Death in a White Tie Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mr. Dimitri

Mrs. Halcut-Hackett went to speak to Inspector Alleyn about "a friend" who was being blackmailed. Alleyn correctly deduces that the friend is Mrs. HH (as she is sometimes called) herself. Alleyn and his friend Lord Robert "Bunchy" Gospell were already onto the blackmailing scheme of Mr. Dimitri, a famous caterer to London's elite. Mrs. HH leaves the money in a sofa at a concert as instructed by her anonymous letter. Bunchy is sent to the same concert to obtain proof that Dimitri is the blackmailer.

However, Bunchy misses Dimitri steal the money when he falls asleep. Bunchy's presence at the concert and his watchful glances convince Mrs. HH that Bunchy is the blackmailer.

Answer: That the blackmailer has a partner

Bunchy called Alleyn from the same green sitting room when someone walked into the room prompting Bunchy to hang up without finishing his sentence. Specifically what Bunchy said was "and he (Dimitri) is working with..." before stopping. Detective-Inspector Fox speculates that Bunchy might not have meant another person and could have meant something like "creative ingenuity". Most of Alleyn's investigation focuses on who this potential partner could be and who interrupted the telephone call.

By the novel's end it is not entirely clear if Bunchy knew Dimitri had a partner (he did have a partner) or what the rest of Bunchy's sentence would have been.

Answer: Choked

Bunchy's cab driver picked him up with another person whom the driver says was a man, but can't be sure. The person's face was covered and there was a deep fog that night. The other person was let out early and then Bunchy continued on to Scotland Yard. On the ride, the driver noticed that Bunchy was dead and brought him right to Alleyn. Bunchy had been choked with his own cloak after being knocked unconscious with a cigarette case. Bunchy had a weak heart so this method was quiet and quick when it might not have been if performed on someone else.

Answer: Gambling

Captain Withers is noticeably shifty in personality and is closely associated with Bunchy's nephew Donald Potter. Potter is in love with Bridget O'Brien, Lady Carrados' daughter from her first marriage. Potter has a habit of getting into debt, which Bunchy pays off.

However, Bunchy refused to help Donald the day before his murder and the two ignored each other at the fateful party. Donald inherits all of Bunchy's money, so this was a strong motive. Withers was the cause of Donald's debts because Donald lost a lot of money on a rigged roulette wheel.

Answer: She and her first husband Paddy were never legally married

Lady Carrados has fallen in love with Paddy O'Brien, but he had a wife in an insane asylum and thus could not divorce her. They acted like they were married and they had one child, Bridget. Lady Carrados wanted to keep this secret from Bridget and from her second husband, Bart Carrados. Alleyn was able to drag this information out of her and promised to keep it a secret for as long as he could. He also told her that it is probably not as big of a deal as Lady Carrados thinks it is.

Also of great concern to Lady Carrados was a letter that was sent to Paddy from his friend in Australia which mentions his wife. The letter was on Paddy's body when he got into a fatal car crash but Lady Carrados was never able to track it down. She speculates that the blackmailer must have gotten hold of it somehow, despite all this happening 18 years prior.

It was Mrs. Halcut-Hackett who was being blackmailed because of her alleged affair with Captain Withers. General Halcut-Hackett was insanely jealous and followed his wife around.

Answer: Mrs. Halcut-Hackett and Captain Withers

Mrs. Halcut-Hackett and Captain Withers went to the club after the party. Initially, neither admitted this because of the scandal it would cause and because they went to an illegal gambling den together. Fox noted that these were particularly strong alibis because neither would have admitted it unless they absolutely had to.

General Halcut-Hackett's alibi was that he left the party early to bring Rose, the girl his wife was bringing out, home when she fell ill with a toothache. However, Lady Lorrimer saw General HH out and about much later, when he claimed to be asleep.

Besides Dimitri who remained at the party to clean up, none of the other suspects ever had a strong alibi.

Answer: Sir Daniel Davidson

Sir Daniel and Bridget were waiting in Bart's study one evening waiting for the former to examine Lady Carrados. During that meeting, Sir Daniel pointed out that old desks like the one Bart had often contained hidden compartments. Alone in the study, Bridget examined the desk when Bart walked in and became furious.

He twisted her arm and bruised it badly. Sir Daniel walked in and Bart quickly covered up his attack by saying he was helping Bridget after she slipped on the polished floor.

Answer: They forwarded the letter that was on Paddy's body when he died

The Harrises are the aunt and uncle of Violet Harris, secretary to Lady Carrados. Alleyn thought it was too much of a coincidence that Lady Carrados' first husband was taken in by a couple who just happened to be related to her secretary. Indeed this proved to be exactly the case.

Paddy O'Brien had been involved in a serious car accident and was taken in by the Harrises until further medical help could arrive. However, Paddy died there. Mrs. Harris found the letter and actually gave it to Violet, who was then a teenager, to deliver it to Lady Carrados. However, Violet actually gave the letter to Bart who hid it for eighteen years.

Violet remembered the name Carrados when she was seeking employment and took the job with Lady Carrados because of the familiarity, but she never mentioned who she was.

Answer: Sir Daniel Davidson

Sir Daniel Davidson was the person who walked in on the phone conversation between Bunchy and Alleyn. Bunchy had mentioned that "he might as well mix his damn brews with poison". This was a description of how Dimitri's blackmailing destroyed people's lives as if he had poisoned them when he made cocktails. However, Alleyn realized "brews" could be misinterpreted as tonics and medicines like a doctor like Sir Daniel would mix. Sir Daniel believed Bunchy was on to him as Dimitri's partner and killed him in the taxi ride. It is not made known if Bunchy actually knew Sir Daniel was the mastermind behind Dimitri's schemes.

Sir Daniel was the brains in the operation. He would discover damaging information about a target and send Dimitri to write the actual blackmailing letters and to collect the money. It was Sir Daniel who told Dimitri to search Bart Carrados' desk, where he found Paddy's letter that was used to blackmail Lady Carrados.

Answer: It was mailed to China

Early in the novel, Fox had joked that cloak, which had disappeared, could be as far away as China. This turned out to be the case. Alleyn noticed that Sir Daniel had an ad on his desk asking for clothing donations to a medical mission in China. In the novel's epilogue, a man in China read a telegram from Alleyn in reference to the cloak, which the man happened to be wearing at that very moment.