Agatha Christie could turn a country-house weekend, a train delay, or afternoon tea into a crime scene with impeccable timing.
These Agatha Christie trivia questions begin spoiler-free, then move into clearly labeled plot-detail rounds without making murderer reveals the whole game.
Spoiler-Free: Agatha Christie's Life and Career
Start safely with the author's family, travels, work, and extraordinary publishing career.
- What was Agatha Christie's birth surname?
Answer: Miller - In what English seaside town was she born?
Answer: Torquay - In what year was Christie born?
Answer: 1890 - What was her first husband's surname?
Answer: Christie - What was her second husband's profession?
Answer: Archaeologist - What was her second husband's name?
Answer: Max Mallowan - Which wartime job taught Christie about poisons?
Answer: Dispensary work - During which two world wars did Christie work in hospitals or pharmacies?
Answer: World War I and World War II - What title did Christie receive in 1971?
Answer: Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire - Under what name did Christie publish romantic novels?
Answer: Mary Westmacott - How many Mary Westmacott novels did she publish?
Answer: Six - What Devon house became Christie's holiday home?
Answer: Greenway - In what year did Agatha Christie die?
Answer: 1976 - Where is Christie buried?
Answer: St Mary's churchyard in Cholsey, Oxfordshire - What nickname is often given to Christie?
Answer: The Queen of Crime
Spoiler-Free: Meet Hercule Poirot
The little grey cells are fully operational, and no solution details are needed for this detective round.
- What nationality is Hercule Poirot?
Answer: Belgian - What profession did Poirot have before becoming a private detective?
Answer: Police officer - What phrase describes Poirot's reasoning powers?
Answer: The little grey cells - What facial feature does Poirot groom with great pride?
Answer: His mustache - Who is Poirot's frequent friend and narrator?
Answer: Captain Arthur Hastings - What is Hastings's first name?
Answer: Arthur - Which Scotland Yard inspector often works with Poirot?
Answer: Inspector Japp - What secretary assists Poirot in several stories?
Answer: Miss Felicity Lemon - Which mystery novelist appears as Poirot's friend and Christie's comic self-parody?
Answer: Ariadne Oliver - In which novel did Poirot first appear?
Answer: The Mysterious Affair at Styles - What was Poirot's final novel, published in 1975?
Answer: Curtain - At what country house is The Mysterious Affair at Styles set?
Answer: Styles Court - Which 1926 novel made Poirot central to a famously innovative mystery?
Answer: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - What form of transport gives Murder on the Orient Express its setting?
Answer: A luxury train - On what river does Death on the Nile take place?
Answer: The Nile
Spoiler-Free: Miss Marple and Village Mysteries
St. Mary Mead may look peaceful, but Miss Marple has spent a lifetime studying human nature.
- What is Miss Marple's first name?
Answer: Jane - In what fictional village does Miss Marple live?
Answer: St. Mary Mead - What hobby is Miss Marple often shown enjoying?
Answer: Knitting - What gives Miss Marple insight into crimes?
Answer: Her close observation of village behavior and human nature - In which novel did Miss Marple first appear?
Answer: The Murder at the Vicarage - Who narrates The Murder at the Vicarage?
Answer: The Reverend Leonard Clement - What collection marks Miss Marple's first short-story appearance in book form?
Answer: The Thirteen Problems - What recurring gathering shares unsolved mysteries in that collection?
Answer: The Tuesday Night Club - Which novel sends Miss Marple to a Caribbean resort?
Answer: A Caribbean Mystery - Which novel takes Miss Marple to a grand hotel in London?
Answer: At Bertram's Hotel - Which novel begins with an advertisement announcing a murder?
Answer: A Murder Is Announced - Which Miss Marple novel takes its title from a nursery rhyme about blackbirds?
Answer: A Pocket Full of Rye - Which novel features the phrase 'They do it with mirrors'?
Answer: They Do It with Mirrors - Which late Miss Marple novel begins with instructions from the dead Jason Rafiel?
