Sparkling Cyanide (1945) Trivia Quiz

Answer: Remembered Death

"Remembered Death" was published in 1945. Agatha Christie did not like the new title "Sparkling Cyanide". She felt it was "a flippant title for a really rather serious book". (The other three answers were all titles of Agatha Christie plays.)

Answer: The flower rosemary stands for remembrance

The flower rosemary is an emblem of remembrance. The theme of remembrance recurs throughout the book. Agatha Christie's daughter's name was Rosalind, not Rosemary.

Answer: Stephen Farraday

Rosemary was having an affair with Stephen Farraday. He was "Leopard" and Rosemary was "Black Beauty" in their love letters. Farraday tried to end their affair but Rosemary resisted. Farraday was a suspect because, if the affair were to become public knowledge, his career as an MP would be ruined.

Answer: aunt

Lucilla Drake was Rosemary's aunt. Iris lived with her sister Rosemary and Rosemary's husband George. After Rosemary died, George suggested that her aunt should come to live with them and chaperone Iris into society.

Answer: Victor Drake

Victor Drake was Rosemary's cousin, the black sheep of the family, who shamelessly sponged off his doting, impoverished mother, Lucilla.

Answer: Ruth Lessing

Ruth Lessing was George Barton's personal assistant/secretary. She was devoted to George Barton and hated Rosemary. When he met her, Victor Drake said to Ruth, "You've no pity in you ... Ruth is your name, isn't it? Piquant that. Ruth the ruthless."

Answer: Tony Morelli

Victor Drake, Rosemary's cousin, recognised Anthony Browne as "an ex-gaol-bird" called Tony Morelli and disclosed this to Rosemary. Giuseppe Balsano was the waiter at the restaurant. Pedro Morales (also known as "Monkey" Coleman) happened to be dining in the restaurant when George Barton was killed.

Answer: Betty Archdale

Betty Archdale was the Barton's parlourmaid. She was a chronic eavesdropper. When she left the Barton's employ, Betty told Lucilla Drake that "she hoped that in her next place, she wouldn't be in the kind of house where people got bumped off."

Answer: Ruth Lessing

The Cachet Faivre contained aspirin ... or did it really contain cyanide? Cachets are small paper envelopes or wafers which contain medication in powder form.

Answer: All Souls' Day

The party was held on All Souls' Day, November 2nd. All Souls' Day is an official Catholic holy day in which the faithful remember the souls of all their friends and loved ones who have died. However, George uses Iris's birthday the following week as the excuse for holding the second party.

Answer: Chloe West

Chloe West was an actress who bore a superficial resemblance to Rosemary. She was hired by George Barton to impersonate Rosemary at the dinner. Chloe did not turn up as expected because someone purporting to be George Barton telephoned and told her the dinner had been put off.

Answer: George Barton

Iris Marle was the intended victim but George drank the poisoned champagne that was meant for Iris and so became the second person to die.

Answer: three

The first attempt backfired when George drank the poisoned champagne that was meant for Iris. In the second attempt, she narrowly missed death by a 'hit and run' accident. In the third attempt, someone knocked Iris out with a blow to the head and locked her in her room with the gas left on. Luckily she was rescued in time.

Answer: Anthony Browne

At the beginning of the novel, Anthony Browne appears to be an unsavoury character but it is later revealed that he is a policeman working undercover. Anthony Browne, Colonel Race and CI Kemp were sitting around a table, drinking tea and coffee, and discussing the crimes. Each had his own theory as to the identity of the murderer.

It was Anthony Browne who was the first to realise who was really responsible for the crimes and how they were accomplished.

Answer: Yellow Iris

All of the answers are the titles of short stories from "The Regatta Mystery". Hercule Poirot was the detective in "Yellow Iris" but Agatha Christie eventually tired of Poirot, so she made Colonel Race the investigator in the novel "Remembered Death". Colonel Race appeared in four Agatha Christie novels, the other three being "The Man in the Brown Suit", "Cards on the Table" and "Death on the Nile".