Miss Marple in "A Murder is Announced" Quiz

Answer: The central heating

The two topics that almost all of the guests mentioned were the beautiful chrysanthemums and the fact that Miss Blacklock had put the central heating on. The central heating is actually a major clue. If the central heating were not on, a fire would have had to be lit in the room where the murder took place and the fire would have provided light when the murderer needed darkness.

Answer: A vase of violets

Dora "Bunny" Bunner, Miss Blacklock's companion, told Inspector Craddock that Miss Blacklock was holding the vase of violets when the lights went out. Miss Blacklock corrects her and says she was actually holding the cigarette box. This seemed like just another of Bunny's slip ups caused by her muddled thinking.

However, Miss Marple realized that the lights went out when water was poured on the frayed lamp cord and realized Bunny was actually right. The water came from the vase of violets, that were dead by the next day.

Answer: Rudi Scherz

Rudi Scherz placed the ad in "The Chipping Cleghorn Gazette". This baffled Inspector Craddock because this made it seem that Rudi Scherz had planned the whole stickup when Craddock suspected otherwise. Of course, he reasoned that Rudi's killer and Miss Blacklock's would-be assassin would be careful not to be seen placing the ad.

But this was one piece of evidence in favor of the idea that Rudi had planned the holdup.

Answer: A previously unused door's hinges have been oiled

The parlor at Little Paddocks was once two separate rooms that Miss Blacklock renovated into one large room. As a result, the door that used to be used to enter the second room became a dummy and, until recently, was blocked by an end table. Craddock initially believes that only someone who lived in Little Paddocks could have oiled the hinges of that door (so it would open quietly).

However, he is proved wrong when he learns the people of the village routinely enter each other's houses for various purposes.

Answer: Patrick Simmons

Charlotte was Letitia's sister who, as a young woman, developed a severe goiter that went untreated. After their strict father died, Letitia left her job with the wealthy Randal Goedler to go to Switzerland with Charlotte so she could have her goiter removed. However, Charlotte had grown very lonely by then and rarely left her home. Letitia used to update Charlotte on the goings on in her life in the hopes to bring some normalcy to Charlotte. Letitia had once arranged for Randal's sister Sonia to pick up Charlotte and take her out for the day. Bunny was an old school friend of Charlotte and Letitia's when they were young. Rudi Scherz worked in the hospital in Switzerland where she had her surgery.

Although Patrick Simmons is a distant relative of Letitia and Charlotte, he had not met Miss Blacklock until he first moved into Little Paddocks about two months prior to the start of the novel.

Answer: Sonia Goedler

Inspector Craddock believed that is was possible that Sonia Goedler could be one of the women in Chipping Cleghorn and asked Miss Blacklock for a photo of Sonia so he knew what she looked like. When they check the photo albums, all of the photos of Sonia are missing. Miss Marple later explains that Miss Blacklock had removed the photos of Sonia so Craddock would not suspect Philippa. Miss Blacklock knew Philippa was actually Pip and the resemblance between Philippa and Sonia was very strong and easily recognizable. Craddock did find a picture of Sonia in the attic but failed to see the resemblance.

Answer: Her birthday

Bunny died on her birthday and shortly after her birthday party ended. Miss Blacklock had planned an extraordinary party for her friend which included a decadent chocolate cake, called Delicious Death, and gifts. The chocolate gave Bunny a headache and she died after taking poisoned aspirin from Miss Blacklock's bottle.

Answer: Behind the door that swung open

Miss Murgatroyd got caught behind the swinging door (the one Rudi Scherz used to enter the parlor). As a result, she was not blinded by Rudi's flashlight and could see the others in the room when the flashlight shined on them. Miss Hinchcliff deduces that Miss Murgatroyd can figure out the murderer by process of elimination.

The person Miss Murgatroyd did not remember seeing must be the killer. However, Miss Hinchcliff leaves before Miss Murgatroyd can explain who was missing from the room, only saying "she wasn't there".

Answer: Edmund Sweetenham

It was already established that Julia Simmons was not the real Julia but Pip's sister Emma. Everyone was under the assumption that Pip was male but that was not the case. Inspector Craddock accuses Edmund of being Pip as part of the plan to trap Miss Blacklock into revealing herself as the killer.

However, Philippa interrupts this when she admits to being Pip. Craddock than quickly accuses Edmund of trying to kill Miss Blacklock to have a wealthy wife in Philippa.

Answer: Inviting Bunny to live with her

As Miss Marple explains, the Letitia Blacklock in the story was actually Charlotte pretending to be her sister so she can collect the Goedler fortune. As a healed adult, Charlotte once again became lonely and invited Bunny to live with her. However, Bunny was muddle-headed and made a lot of mistakes. One of these mistakes was accidentally calling Miss Blacklock "Lotty", short for Charlotte, instead of "Letty", short for Letitia. Bunny also talked a lot and on several occasions mentioned to Miss Marple about how the lamps in the parlor switched, about the oiled door and Miss Blacklock holding the violet vase when the lights went off.

She became too much of a liability to Miss Blacklock so Charlotte killed her. It was at that point that Miss Blacklock broke down as she truly cared for Bunny.