The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side (1962) Quiz

Answer: Jane Marple

Despite being relatively housebound (due to a bout of bronchitis, doctor's orders, and the inhibitory presence of Miss Knight), Miss Marple manages to solve three murders purely by mentally processing the information provided to her by her visitors -- Dolly Bantry, Chief Inspector Dermot Craddock, Dr Haydock, and Cherry Baker (Miss Marple's daily helper).

Answer: Dolly Bantry

After Colonel Bantry died, Dolly Bantry sold Gossington Hall and most of the land surrounding it, retaining for herself the East Lodge and a small amount of garden. She spends most of her time travelling around the world visiting her children, grandchildren and friends.

In this novel, she is at home. She visits Miss Marple and provides her with some of the information she needs to work out "whodunnit".

Answer: Marina Gregg

Marina declares she has finally found her home at Gossington Hall, but neither her current husband, Jason (who knows her well), nor Dolly Bantry, believe that she is the type to settle down.

Dolly Bantry tells Miss Marple that Marina has had five husbands - "an early one that didn't count, and then a foreign Prince or Count, and then another film star, Robert Truscott, wasn't it? That was built up as a great romance. But it only lasted four years. And then Isidore Wright, the playwright". Jason Rudd is husband number five and they have been married for approximately two years.

Answer: Heather Badcock

Miss Marple met Heather Badcock when she stumbled and fell outside Heather's house whilst exploring the new housing development at St Mary Mead. Heather is very kind but overly solicitous. She reminds Miss Marple of someone she once knew (Alison Wilde) who "always saw her own point of view so clearly that she didn't always see how things might appear to, or affect, other people". Heather dies at the Gossington Hall fete after consuming a poisoned cocktail.

Answer: Jason Rudd

Dolly Bantry's first impression was that Jason Rudd was one of the ugliest men she had ever seen but that he had interesting eyes. "The rest of his face was distinctly craggy, almost ludicrously out of proportion. His nose jutted upwards and a little red paint would have transformed it into the nose of a clown very easily.

He had, too, a clown's big sad mouth". Jason's devotion to his wife is plain for all to see.

Answer: Ella Zielinsky

Ella Zielinsky's place in the household is somewhat unclear. Jason Rudd refers to her more than once as HIS secretary. However, Ella tells Inspector Craddock that her job is "is to look after Miss Gregg's social life, her public and private engagements, and to supervise in some degree the running of the house".

Ella also tells Dolly Bantry that she is "only the social secretary" and that it is not her job to find a plumber. Marina responds by saying "Everything is your job...and you know it is, Ella. The domestic staff and the plumbing and arguing with the builders".

Answer: Lola Brewster

Lola Brewster was once married to Marina Gregg's third husband, who got a divorce from her in order to marry Marina. It was not an amicable divorce and Lola had threatened Marina at the time. This made her "suspect number 1" in the eyes of Detective Inspector Frank Cornish, the local police officer. Both Marina and Lola, however, dismissed their previous animosity as water under the bridge.

Answer: Dermot Craddock

Dermot Craddock is the godson of Sir Henry Clithering, who is an old friend of Miss Marple's and a former head of Scotland Yard. Sir Henry had a high opinion of Miss Marple's detective skills, an opinion which was obviously shared by Chief Inspector Craddock. When Craddock is assigned the investigation of the Badcock murder, he immediately consults Miss Marple. Throughout the novel, he addresses her as "Aunt" or "Aunty" on a number of occasions (although he is no relation to her).

In this novel, Dermot Craddock is a Chief Inspector at Scotland Yard. His rise through police ranks can be traced through Agatha Christie's novels -- he appears in the novel "A Murder is Announced" and in the short story "Sanctuary" (from the "Double Sin" collection) as Inspector Craddock. In "4.50 from Paddington" (also known as "What Mrs McGillicuddy Saw") he is Detective Inspector Craddock, and in "The Mirror Crack'd" as Chief Inspector Craddock.

Answer: Miss Knight

After a debilitating bout of bronchitis, Dr Haydock recommends that Miss Marple should not live alone. Raymond West hires a carer, Miss Knight, to look after his aunt. Miss Marple appreciates that Miss Knight is kind and means well, but finds her irritating because she treats Miss Marple like a child and uses the inclusive "we"; for example, asking "Have we had our little nap?" Miss Marple invents errands for Miss Knight to run to provide herself with some temporary relief from Miss Knight's attention and the opportunity to leave the house when she wishes.

Answer: Margot Bence

Margot Bence was hired to take photos at the fete because she had a reputation for taking artistic photos from unusual angles. Marina Gregg did not recognise Margot as being the small child she adopted and took to the U.S. to live. Margot lived with Marina and her then husband, Isidore Wright, along with two other adopted children, for four years.

Margot told Chief Inspector Craddock that, when Marina became pregnant with her own child, she lost interest in the adopted children: "We weren't wanted any more. We'd done very well as little stopgaps, but she didn't care a damn about us really, not a damn. Oh, she pensioned us off very prettily. With a home and a foster-mother and money for our education and a nice little sum to start us off in the world. Nobody can say that she didn't behave correctly and handsomely. But she'd never wanted us at all, she wanted was a child of her own".