The Tuesday Night Club Murders Quiz

Answer: Mrs. Jones

Sir Henry tells that Mr. and Mrs. Jones, and Miss Clark, her companion, had all sat down to supper and all became ill with ptomaine poisoning. The culprit was thought to be the tinned lobster that each had eaten. Mr. Jones and Miss Clark recovered, but poor Mrs. Jones died. Gladys Linch was the Jones' young maid.

Answer: The trifle was topped with arsenic sprinkles

Miss Marple knew that "hundreds and thousands" referred to the colored sugar sprinkles that topped the trifle. Mr. Jones had given the arsenic-tainted hundreds and thousands to Gladys Linch to sprinkle on the trifle. He knew the companion, Miss Clark, was on a diet and would not eat any trifle. Jones merely raked his off the top of his serving of dessert, so he knew that Mrs. Jones would be the only one to eat the arsenic.

The impressionable young Gladys was "in trouble" by Jones, who promised to marry her if she helped get rid of Mrs. Jones. Jones, a complete cad, had deserted Gladys for the doctor's daughter, but Gladys had her revenge.

She confessed all on her deathbed.

Answer: Diana Ashley

Richard Haydon had restored Silent Grove, a large house on the Dartmoor Moor. To his new house, he invited several guests, including his cousin, Elliot Haydon, Dr. Pender, and Society beauty Diana Ashley. On the property was what Sir Richard thought had been the site of the ancient grove of the goddess Astarte.

It was there that he had build the Idol House to the goddess. Dr. Pender was not the only guest to sense a presence of evil and menace in that ancient place. On the night of the fancy dress party, the guests realize that Diana Ashley is not with them.

They follow her out and find her, dressed as the goddess Astarte, at the Idol House of Astarte.

Answer: Sir Richard Haydon

As beautiful Diana Ashley stood bathed in the moonlight that fateful night in front of the Idol House of Astarte, she seemed to the others to actually be the goddess herself come to life. When Sir Richard starts towards Diana, she cries out that anyone coming near her would be smitten by the power of the goddess. Sir Richard laughs and continues forward--only to fall down and lay unmoving on the ground. Elliott Haydon, his cousin, kneels by Sir Richard, and announces he has been stabbed to death, but there is no sign of a weapon. Miss Marple once again pulls out all the stops and uses her vast experience of life in St. Mary Mead to find the solution to Dr. Pender's mystery.

Answer: Clode wanted to leave most of his fortune to American medium Mrs. Spragg

Poor Mr. Clode had been hoodwinked by that shyster of a medium from America, Mrs. Spragg, and her equally wretched husband, Mr. Spragg! She had the old gentleman under her complete control by supposedly bringing back the spirit of his long-dead little granddaughter. Clode decides to rewrite his will and make the Spiritalist scoundrels his new heirs!

Answer: The envelope contained a blank piece of paper

Phillip Garrod, a very smart young man, was married to Grace, Simon's niece, and he was not about to sit still for the nefarious Mrs. Eurydice Spragg to bilk the rightful heirs out of their long-expected bounty. He gave Emma, Simon's housemaid, a pen full of disappearing ink which she dutifuuly gave to Simon, and this was the pen Simon wrote his new will with.

Answer: Geoffrey had discovered that Mabel was cheating with the gardener

Geoffrey and Mabel did not appear to have a "marriage made in heaven"; in fact, they quarreled often. The day Geoffrey died started out with a real row. Mabel had a loud voice and a tendency for hysterics, so she was heard by the servants screaming at her husband.

She signed at the chemist's for arsenic, too, on the day of his demise, which did not look at all good to the villagers in light of Geoffrey's sudden and completely unexpected death. There was no mention of a gardener in Miss Marple's account of the doings surrounding Geoffrey's death.

Answer: Pile of carp

"Pile of carp". When our Miss Marple found that Geoffrey's poor old unstable Dad was using eyedrops that contained atropine sulfate, she knew at once that Geoffrey was asking for "pilocarpine", the antidote for atropine poisoning. Geoffrey always kept a glass of water on his nightstand to drink during the night. Old Mr. Denham had heard Geoffrey and Mabel quarreling over Geoffrey's plans to send his Dad to an asylum. That night, Mr. Denham had snuck into his son's room, dumped out the water, and put the eyedrops in the glass.

This certainly proves, that in their final agrument, Geoffrey, not Mabel, was right. Geoffrey finally had the last word.

Answer: Inhaling poison instead of smelling salts

Zarida, "Pyschic Reader of the Future", tells the gullible, semi-invalid Mrs. Pritchard that blue flowers are fatal to her. A mysterious letter is delivered to Mrs. Pritchard telling her, among other things, "Beware of the full moon...the Blue Geranium means death". But, a flower changing color on the wallpaper did not kill the lady, did it? Miss Marple was quick to see that the slight smell of gas in Mrs. Pritchard's room was to mask the almond odor of cyanide of potassium that had been substituted for Mrs. Pritchard's sal ammoniac smelling salts.

When the lady sniffed up the bogus restortative, it killed her.

Answer: Nurse Copley- she was in love with Mr. Pritchard

Nurse Copley fell in love with George Pritchard and decided to clear the field of any obstacles to his affections. She knew Mrs. Pritchard was not only a believer in fortune tellers but weak-minded as well. She dressed up as Zarida and set the stage for getting rid of Mrs. Pritchard. Nurse Copley turned on the gas slightly to hide the smell of the poison smelling salts she had substituted for Mrs. Pritchard's.

The lady killed Mrs. Pritchard all for naught. As for George Pritchard, well, he gave his affections to Jean Instow, a healty, attractive, outdoorsy sort who loved golf--in other words, the opposite of his high-strung, perpetually complaining wife. I hope you have enjoyed my quiz.

These are just some of the wonderful stories in "The Tuesday Night Club Murders".

There are many more fine stories in this collection, and each gives Miss Marple, my favorite amateur sleuth, an opportunity to really shine.