Christie Plots and Titles Trivia Game | Agatha Christie

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. A family get together is in progress, when the master of the house is killed. Featuring a Spanish beauty, a bag of diamonds and a false moustache! Which is this Poirot mystery?

Answer: Hercule Poirot's Christmas

'Hercule Poirot's Christmas' was first published in 1938. This Hercule Poirot mystery features Simeon Lee, a nasty old man who invites his family for Christmas and then goes on to humiliate them one by one. A Spanish beauty Pilar, South African diamonds and a false moustache (which Poirot uses to crack the case) are key elements in this novel.

The novel ends with the Superintendent in charge of the case being unmasked as the murderer.

2. A serial killer is on the loose and he has the gall to challenge Poirot. The killer is found and he confesses, but Poirot is not so sure. Which is this novel?

Answer: The ABC Murders

'The ABC Murders' was first published in 1936 and features a serial killer who has an obsession with alphabets and leaves an ABC railway guide at the scene of the crime. Alexander Bonaparte Cust (ABC) is arrested for the murder and confesses, but Poirot does not believe him to be the murderer. Poirot assembles all the characters and in the denouement at the end, unmasks the killer (brother of one of the killed).

This novel is written in a unique style combining a first person and third person narrative.

3. A group of people assemble in a house in response to an advertisement and there is a murder. Two of the suspects are Pip and Emma! It takes all of Miss Marple's ingenuity to crack the case. Name the novel.

Answer: A Murder is Announced

'A Murder in Announced' was first published in 1950. The novel starts off with an advertisement in a newspaper announcing a murder at Little Paddocks at 6:30. This Miss Marple mystery features two sisters, one of whom had impersonated the other. To ensure that her real identity is not revealed, she commits three murders. Miss Marple does some neat deductions and traps the killer red handed.

4. This story is set during World War II and features a Nazi plot to infiltrate an English coastal town. The central characters go about trying to unmask the spies. Which novel is this?

Answer: N or M?

'N or M?' is a spy thriller by Agatha Christie featuring Tommy & Tuppence, the detective couple. This 1941 novel features Tommy & Tuppence going to a hotel named Sans Souci in disguise. The only clue they have is that there are two spies whose code names are N and M. This thriller ends with Tommy & Tuppence risking their lives to capture the spies.

5. Featured is a strange family, under the thumb of an autocratic mother. When the mother is murdered, each of the members of the family comes under suspicion. An injection syringe is the clue and the poison is digitoxin. Which is this novel?

Answer: Appointment with Death

'Appointment with Death' is a Hercule Poirot mystery which was first published in 1938. The novel features an autocratic former jail warder Mrs. Boynton, who takes sadistic pleasure in dominating and controlling the lives of her family members. When her son falls in love with Sarah King, it causes an upheaval.

The mother is found dead, poisoned by digitoxin and Hercule Poirot is called in. A former prisoner who served under Boynton is revealed as the murderer. And all is well for the family who find their roots after the death of the mother.

6. A man plans with his wife to fake his death to escape the clutches of a blackmailer, but the plan turns awry and he really dies. A French detective arrests the son, but Poirot is not convinced. Which novel features this plot?

Answer: Murder on the Links

'Murder on the Links', first published in 1923, features a murder on a golf links. This is the second Poirot novel after 'Mysterious affair at Styles'. Paul Renauld is being blackmailed and plans to fake his death, but his plan goes wrong and he is found dead. Poirot arrives on the scene and meets the arrogant French detective Giraud who suspects the son. And in the meanwhile, Hastings finds love, but his love is the prime suspect and this leads to a conflict with Poirot. Finally, Poirot unmasks the culprit and Hastings is united with his love.

This novel is Christie's third novel after 'Mysterious Affair at Styles' and 'The Secret Adversary'.

7. Three witches in a village perform black magic and people mysteriously die. The hero plans to find the truth, but his plan goes dangerously wrong and the heroine is on her death bed. Identify this novel which also features Ariadne Oliver.

Answer: The Pale Horse

'The Pale Horse' was first published in 1961 and focuses on black magic. A syndicate works to put away people purportedly through black magic. The hero Mark Easterbrook wants to unravel the plot. His friend Ginger pretends to be his first wife and Mark approaches the syndicate to bet on Ginger's death. Mark attends a grisly ritual where the witches use a strange machine.

Their plan goes wrong, with Ginger falling seriously ill. Just in time (with help from the authoress Ariadne Oliver), Mark realises that there is no black magic and it just thallium poisoning.

The criminal, a chemist, is arrested, Ginger recovers and Mark proposes to her at the end of the novel. Reportedly, this novel helped a number of people to detect symptoms of thallium poisoning and they sent letters to Christie thanking her for the detailed description of thallium poisoning symptoms in the novel.

8. A Christie classic - a dead man is found and the suspect is the man's nephew. Poirot, who has retired to grow vegetable marrows, takes up the case. The novel features one of the most innovative endings by Christie. Which is this novel?

Answer: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

'The Murder of Roger Ackroyd', published in 1926 is without doubt one of Christie's greatest works and is the novel which catapulted her to international fame. A Hercule Poirot mystery, this novel features the murder of Roger Ackroyd and the suspect is his nephew.

The narrator of the story is Dr. Sheppard, whose neighbour is Hercule Poirot who has retired to grow vegetable marrows. Poirot takes up the case and the ending of the novel is sensational, with the narrator Dr. Sheppard revealed as the murderer.

This is one of the most innovative endings thought of by Christie and the novel is considered as one of the most influential crime novels ever written. This plot was reportedly suggested to Christie by her brother-in-law and also by Lord Mountbatten.

9. A woman is murdered in a train and there is only one eyewitness, who saw the murder from a passing train. The body is found and the novel centers on a family, whose members are poisoned one by one. Can you guess the title of this novel?

Answer: 4.50 from Paddington

'4.50 from Paddington' was first published in 1957. This Miss Marple mystery starts with Ms. Marple's friend Elspeth McGillicuddy seeing a murder in a passing by train; no one believes her, except Miss Marple. Unable to handle the case because of her ill-health, she hands the case to Lucy Eyelesbarrow.

After studying the train route, Miss Marple concludes that Rutherford Hall is an important location. Lucy takes up job at the Hall and finds the body of the dead woman. Members of the family are being poisoned one by one and finally Miss Marple arrives along with Mrs. McGillicuddy and solves the case.

The novel ends on an enigmatic note with the reader not finding out whom Lucy is going to marry. The novel is also known as 'What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw'.

10. This novel features an Egyptian family in the year 2000, not AD but BC! Members of the family die one by one and no one knows who the murderer is. Which is this novel?

Answer: Death Comes as the End

'Death Comes as the End' was first published in 1944 and is set in ancient Egypt in Thebes in the year 2000 BC. Christie has done lot of research about life in ancient Egypt in this novel. The central character is Renisenb, a young widow. Her father brings in a concubine and the problems start.

The concubine is killed and one by one members of the family start to die. The hero saves Renisenb in the end from the killer (her brother) and they get married. Not less than seven people are killed before the murderer is revealed.

The novel is reportedly based on the letters of an Egyptian man to his family complaining about the ill-treatment of his concubine.

Source: Author deepakmr

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor agony before going online.
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Christie Plots and Titles Trivia Quiz

Go through the plot from the Agatha Christie novel and identify the name of the novel.

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