>THE QUIZ SOLUTIONS: NEAT OR FIENDISH?

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Here are the answers to the September MiniQuiz number 8.

Questions and Answers:

1] Which crime writer wrote “As a man gets older, if he knows what is good for him, the women he likes are getting older, too. The trouble is that most of them are married. ” A bonus mark for getting the book.

Those words of wisdom had to come from one of the hard boiled great writers, and this was:

Ross MacDonald: The Zebra Striped Hearse 1962

2] How might a member of a low Indian caste help you find the connection between a large timepiece and an impossible exit ?

More tricky but a low Indian caste is an Untouchable, a recent film version of The Untouchables starred Kevin Costner.

Kevin Costner also starred in No Way Out, which was based on Kenneth Fearing’s novel The Big Clock.

3] Can you view the dark resonance and deliver the answer that nominally links an assassinated president, a biblical brother and an English painter ?

Almost every word provides a clue.

View it is a movie. Dark-it is a noir film. Resonance-ring. Deliver– who delivers, the postman.

Nominally– it is the names that are important.

The assassinated president is not Abraham Lincoln but James Garfield, the biblical brother is Cain, and of course the English painter is J.W.Turner.

Their names are all linked in the 1946 film noir The Postman Always Rings Twice starring Lana Turner, and John Garfield, based on the novel by James M. Cain.

I thought that was rather neat, or fiendish if you prefer.

Congratulations to the two joint champions, both from the USA [Texas and Virginia], and the two joint runners up from Denmark and Scotland.

You were all brilliant and very impressively kept going over such a long period.

I will be in contact to arrange your prizes.

Next month a short quiz with a book prize and then in November a longer Winter Festivals Quiz to keep those little grey cells glowing until January 2010.

>THE PRINCESS PIER AND AGATHA

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The Princess Pier in Torquay was named after Princess Louise, the fifth of Queen Victoria’s seven children, and opened to the public in 1894.

It was one of young Agatha Miller’s favourite places and for 2d very old money she could roller skate on the pier. The photograph of Agatha Miller [and information is from Exploring Agatha Christie country by David Gerrard] shows Agatha in a feathered hat and long skirt.

Today roller skating is forbidden, but the pier is still a pleasant place to walk and sit admiring the scenery.

In the background of the modern photograph you can see the Grand Hotel, where Agatha spent a one-night honeymoon on Christmas Eve, 1914 with Archie Christie.

>CELEBRATING AGATHA CHRISTIE: DAY 3

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Here is the link to Day 3 of the Celebrating Agatha Christie week which is running at Mysteries in Paradise from the 13-20 September.

Photographs of Torquay, where Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born on September 15th 1890, 119 years ago today.