Guest 59 (8/10), MissHollyB (4/10).
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Question 1 of 10
1. "Miss Jane Marple was sitting by her window. The window looked over her garden, once a source of pride to her. That was no longer so." The title of this novel comes from the poem "The Lady of Shalott" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. "Mrs Ferrars died on the night of the 16th-17th September - a Thursday. I was sent for at eight o'clock on the morning of Friday the 17th. There was nothing to be done. She had been dead some hours." This was Agatha Christie's seventh novel and one of her most controversial. Some readers said her choice of murderer was a "dirty trick". Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. "It was close on midnight when a man crossed the Place de la Concorde. In spite of the handsome fur coat which garbed his meagre form, there was something essentially weak and paltry about him." This story involved Hercule Poirot and a train journey. Agatha Christie hated this book. Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. "It is difficult to know quite where to begin this story, but I have fixed my choice on a certain Wednesday at luncheon at the Vicarage". The story is narrated by the Vicar himself. This was the first novel in which Miss Marple featured. Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. " 'What can I do to drive away remembrance from mine eyes?' Six people were thinking of Rosemary Barton who had died nearly a year ago ...". Agatha Christie originally called this novel "Remembered Death". Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. "Mrs Ariadne Oliver has gone with the friend with whom she was staying, Judith Butler, to help with the preparations for a children's party which was to take place that same evening." This novel features both Ariadne Oliver and Hercule Poirot. Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. "Stephen pulled up the collar of his coat as he walked briskly along the platform. Overhead a dim fog clouded the station." This novel is about a murder which takes place on Christmas Eve. It is a particularly violent murder with lots of blood. Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. "In the afternoons it was the custom of Miss Jane Marple to unfold her second newspaper. Two newspapers were delivered at her house every morning." The theme of this novel is retribution. Miss Marple receives a posthumous request to solve a murder case. Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. "Mrs Bantry was dreaming. Her sweet peas had just taken a First at the flower show. The vicar, dressed in cassock and surplice, was giving out the prizes in church. His wife wandered past, dressed in a bathing-suit...". The first murder in this book appears very close to home - too close for Mrs Bantry's comfort! Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. "Linnet Ridgeway. 'That's HER!' said Mr Barnaby, the landlord of the Three Crowns." Hercule Poirot solves several murders on the S.S. Karnak, including the death of Linnet Ridgeway. Hint



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Most Recent Scores
Dec 20 2024 : dj144: 5/10
Dec 16 2024 : Guest 59: 8/10
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Score Distribution

quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. "Miss Jane Marple was sitting by her window. The window looked over her garden, once a source of pride to her. That was no longer so." The title of this novel comes from the poem "The Lady of Shalott" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

Answer: The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side

According to a number of websites, part of this novel's plot parallels an incident in the life of the actress, Gene Tierney, who contracted rubella (German measles) during her pregnancy in 1943 and as a result gave birth to a daughter who was intellectually and physically handicapped. Gene Tierney did not know how she contracted rubella until years later, when she met a female fan who told her that, during the World War II, she was a Marine. Even though she was under quarantine for rubella, she had sneaked out in order to meet the actress.

There is no firm evidence that Agatha Christie actually knew about this particular incident or that she based the novel on it.
2. "Mrs Ferrars died on the night of the 16th-17th September - a Thursday. I was sent for at eight o'clock on the morning of Friday the 17th. There was nothing to be done. She had been dead some hours." This was Agatha Christie's seventh novel and one of her most controversial. Some readers said her choice of murderer was a "dirty trick".

Answer: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

"The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" was Agatha Christie's most controversial novel because her use of a device which had never before been employed in a "whodunit". In her autobiography, Christie credits her brother-in-law, James Watts, and Lord Louis Mountbatten for the idea.

This novel is now considered to be a landmark in mystery and detective fiction. If you have read it, you will know why. If not, I won't spoil it for you! This novel was the first of Agatha Christie's novels to be made into a play.

The play was renamed "Alibi".
3. "It was close on midnight when a man crossed the Place de la Concorde. In spite of the handsome fur coat which garbed his meagre form, there was something essentially weak and paltry about him." This story involved Hercule Poirot and a train journey. Agatha Christie hated this book.

Answer: The Mystery of the Blue Train

In her autobiography, Agatha Christie said "I have always hated "The Mystery of the Blue Train", but I got it written, and sent off to the publishers. It sold just as well as my last book had done. So I had to content myself with that - though I cannot say I have ever been proud of it ... Each time I read it again, I think it commonplace, full of clichés, with an uninteresting plot.

