"Rivers of London" by Ben Aaronovitch Quiz

Answer: He's a ghost

Whichever of these had been true, it would be difficult to produce in court, or even to convince any other police officer of the witness's existence. Nonetheless, in this tale, Nicholas Wallpenny is a ghost. Possibly an actor in life, probably a thief and general ne'er-do-well, depending on who is asked. Regardless, having introduced himself as Nicholas Wallpenny, the ghost describes the murder to Probationary Constable Grant.

Answer: Case Progression Unit

The "Case Progression Unit" is not considered to be a prestigious role, doing paperwork so "proper" police can get on with their jobs on the street. However due to his other activities (interviewing the murder witness) on the morning he is supposed to start, Peter's appointment changes to one of the departments of "The Economic and Specialist Crimes Unit".

More precisely, a one-man department run by Inspector Nightingale that fits nowhere else in the police hierarchy.

Answer: Isaac Newton

The building is described as "The First Home of English Magic" with Isaac Newton the "first man to systemise the practise of magic". Above the door, the Latin phrase "Scientia Potestas Est" is inscribed, which can be translated as "Knowledge is Power". The building contains various rooms including three libraries.
The other three names listed, while all noted in history as magicians and alchemists, do not appear in this book.

Answer: Mortuary

This building exists in the real world and is formally named "The Iain West Forensic Suite". In both the real world and this novel, it is designed to handle multiple deaths in a single incident. It is named after a renowned forensic pathologist whose experiences include dealing with the victims of various bombings in the UK and the Paddington Rail Crash.
In the book, it is also cynically described as representing "the Home Office's best attempt to make one of its mortuaries look as cool as the ones in American TV shows", I couldn't comment on whether that is true or not.

Answer: Actors

There may be churches associated with the other professions, but, in the book and in real life London, St Paul's Church in Covent Garden is known as the actors' church. With a large number of theatres in the area, this seems a reasonable association. A noticeable part of the action, including several of the murders, take place in the immediately vicinity of the church.

Answer: Toby (Dog)

Toby is a brown and white mutt whose deceased owner lived alone. A seemingly minor plot twist is that Toby is symbolically important in the pattern of the murders. PC Grant does tell Toby that he isn't a dog person and that the Inspector would turn him into a pair of mittens but, all the same, ends up adopting him. Toby seems to quickly settle in at the Folly and appears to be sensitive to magical activity, which is helpful considering the nature of the work done in the building.

Answer: Phosphorus grenades

Phosphorus grenades are supplied courtesy of the Fire Brigade liaison officer, who is also a reservist in the Parachute Regiment. Frank, the liaison officer, is also a Fire Investigation Officer, who conveniently turns up shortly after the fire ignited by the grenades to 'investigate' the cause of the fire.

The report will be suitably sanitized with no mention of vampires or phosphorus, and any evidence to the contrary will also have been removed.

Answer: Cult of Neptune

Apparently, it is all the water that they play with that makes Neptune a suitable god for them to follow. Also, the original members of the brigade were sailors looking for a job on dry land. This is revealed when Beverley Brooks destroys a fire hydrant as a means to extinguishing a fire to save several lives during the riot.

She is very concerned about upsetting the Cult of Neptune in this way and also she is worried about having upset Thames Water. As the personification of the Beverley Brook, she considers it a bad idea to upset those (Thames Water) who can release sewage into her headwaters. Beverley Brook is a real tributary of the River Thames. Less than 10 miles in length, it runs along the west side of Wimbledon Common and through Richmond Park to join the River Thames in Putney.

Its route can be followed roughly by the Beverley Brooks Walk which is marked on Ordnance Survey maps.

Answer: Royal Opera House audience

The audience of the Royal Opera House start rioting having been incited by the main antagonist in the story. Whatever the original show was, the second half went distinctly off-key. However, this wasn't exactly in the way the antagonist had planned. Burning down most of Covent Garden though does tend to put a dent into the plans of anyone in the vicinity including tourists and the various branches of the police.

Answer: Teddington Lock (Tidal vs non tidal)

Old Man Thames, the God of the river rules the freshwater section upstream from Teddington Lock. The Goddess runs the tidal section.
The settling of this dispute of this may seem to have little to do with the main plot initially, but the resolution of the one is not possible without the other.
The children of these two squabbling parties, (his sons and her daughters), are the personifications of the tributaries of the river Thames, in other words the "rivers of London". Some of these, eg Beverley Brook and Ty (Tyburn), are significant supporting characters in the story. Others may have been introduced with an eye to subsequent books in the series.