Answer: Nemesis - What was the final Miss Marple novel Christie wrote, though not the last published?
Answer: Nemesis
Spoiler-Free: Other Detectives and Standalones
Christie's mystery world has room for adventurous couples, mysterious employers, and novels without Poirot or Marple.
- What are Tommy and Tuppence's surnames?
Answer: Beresford - What are their first names?
Answer: Thomas and Prudence - In which novel do Tommy and Tuppence first appear?
Answer: The Secret Adversary - What is Tuppence short for?
Answer: Prudence - Which collection sends Tommy and Tuppence parodying famous fictional detectives?
Answer: Partners in Crime - Which mysterious investigator employs unusual agents?
Answer: Mr. Quin - Who frequently encounters Harley Quin?
Answer: Mr. Satterthwaite - What elderly investigator appears in Parker Pyne Investigates?
Answer: Parker Pyne - What does Parker Pyne advertise that he can solve?
Answer: Unhappiness - Which superintendent appears in several police procedurals?
Answer: Superintendent Battle - Which recurring character helps investigate The Pale Horse?
Answer: Ariadne Oliver - Which standalone novel strands ten people on an island?
Answer: And Then There Were None - Which standalone thriller follows newlyweds in Why Didn't They Ask Evans??
Answer: Bobby Jones and Frankie Derwent are not newlyweds - Which novel features amateur sleuth Luke Fitzwilliam?
Answer: Murder Is Easy - Which novel sends Victoria Jones to Baghdad?
Answer: They Came to Baghdad
Country Houses, Trains, Islands, and Hotels
Christie understood that a memorable location can narrow the suspect list before the detective says a word.
- Which train is stopped by snow in Murder on the Orient Express?
Answer: The Simplon Orient Express - Which Egyptian archaeological site is central to Death Comes as the End?
Answer: Thebes - What island setting traps the guests in And Then There Were None?
Answer: Soldier Island in the current text - What real island helped inspire Christie's novel setting?
Answer: Burgh Island - Which hotel inspired aspects of At Bertram's Hotel?
Answer: Brown's Hotel is often cited as an influence - What fictional Devon resort appears in Evil Under the Sun?
Answer: The Jolly Roger Hotel on Smugglers' Island - Which riverboat carries Poirot in Death on the Nile?
Answer: The Karnak - What country-house library is the discovery site in The Body in the Library?
Answer: Gossington Hall - Which archaeological region inspired Murder in Mesopotamia?
Answer: Iraq, at a fictional dig near Hassanieh - What airport city begins Christie's travel in Passenger to Frankfurt?
Answer: Frankfurt - What London transportation hub appears in 4.50 from Paddington?
Answer: Paddington Station - What kind of institution is Meadowbank in Cat Among the Pigeons?
Answer: A prestigious girls' school - What seaside town setting appears in Peril at End House?
Answer: St Loo - Which novel is set largely on the fictional Caribbean island of St Honoré?
Answer: A Caribbean Mystery - What home becomes Poirot's final setting in Curtain?
Answer: Styles Court
Plot Premises and Clues: Light Spoilers Ahead
This round reveals setups and clue details, but it avoids naming the murderer whenever possible.
- What object is found beside the victim in The ABC Murders?
Answer: An ABC railway guide - What pattern links the early crimes in The ABC Murders?
Answer: Victims and places follow alphabetical order - What is advertised in the local paper in A Murder Is Announced?
Answer: The time and place of a murder - What kind of object goes missing in The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding?
Answer: A ruby - What nursery rhyme structures And Then There Were None?
Answer: Ten Little Soldiers in current editions - What object disappears from the dining-room display after each death in And Then There Were None?
Answer: A small soldier figurine - What is the victim's profession in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd?
Answer: Wealthy industrialist or businessman - What detail makes the Orient Express crime a locked-group mystery?
Answer: The train is trapped in snow - What event precedes the murder in Cards on the Table?
Answer: A bridge party - How many detective figures investigate in Cards on the Table?
