The Way the Crow Flies Trivia Quiz

Answer: McCarthy

The family consists of Madeline, the youngest family member and main character of the story. There is also her father, Jack, who plays quite a significant role in the unravelling murder mystery, her mother, Mimi, who is Acadian (simply put a form of French-Canadian) and a source of stress for Madeline, and her older brother Mike, who eventually disappears.

Answer: Mr. March was a child molester who wanted to look at and touch little girls

Mr. March was a child molester who no doubt caused some harm to these little girls. The "exercises" as he called them, never lasted more than five minutes so their parents would never question why they were late coming home from school. He called each girl forward one by one and made them do backbends so that he could see their panties. This grew increasingly worse. Madeline would save Claire from these exercises by writing her parents a note and leaving it with their milk on the porch.

Answer: Hide and transport a Soviet Scientist across American borders

Simon Crawford worked in Intelligence for Canada. Simon was Jack's mentor and taught him how to fly a plane; he was there when Jack got into the accident that almost killed him and made it so he would never fly again. Simon asked Jack to look after a scientist who was coming to Canada and the United States to assist NASA with building rockets to go into space. All Jack had to do was run some errands for this man and tell Blair McCarroll why he was really stationed there.

Unfortunately, Claire McCarroll was murdered and the Captain never learned the real way he was meant to serve his country.

Answer: as "the day that Daddy died"

Even as a small child, Madeline had a flair for the dramatic. Although while she was younger, she managed to keep it inside better than she appears to as an adult. Everytime Madeline thinks this throughout the book, she corrects herself, "The day Daddy almost died". She does realize that if her father had been killed in that accident she never would have been born.

Answer: That he was having an affair.

One night, she found in his pocket a grocery list that he made of things that Oskar Fried had asked for. He had a couple of unexplained hours where he was gone from his desk at work and couldn't account for. Of course, the readers know that he was just doing his duty to serve his country, or so he thought.

It isn't until the end of the story that Mimi finally learns the truth for herself.

Answer: He was the one driving the Ford Galaxy.

Jack was driving the 1963 Ford Galaxy that Simon had purchased for Oskar Fried. Henry Froelich had recognized Fried as being a "supervisor" at Dora and was trying to get his attention, and saw him getting into this car. Jack was told to make the car "disappear", which he did.

While driving the car to dispose of it, he saw Ricky running with his sister Elizabeth and their dog Rex; he waved to him, and Ricky waved back but couldn't see who was driving. Because he was doing something that was classified as Top Secret, he couldn't tell the truth and clear Ricky's name without explaining what he was doing driving that car. Which is why Ricky was found guilty of the murder.

Answer: Soviet Scientist making his way to America

Oskar Fried (not his real name), was brought to Canada by Simon and was supposed to be transported across the border by Blair McCarroll. He was being brought over to help the Americans in their desire to win the space-race between them and the Soviets.

When Claire McCarroll is murdered, Fried becomes a temporary suspect because Ricky saw the exact car that his father saw his old supervisor getting into. Once the car and Fried disappeared there was nothing to substantiate this story. But when Jack tells Simon about the murder, Fried is transported without Jack's assistance.

Answer: Grace and Marjorie

Their motive isn't made very clear. But one can discern from reading the book that they were jealous of the attention that Mr. March wanted to give her in those afternoon exercises. Or it could have been that Claire and Marjorie both had crushes on Ricky and Marjorie was afraid that she would be competition.

It's a horrific part of the story, but it brings together the missing pieces that you search for the whole story.

Answer: He joined the United States Marine Corps and disappeared in Vietnam

The last we hear of Mike, he shows up at home wearing a USMC uniform talking about how he's going to help the US win the war in Vietnam. He was sent over, but never heard from again.

Answer: He turns away, and wipes a tear from his eye.

One of the most beautiful moments of this book. Madeline is sitting next to Ricky who spent years in prison, being violated and abused in every way possible. She tells him that it is her father's fault that he had to endure it. He never got upset, never said a word about it, just turned to look at the lake and wipe a tear from his eye.