The Circular Staircase Trivia Quiz

Answer: Her niece and nephew cajoled her into it

Rachel Innes was a middle-aged spinster who was a foster mother to her niece and nephew, Gertrude and Halsey. All three were quite wealthy. Halsey and Gertrude were in their early twenties and intended to spend the summer with their aunt at Sunnyside.

While searching for a house to rent, Rachel liked Sunnyside but was not sure about renting it. Gertrude and Halsey convinced her to rent it. Rachel later discovered that Halsey and Gertrude were friends with the Armstrong family who owned Sunnyside. Rachel was only vaguely familiar of the Armstrongs but did know some people who lived in the nearby town.

Answer: A cuff link

Rachel and her companion Liddy moved into Sunnyside one day before Halsey and Gertrude. Liddy was normally quite jumpy to begin with and was further frightened when she and Rachel saw a man peeking in from the window on the first floor. During the night, they heard strange noises on the circular staircase but saw nothing.

The next morning, Rachel noticed there were scrapes on the steps as if a thin metal item fell down the stairs. At the top of the stairs, she found a cuff link that she did not recognize.

She thought it could be Halsey's but Halsey hadn't arrived yet so his jewelry wouldn't be there. In addition, there were no visible signs of a break in.

Answer: A window in the card room was smashed

Rachel and Liddy experienced deja vu when they heard the same noises yet again. Only this time, they also heard a revolver going off. Rachel and Gertrude sought out Halsey for protection but he was not in his bedroom nor was Jack Bailey, Halsey's friend and Gertrude's love interest, who was staying that night at Sunnyside. The women feared one of them may be injured but the dead man was Arnold Armstrong, the son of the man who owned Sunnyside. They soon discovered that neither Halsey nor Bailey were in the house. The police detective Jamieson was suspicious. Rachel accused him of believing Halsey was the murderer. Jamieson denied this but said no crime would have been committed had this been self defense. He found it odd that there was no sign of a break in yet Arnold apparently tried to enter the house unnoticed.

While exploring for clues, Rachel discovered Halsey's revolver in the tulip garden. While she refused to believe her nephew killed Arnold Armstrong, Rachel was nonetheless not pleased that Halsey and Gertrude were keeping secrets from her and admitted privately their behavior was peculiar.

Answer: Bank fraud

Jack Bailey was arrested the morning after the murder for bank fraud. He worked as a cashier at the bank owned by Paul Armstrong, Arnold's father. Under Bailey's supervision, over $300,000 in bank bonds disappeared. Bailey denied any wrongdoing but turned himself in to the police when an arrest warrant was issued. The bank was forced to close and since Halsey's and Gertrude's money was at that bank, their fortunes were in jeopardy.

Halsey assured his aunt and sister that Bailey was innocent of the fraud and was being set up by Paul Armstrong. Rachel insisted she would need proof before she could believe that. Meanwhile, Jamieson seemed content to try to connect Bailey to the murder of Arnold Armstrong.

Answer: Louise Armstrong

Rachel began to notice that Mrs. Watson, the housekeeper, and other servants seemed to be bringing unusual items out of Sunnyside into the guesthouse. These things included extra blankets and food. When Rachel first visited the guesthouse, she noticed floral scented bath items. She found this strange since only male servants were living there at the time. It soon came to light that Louise Armstrong, Paul's stepdaughter, had returned early from California and was very sick. Thomas, the butler, had been secretly taking care of Louise as she wished not to disturb Rachel. Rachel insisted that Louise move up to Sunnyside, which was her home, and rest there.

Halsey told his aunt that he intended to marry Louise but her family, especially her stepfather, did not approve of him. Louise confirmed this but said that she cannot marry Halsey even though she loved him and would marry Dr. Walker instead. Dr. Walker was traveling with the Armstrongs in California. Louise returned home early and Dr. Walker gave notice that he was returning home to New York with Mrs. Armstrong because Paul had taken ill and died. Louise was not initially told of the deaths of her stepbrother or stepfather.

Answer: She was too engaged in the mystery to leave voluntarily

Dr. Walker repeatedly asked Rachel to give up Sunnyside so Mrs. Armstrong could return to her home rather than having to stay elsewhere in town. Rachel flat out refused to leave each time. In her narrative, she explained she was simply too intrigued by all the mysteries that were still unsolved to just leave.

In addition, her entire family was caught up in it. She told Dr. Walker, however, that she could not leave even if she wanted to because her home was being renovated and cannot be lived in anyway.

Answer: The cemetery to dig up Paul Armstrong

As the mystery began to come to a close, Halsey suddenly vanished again. His car was found crashed into the side of a train. A tramp told Alex that Halsey was still alive and probably had been kidnapped, tied up and left on a train car. Meanwhile, Rachel was asked by Detective Jamieson to meet him in the middle of the night.

She did not know where they were going or why but she followed him, Alex and Dr. Stewart through the wooded, muddy area behind Sunnyside until they reached the cemetery where Paul Armstrong was buried. Jamieson told Rachel he needed her to identify the body.

After the body was exhumed, Rachel told the detective that body was not Paul Armstrong's and she had never seen that man before her in her life.

Answer: False

The police believed Arnold Armstrong had entered his own home, not knowing it was rented, to search for a secret room at Sunnyside. The obvious place, according to the blueprints and visual inspection of the house, was in the base of the circular staircase.

However, Jamieson had searched that area many times and found nothing. It was Rachel who found the secret room upstairs behind the fireplace in the trunk room. She accidentally got herself locked in the room and discovered the missing bank bonds there.

Answer: As Alex, the gardener

Gertrude and Halsey had believed Jack to be innocent of stealing the bank bonds. Rachel, however, demanded to see proof and refused to believe Jack innocent or guilty until evidence pointed one way or another. For his safety, Jack masqueraded as Alex, the gardener at Sunnyside. Rachel had suspected that Alex was not a real gardener as he did not seem to know anything about flowers and was too chummy with Halsey and Gertrude.

But she did not have a clue he was really Jack until she saw Alex kiss Gertrude at the end of the novel.

Answer: Mrs. Watson, the housekeeper

Rachel learned the truth about Arnold Armstrong's murder from Mrs. Watson when the latter was on her death bed. Arnold had married Mrs. Watson's sister under a different name. The two had a child together but Arnold quickly fled to return to his real life under his real name. Mrs. Watson's sister died and left the child to her. However, Mrs. Watson did not have any money. She raised the boy for a little bit but had to place him with a family in the nearby town. Mrs. Watson took a job at Sunnyside as the housekeeper and she successfully managed to blackmail Arnold into paying for the child. However, Arnold managed to turn the tables on her and began blackmailing her.

After Rachel took Sunnyside, Mrs. Watson stayed on as housekeeper but became frightened when Arnold unexpectedly returned. During a confrontation, Arnold struck Mrs. Watson on the hand, severely injuring her. She then shot him in self defense with Halsey's revolver. After her confession to Rachel, Mrs. Watson died from an infection caused by her injured hand.

Arnold had actually returned to Sunnyside that night to search for the bank bonds. He knew his father and Dr. Walker conspired to steal the bank bonds, frame Jack Bailey and then fake Paul's death. This plan had been disrupted by Nina Carrington. No one in town knew who Nina Carrington was but Dr. Walker had told everyone to be aware of her. Nina Carrington also took a servant's position at Sunnyside before she was killed. Nina was a nurse in California who discovered that Paul Armstrong was not really dead and began blackmailing him.