An ABC Character Quiz: Christie Novels 3

Answer: Rachel

Rachel Argyle is a driven, passionate woman whose desire to have a child overwhelms her life. Having adopted five very different children (Mary, Hester, Tina, Micky and Jacko) she almost entirely forgets about her husband Leo and focuses on the children instead. She is beaten to death in a conspiracy between Jacko Argyle and Kirsten Lindstrom.

Answer: Canon Pennyfather

Canon Pennyfather's distinctive appearance, with his thick white hair, lends itself well to being used as a disguise for the train robbers. A very forgetful man, Canon Pennyfather manages to forget what day it is, miss a conference in Lucerne and get coshed on the head for his troubles.

It's only Miss Marple's eagle eye that spots that the Canon Pennyfather she sees late one night is an impostor.

Answer: John

Dr John Christow is found dying by a distinctly unimpressed Poirot in 'The Hollow'. Blood drips into the pool and Christow's wife stands over him with a gun in her hand. John Christow's final word is 'Henrietta' in an appeal to his lover to protect his wife Gerda who has been driven beyond endurance by her husband's faithlessness.

Answer: Bob

Bob's ball forms a major plot point as it is blamed for Emily Arundell's fall down the stairs at the start of the novel. Miss Arundell discovers that in fact Bob could not have been responsible for leaving his ball at the top of the stairs as he was locked out that night, calling in Poirot to investigate which of her family has tried to kill her. Miss Lawson, the rather wet companion, inherits Miss Arundell's fortune and the dog Bob who she annoys by calling Bobsie.

At the end of the novel Bob ends up being adopted by Hastings!

Answer: Daisy Armstrong

Poirot discovers a note in Ratchett's cabin with the words 'Daisy Armstrong' on them. Ratchett was responsible for kidnapping and killing several children in America, including little Daisy Armstrong. As a result of losing her daughter, Mrs Armstrong lost the baby she was carrying and died herself; her grief-stricken husband shot himself shortly afterwards and a nursemaid killed herself after being accused of being complicit in the kidnapping. One of the things I love about this story is wondering whether Ratchett's murder is 'justified' and what I would do in Poirot's position.

Answer: Iris

Iris Marle is intended to be the second victim in 'Sparkling Cyanide' after her sister Rosemary's apparent suicide. However, a busy waiter's inadvertent misplacing of her bag on the table means that George Barton, Rosemary's husband, dies instead. Iris ends up happily married.

Answer: Giles

Giles and Gwenda begin to investigate when it appears that Gwenda witnessed a murder as a child. I've always thought that Giles was particularly dense when it comes to Miss Marple's warnings to be cautious; he doesn't heed her warnings and it almost results in the death of his wife.

Answer: St Honore

Poor Miss Marple. She never really gets a proper holiday! In London she ends up mixed up in shenanigans at Bertram's Hotel and then in the Caribbean she has to solve three murders and save a woman from being the fourth victim. Like Poirot, murder seems to follow Miss Marple around, even to St Honore.

Answer: Stephen Norton

Norton is compared several times to Iago in the novel 'Curtain'. He manipulates other people into murdering people and almost succeeds several times at Styles Court. Toby Luttrell owns the guest house and is pushed by Norton into shooting his wife (he subconsciously wants to miss so ends up shooting her through the shoulder). Dr Franklin is saddled with a querulous and demanding wife but is immune to Norton's persuasions. Sir William Boyd Carrington is friends with Mrs Franklin; she tries to poison her husband to clear her path to marrying Boyd Carrington but ends up taking the fatal dose herself. Like Iago, Norton is not technically guilty of any crime and therefore Poirot has to deal with him despite his disapproval of murder.

Answer: Jerry and Joanna

Jerry Burton is a former flier whose injuries dictate a quiet life in the country while he recovers. His sister Joanna rents a house with Jerry in Lymstock. The Burton siblings then end up embroiled in a mystery involving anonymous letters, apparent suicide, murder, and romance! They both end up married at the end of the novel.

Answer: Kitty Kidd

Kitty Kidd is an actress who pretends to be a maid in order to infiltrate the Kettering household. She is in league with Knighton, and between them they manage to kill Ruth Kettering and steal her jewels.

Answer: Lennox

Lennox Boynton is deeply in love with his wife Nadine, but is so caught up with his misery and apathy at being controlled by his horrible stepmother that he allows his marriage to flounder. It is only when Nadine threatens to leave him for another man, and his stepmother dies, that Lennox starts to repair his relationship with his wife.

