Crooked House Trivia Quiz

Answer: They met through work

Sophia worked in an administrative position in one of the Foreign Office departments, and Charles worked in the Diplomatic Service. They met in Egypt near the end of World War II. No mutual friends are mentioned, they are certainly not vacationing, and the pair that met in FitzJames Gardens were Victoria and Edward in "They Came to Baghdad".

Answer: There are two obituaries placed in the newspaper

Charles saw the two obituaries in the Times the day he returns from abroad. One was placed by Aristide's widow, the other by the rest of the family. He has dinner with Sophia the same night and she informs him of the suspicion that Aristide was murdered, so by the time Charles sees his father, who is Assistant Commissioner of Scotland Yard, he is already prepared for the worst. Aristide Leonides was 85 years old, so Charles did not think he was too young to die; in fact, he suggests to Sophia that her grandfather's death was due to old age.

Answer: 9

There was his wife, Brenda; his sister-in-law, Edith de Haviland; his son Roger and Roger's wife Clemency; his son Philip and Philip's wife Magda; and his grandchildren (by Philip) Sophia, Eustace, and Josephine.

Answer: He feels sorry for her

Charles feels sorry for this frightened young woman, and thinks the way the Leonides family treats her "positively inhuman". However, when Sophia speaks to him after his encounter with Brenda, she offers him her point of view. "What a very high moral tone you're taking, Charles. Brenda must have done her stuff pretty well...she just made you feel sorry for her.

She's not actually beautiful, she's not in the least clever - but she's got one very outstanding characteristic. She can make trouble.

She's made trouble, already, between you and me." Sophia feels that Brenda made up a hard luck story to entice Aristide into marrying her.

Answer: Clemency Leonides

The austerity of Clemency is reiterated again and again in this book. She dislikes money and possessions, and desperately wants to go away from Swinly Dean and live with Roger on a small estate in Barbados. Material things please Brenda Leonides, such as her jewelry and expensive dresses. Magda would use an indefinite amount of money to produce plays starring herself, and Sophia is aware that she is the sole heir of Aristide's will!

Answer: True

No wonder Philip grew up with an inferiority complex! Roger is definitely a lovable person, but Aristide (though a kindly man) showed his preference clearly, even in his will that left nothing to either son. "My dearly loved son Roger has no business sense, and though of a lovable nature is too impulsive to have good judgement. My son Philip is too unsure of himself to do anything but retreat from life."

Answer: Mr. Agrodopolous

Mr. Agrodopolous was an old friend of Aristide Leonides and was the proprietor of the Delphos Restaurant. Mr. Gaitskill had been Aristide's lawyer for years and was quite offended that Aristide had (1) fooled him by not signing the will Mr. Gaitskill had drawn up, (2) instead drawing up his own will and (3) entrusting this new version of the will to his old countryman Mr. Agrodopolous. Laurence Brown was the tutor with whom (it appears) Brenda was carrying on a non-physical affair.

Answer: Eserine drops

Aristide's eserine eyedrops were put into one of his insulin bottles. Aristide himself told his family that if he were injected with eserine instead of insulin he would probably "...give a big gasp, and go rather blue in the face, and then die...", effectively outlining his own murder. Atropine drops were used to poison Geoffrey Denman in "The Thumb Mark of St. Peter", and digitalin tablets to poison Sylvia in "The Herb of Death". Both of these were chapters in the Miss Marple story "The Thirteen Problems", also published as "The Tuesday Club Murders".

Answer: Josephine Leonides

Josephine, a child of eleven or twelve, killed her grandfather. Sophia and Charles read Josephine's journal after she is killed, which begins with "Today I killed Grandfather". Apparently she decided to kill her after he barred her from taking ballet lessons. Nice kid! Josephine was an unfortunate mixture of all of the "bad" personality traits of her relatives; Aristide's crookedness, untempered by kindliness and love for others, Magda's egoism, Philip's touchiness, and her grandmother's authoritarian ruthlessness.

She was also the unattractive one of Magda and Philip's children, which added to her bitterness.

Answer: Edith de Haviland

Edith de Haviland knows that Josephine killed Aristide and decides that the best thing is to prevent any more suffering, both by Josephine and others (by this time Josephine has also killed Nannie for saying that she is a show-off and encouraging Magda to send her off to boarding school).

She arranges a car accident, killing herself and Josephine, and leaves a letter accepting the responsibility for the murder of Aristide Leonides. "Edith Thompson" is the title of a play and the starring role which Magda talks about throughout the book.