Five Little Pigs Trivia Quiz

Answer: Because Caroline told her daughter she was innocent

Carla produces a letter her mother wrote her from prison in which she explains that she is innocent. While normally this would not be convincing, Carla remembers her mother would never lie to her, ever, in any circumstance. Poirot is not convinced by this, but agrees to take up the challenge of proving Caroline Crale innocent (or guilty).

Answer: In his glass of beer

The fact that the coniine poison was found in the glass of beer but not in the beer bottle is one of the major clues for Poirot that proves Caroline innocent. Since Caroline was seen wiping fingerprints off the bottle of beer, it meant that she thought the poison was in the bottle and not in the glass.

Answer: Phillip Blake - "the pig who had roast beef"

Phillip Blake is "the pig who went to the market", in reference to his career as a stockbroker. "The pig who had roast beef" is Elsa Greer, referring to the fact that she had a lot of nerve.

Meredith Blake is "the pig who stayed home" because he had always lived in the family home. Cecilia Williams is "the pig who had none", refering to her lifestyle post-murder, since she has very few possessions. Angela Warren is the "pig who went wee wee wee all the way home" because she had complained about having to go back to school.

Answer: Angela stole the valerian

All four events are alluded to or believe to have happened but the only one that did was Angela stealing the valerian for a prank, which she never performed.

Some of the pigs believed (or lied) that the argument between Caroline and Amyas where Amyas said "I'll see to her packing" was about Angela returning to school. Poirot, however, knows that cannot be true because packing Angela up for school would be women's work according to Amyas. Amyas could only have been referring to sending Elsa packing.

Amyas was conducting an affair with Elsa but only to ensure she stayed until his painting was completed. He never intended to leave Caroline. Also, both Blake brothers fell in love with Caroline but she never waivered from Amyas.

Answer: Cecilia Williams

Cecilia told Poirot she believed Caroline to be the killer not only because she delivered Amyas' his last beer and was seen wiping fingerprints off the bottle but also because of Amyas' cheating. Miss Williams said that Caroline was pushed to murder because of Amyas' mistreatment of his wife and that Caroline was justified (though should still be punished) in doing so.

Answer: Elsa

The second argument was also about Elsa, but in a completely different context. The first argument was about Amyas potentially leaving Caroline for Elsa, in which Amyas convinced his wife that he was never going to leave her and just told Elsa he would so she wouldn't leave before the painting is finished. This is the argument when Caroline said "you and your women" which to Poirot, meant that Elsa was just like all of Amyas' other rejected mistresses.

However, their second argument is about Amyas' treatment of Elsa. Caroline did not appreciate the cruel way Amyas was stringing Elsa along. Caroline realized that Elsa truly believed Amyas would leave his wife for her and Caroline began to sympathize with Elsa. It was during this argument that Amyas said "I'll see to her packing".

Answer: Angela Warren

Angela was Caroline's much younger sister whom she severely injured when she threw a paperweight at her when Angela was a baby. Caroline always felt deeply guilty about the situation. Caroline knew Angela stole the valerian and saw her playing around with Amyas' beer. When Amyas died, Caroline thought it was Angela who killed him (either intentionally or accidentally) and began removing traces of Angela from the crime scene, such as wiping her fingerprints off of the bottle of beer.

In a letter Caroline sent to Angela, Caroline asked Angela not to worry about her situation because she finally feels at peace and has earned redemption. Also, Caroline does not mention her innocence to Angela because it would not be necessary to do so if she thought Angela was guilty.

Answer: Amyas said "everything tastes foul today".

This is a classic piece of Christie misdirection. Because everyone assumed Caroline was the murderer, they assumed the second beer, which Caroline brought to Amyas, was poisoned. Even after people started doubting Caroline was the murderer, the focus was still on the second beer.

However, after he drank the second beer, Amyas said "everything tastes foul today" which Poirot deduced meant that Amyas had already tasted something that was foul - the first beer.

Answer: Getting a cardigan

Elsa temporarily taking a break from being painted to go fetch a cardigan was mentioned very briefly in some of the written accounts. However, it was not a trivial detail as Elsa was gone for a short, but unknown, period of time. Poirot was able to deduce that she took a pen filler, loaded the coniine into it and snuck the filler into her cardigan.

She then emptied the filler into Amyas' first beer.

Answer: She leads a miserable life

Poirot promises Elsa that he intends to try and bring the case against her. However, after 16 years and slim evidence, he admits it is unlikely. It is implied that Elsa will get away with the murder. However, during those 16 years, Elsa married and became Lady Dittisham.

Despite her new and wealthy life, Elsa has led an unhappy life since she killed Amyas. Poirot explains that this miserable feeling stems from the fact that she never won over Amyas, losing him to Caroline. The couple is now together in death leaving Elsa to go about her life completely emotionally alone.