Answer: Magdala

Nick and Maggie Buckley both share the same family name of Magdala. Maggie is engaged to the airman Michael Seton who inherits his wealthy uncle's fortune. At Michael Seton's death, Maggie would inherit this money as his fiancee but Nick sees her opportunity and shoots Maggie in order to pass herself off as Seton's heir.

Answer: Nora Broad

Nora Broad is a local girl whose disappearance is put down to running away with a man. In fact, Clotilde Bradbury-Scott murders Nora and disfigures her face and head so that identification is difficult. She herself identifies the body as her ward, Verity Hunt, and an innocent man is sent to prison for Verity's murder.

This is actually the second murder that Clotilde commits, as she has already poisoned and buried Verity in the garden.

Answer: Salome

Poor Salome Otterbourne. Her books aren't selling anymore, she drinks too much and she ends up getting shot whilst in the middle of revealing what she's seen to Poirot. Not really the best holiday!

Answer: Percival

Percival Fortescue is called Percy Prim by his brother Lancelot, Val by his wife and Mr Percival by his secretary. He inherits the family business after his father's murder, is trapped in a boring marriage, and discovers that his brother is a murderer. Poor old Percy!

Answer: Julius Caesar

I love the titles of Christie's novels. She uses classical quotations, poetry, nursery rhymes and puns. Here, the quotation is taken from 'Julius Caesar': "There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood leads on to fortune..."

Answer: Alexis

Alexis Restarick is a very clever young man. Realising that no one could possibly want to poison his stepmother, Carrie Louise Serrocold, he collects her nail parings to have them tested for arsenic. It is this act that prompts the murderer to bash Alexis's head in (along with the youth Ernie).

Answer: Mrs Sprot

Mrs Sprot is clearly a very good actress. She persuades everyone that she is merely a slightly drippy over-protective mother when in reality she is a cold-blooded spy and killer. It is Mrs Sprot who bashes Tommy with a hammer on his walk back to the guest house, as well as shooting the biological mother of her adopted child (and cover story) Betty.

Answer: A cart

Truelove is a cart which Tuppence uses to hurtle down a hill. Its wheels come off at one point, flinging Tuppence into a monkey puzzle tree but not seriously hurting her. Considering she's meant to be over 70 in this novel, I admire Tuppence's ability to ride Truelove at all! The rocking horse in the KK is named Mathilde and the china stools are nicknamed Oxford and Cambridge because of their light and dark blue colours.

Answer: Robin Upward

Robin Upward is the son of Evelyn Hope (Kane) who was involved with a notorious murder case before emigrating to Australia. He murders his patroness and adopted mother, Mrs Upward, as she recognises a photograph of his mother (who he has portrayed as a tragic ballerina).

Answer: Virginia

Mrs Virginia Revel is the name signed at the bottom of a series of love letters passed on to James McGrath by a grateful servant, which are used to blackmail her. Mrs Revel, however, is not the writer of the letters and only allows herself to be blackmailed as a thrill.

It is only when the blackmailer ends up dead in her house that she realises the serious nature of what has happened and she has to trust a total stranger - Anthony Cade - to help her.

Answer: Warren

Angela Warren is the younger sister of Caroline Crale who was convicted of her husband's murder. She was badly disfigured by Caroline's actions as a child (Caroline threw a paperweight at Angela and it cut her face badly) and is presented in the novel as the little pig who cries 'wee wee' all the way home. Angela Warren grows up to be successful and happy.

Answer: Prudence Cowley

Tuppence's maiden name is Cowley and her first name is Prudence. It's an ironic first name as Tuppence is definitely not prudent! At the beginning of 'The Secret Adversary' she and Tommy are not yet married, which is why the answer is Prudence Cowley rather than Prudence Beresford. Tuppence appears in several of Christie's novels: 'By The Pricking of My Thumbs', 'Postern of Fate' and 'N or M', as well as 'The Secret Adversary'.

Answer: Zelie

Zelie is one of only a few people who know what really happened to the Ravenscroft family. After Molly Ravenscroft is murdered by her sister, General Ravenscroft passes his sister-in-law off as his wife to protect her. Later, he shoots his sister-in-law and himself to hide the tragedy from the world. Zelie was a governess in the Ravenscroft household and eventually tells Poirot what she knows in order to help Celia Ravenscroft, one of the children of the house.