The Christie Couples, Vol. V Trivia Quiz

Answer: Simon Doyle and Jackie de Bellefort

As Jackie later tells Poirot, she would have been content with just Simon. But when Linnet started to show interest in Simon, he came up with the plan to marry her, kill her, and then inherit her vast fortune, and since Jackie knew about Simon's complete lack of imagination, she felt compelled to help him to avoid getting caught immediately.

This reflects Poirot's thoughts when he first saw Simon and Jackie at the beginning of the novel: "Une qui aime et un qui se laisse aimer" ("One who loves and one who lets himself be loved").

It is also the reason why he ultimately allows Jackie to end things on her own terms.

Answer: Patrick and Christine Redfern

Patrick and Christine Redfern pose as a married couple who are going through a rough patch. They fake fights and jealousy, and Patrick creates the impression that he is having a not-very-discreet affair with Arlena Marshall, the victim-to-be. Poirot later reveals that they are probably not married at all.

Answer: Gladys Martin

Lance Fortescue, the "prodigal son," met Gladys at a summer camp, where he posed as "Bert," a young man who was done wrong by the old Mr Fortescue. He then handed the gullible Gladys something which she believed was a truth drug, telling her to put it into Rex's breakfast marmalade.

In fact, it was poison obtained from the yew trees around the house. By making someone else do it, Lance established a perfect alibi for himself, as it had been proven he was still out of the country when the murder occurred.

Answer: Josie Turner and Mark Gaskell

It turns out that Josie and Mark are secretly married, and when Mark's former father-in-law, Conway Jefferson, made plans to adopt Ruby, Mark saw his inheritance in danger and conspired to kill her. The plan involves a lot of tampering with time, place and identity, but ultimately flops on its head thanks to the ever-vigilant Miss Marple and a young boy with a fascination for crime stories.

Answer: Anne Protheroe and Lawrence Redding

In order to throw the police off the scent, Anne and Lawrence each confess to the crime, making it appear as if they secretly suspected the respective other and wanted to take the fall instead. Several other aspects also play a role, such as the fact that Anne was wearing a dress where she couldn't possibly have concealed a gun (a point she really drives home with Miss Marple).

But in the end, they are, naturally, unable to outwit everybody's favorite spinster.

Answer: Georges Conneau and Jeanne Beroldy

Paul Renauld and Georges Conneau are the same person. Georges Conneau evaded punishment all those years ago and built a new life with a wife who really loves him (Eloise Renauld). When he finds out that his new neighbor is none other than his former lover and accomplice, Jeanne Beroldy, (now known as Mme. Daubreuil), who now tries to blackmail him, he wants to use the same ruse again to fake his death and escape.

Unfortunately, his faked death becomes a very real death instead when his plans are foiled.

Answer: Kirsten Lindström

When Kirsten understood that Jacko had abandoned her, she kept quiet about her role in the death of Rachel Argyle.
The discussion with the doctor in the book contains a possible reference to the famous Craig and Bentley case, when Dr MacMaster describes Jacko as a person who, when threatened, would tell another one, "Let him have it."

Answer: Robert Orwell and Mary Restarick

Robert Orwell was a friend of the real Andrew Restarick and took his place when Andrew died. The only two people who knew he wasn't who he said were his old flame, Louise Charpentier, and David Baker, who forged a painting by putting Orwell's face in the place of the real Restarick's. Norma, Andrew Restarick's troubled daughter, was set up to take the fall for Robert and Mary's schemes to obtain Sir Roderick's fortune.

Answer: Sir George and Hattie Stubbs

Sir George is actually James Folliat, Amy Folliat's ne'er-do-well son, and his Italian wife (whose name we never learn) is playing the role of Hattie. The plot thickens when a relation of the real Hattie (who has been long dead before the book even begins) announces his visit.

Therefore, Hattie's disappearance is staged, while in fact all that she does is change clothes and play the role of an Italian hitch-hiker.

Answer: Michael Garfield and Rowena Drake

Rowena Drake, the closest relation to a wealthy old lady, set up a scheme to obtain that lady's fortune by implicating the innocent au-pair in a forgery scandal and murdering the witnesses later. She passionately loves Michael Garfield, her accomplice, and plans on eloping with him to a Greek island, but it becomes clear that Michael couldn't care less for Rowena and probably would have killed her, too.

Answer: Evelyn Howard

Even in Agatha Christie's first book, she couldn't resist bringing up an unexpected accomplice at the end: Evelyn Howard and Alfred Inglethorpe have been lovers all the time, and Evelyn's intense dislike of Alfred was merely a ruse.

Answer: Mike and Greta

It is revealed at the very end that Mike and Greta have been lovers all along, and that it was Greta who engineered the marriage between Mike and Ellie. It is also hinted in the narrative that Mike at some point considers abandoning the plan altogether and simply enjoying the marriage to Ellie, of whom he is growing fond in spite of himself.

Answer: Jimmy Thesiger and Loraine Wade

While it was Jimmy who actually murdered Gerry Wade and Ronny Devereaux, Loraine has been helping him all along (though it is debatable whether she had any part in her brother's death). Superintendent Battle speculates that she will probably not be hanged, but Thesiger certainly will.

Answer: Norman Gale

Norman Gale is the husband of the victim's daughter, who stands to inherit a substantial fortune. However, he is greedy, and while his plan probably involved killing his wife later, anyway, he speeds matters up and kills her sooner. Part of the reason for that is also that he has fallen in love, for real this time, with Jane Grey, the effective heroine of the novel.

Answer: David Hunter and Eileen Corrigan

David Hunter's sister and rightful heiress to the estate, Rosaleen Cloade, died in the blitz. Therefore Hunter replaced her with Eileen Corrigan, his lover, a former maid of Rosaleen's. However, his plan is to kill her, too, and have the vast fortune all to himself.