Many people, I am sorry to say, like it. Authors are always said to be no judge of their own books".
4. "It is difficult to know quite where to begin this story, but I have fixed my choice on a certain Wednesday at luncheon at the Vicarage". The story is narrated by the Vicar himself. This was the first novel in which Miss Marple featured.

Answer: Murder at the Vicarage

In her autobiography, Agatha Christie said "'Murder at the Vicarage' was published in 1930, but I cannot remember where, when or how I wrote it, why I came to write it, or even what suggested to me that I should select a new character - Miss Marple - to act as the sleuth in the story. Certainly at the time I had no intention of continuing her for the rest of my life. I did not know that she was to become a rival to Hercule Poirot".
5. " 'What can I do to drive away remembrance from mine eyes?' Six people were thinking of Rosemary Barton who had died nearly a year ago ...". Agatha Christie originally called this novel "Remembered Death".

Answer: Sparkling Cyanide

The original novel, "Remembered Death", was published in 1945. Agatha Christie did not like the new title "Sparkling Cyanide". She felt it was "a flippant title for a really rather serious book". The novel was derived from a short story, "Yellow Iris", in the collection "The Regatta Mystery" (1939).

Hercule Poirot was the detective in "Yellow Iris" but Agatha Christie eventually tired of Poirot, so she made Colonel Race the investigator in the novel "Remembered Death".
6. "Mrs Ariadne Oliver has gone with the friend with whom she was staying, Judith Butler, to help with the preparations for a children's party which was to take place that same evening." This novel features both Ariadne Oliver and Hercule Poirot.

Answer: Hallowe'en Party

When Joyce Reynolds met Ariadne Oliver while preparing for the Hallowe'en party, she boasted that she had been a witness to a murder. At first Mrs Oliver believed Joyce is merely seeking attention but later Joyce is found dead - drowned in the bucket used for the "bobbing for apples" game. This caused Ariadne to lose her legendary passion for apples.
7. "Stephen pulled up the collar of his coat as he walked briskly along the platform. Overhead a dim fog clouded the station." This novel is about a murder which takes place on Christmas Eve. It is a particularly violent murder with lots of blood.

Answer: All three titles are correct - they are the same story

In this story Simeon Lee found murdered on Christmas Eve, lying in a huge pool of blood with his throat cut. The original title was "Hercule Poirot's Christmas" but it is also known by the other given titles. This novel was written for Agatha Christie's brother-in-law, James Watts.

In the foreword, Agatha Christie wrote "My dear James ... You complained that my murders were getting too refined - anaemic in fact. You yearned for a "good violent murder with lots of blood". A murder where there was no doubt about its being murder!" She certainly obliged his wish with this story.
8. "In the afternoons it was the custom of Miss Jane Marple to unfold her second newspaper. Two newspapers were delivered at her house every morning." The theme of this novel is retribution. Miss Marple receives a posthumous request to solve a murder case.

Answer: Nemesis

Nemesis was the Greek goddess of retribution and vengeance. In "A Caribbean Mystery", Miss Marple is likened to Nemesis. At the end of the book, Mr Rafiel says to Miss Marple: "If you knew what you looked like that night with that fluffy pink wool all around your head, standing there and saying you were Nemesis. I'll never forget it".

It appears that he did not forget it because in the follow-up novel, "Nemesis", Jason Rafiel has died but leaves Miss Marple a letter asking her to be Nemesis once more.
9. "Mrs Bantry was dreaming. Her sweet peas had just taken a First at the flower show. The vicar, dressed in cassock and surplice, was giving out the prizes in church. His wife wandered past, dressed in a bathing-suit...". The first murder in this book appears very close to home - too close for Mrs Bantry's comfort!

Answer: The Body in the Library

Dolly Bantry appears in all four books listed in the question. She is Mrs Marple's closest friend in St Mary Mead. Naturally when a body is found in her own library at Gossington Hall, she immediately calls Miss Marple.
10. "Linnet Ridgeway. 'That's HER!' said Mr Barnaby, the landlord of the Three Crowns." Hercule Poirot solves several murders on the S.S. Karnak, including the death of Linnet Ridgeway.

Answer: Death on the Nile

Agatha Christie loved Egypt and travelled there many times. She used it as the background for a number of stories and novels, including "Death on the Nile", "Death Comes as the End" and her play "Akhnaton". She usually included some of her own personal experiences in the plots, particularly her archaeological experience.
Source: Author MotherGoose

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