Answer: Four - What nursery rhyme lends its title to Hickory Dickory Dock?
Answer: Hickory Dickory Dock - What theatrical event frames Three Act Tragedy?
Answer: A dinner party and later gathering, arranged like three acts - What type of object contains the key list in The Clocks?
Answer: Several clocks are found around the body - What holiday gathering is central to Hercule Poirot's Christmas?
Answer: A family Christmas reunion - What does Elspeth McGillicuddy witness from one train to another?
Answer: A woman being strangled
Stage, Screen, and Radio Adaptations
Every question here names the adaptation, so actors and inventions never get confused with the original books.
- Which actor played Poirot in the long-running ITV series Agatha Christie's Poirot?
Answer: David Suchet - Who played Hastings in that ITV series?
Answer: Hugh Fraser - Who played Miss Lemon in the ITV series?
Answer: Pauline Moran - Which actress played Miss Marple in twelve BBC television adaptations beginning in 1984?
Answer: Joan Hickson - Which actress played Miss Marple in MGM films beginning with Murder, She Said?
Answer: Margaret Rutherford - Did Margaret Rutherford's Miss Marple films always closely follow the novels?
Answer: No - Who played Poirot in the 1974 film Murder on the Orient Express?
Answer: Albert Finney - Who played Poirot in the 1978 film Death on the Nile?
Answer: Peter Ustinov - Who directed the 2017 film Murder on the Orient Express and played Poirot?
Answer: Kenneth Branagh - Which actress played Ariadne Oliver in the ITV Poirot series?
Answer: Zoë Wanamaker - What Christie play opened in London's West End in 1952?
Answer: The Mousetrap - What mystery is The Mousetrap adapted from?
Answer: The radio play Three Blind Mice - What tradition asks audiences not to reveal The Mousetrap's ending?
Answer: The cast's curtain-call request for secrecy - Which 2015 BBC miniseries adapted And Then There Were None?
Answer: And Then There Were None - Which actress played Miss Marple in the 2010 film adaptation The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side for ITV?
Answer: Julia McKenzie
Titles, Publishing, and Christie Deep Cuts
Finish with alternate titles, stage records, recurring motifs, and bibliographic details for committed readers.
- What was the U.S. title of Murder on the Orient Express when first published there?
Answer: Murder in the Calais Coach - What alternate U.S. title was used for The Sittaford Mystery?
Answer: The Murder at Hazelmoor - What alternate U.S. title was used for Lord Edgware Dies?
Answer: Thirteen at Dinner - What alternate U.S. title was used for Five Little Pigs?
Answer: Murder in Retrospect - Which standalone Christie mystery was published in the U.S. as The Boomerang Clue?
Answer: Why Didn't They Ask Evans? - Which Tommy and Tuppence title comes from a line in Shakespeare's Macbeth?
Answer: By the Pricking of My Thumbs - Which novel title comes from Shakespeare's The Tempest?
Answer: Taken at the Flood - Which novel title quotes a line from Tennyson's Lady of Shalott?
Answer: The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side - Which Christie novel is set in ancient Egypt?
Answer: Death Comes as the End - Which book collects cases narrated around the Tuesday Night Club?
Answer: The Thirteen Problems - Which 1939 collection includes the original short story The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest?
Answer: The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories - Which novel introduces the international criminal organization called the Big Four?
Answer: The Big Four - Which novel features a poison-pen letter campaign in the village of Lymstock?
Answer: The Moving Finger - Which novel pairs Tommy and Tuppence with memories of World War II espionage?
Answer: Postern of Fate - Which Christie mystery has sold in enormous numbers and is often called the bestselling crime novel ever?
Answer: And Then There Were None
Keep the game going with train trivia, London trivia, movie trivia, and Shakespeare trivia.
Sources and Further Reading
- Official Agatha Christie website
- British Library: Agatha Christie
- National Trust: Greenway
- Project Gutenberg: Agatha Christie
- Encyclopaedia Britannica: Agatha Christie
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