How to Solve Your Own Murder: 20-Question Quiz

Think you’ve cracked the mystery of Frances Adams’s murder and Emily Sparrow’s disappearance? This quiz spans the entire book, from the 1965 fortune-telling to the present-day investigation. Each question draws on plot, character motivation, theme, and symbolism. Answers and brief explanations follow.

Plot and Sequence Questions

In 1965, what murder method does Madame Peony Lane’s fortune predict for Frances?
- A) Stabbing
- B) Poison
- C) Drowning
- D) Shooting
What object does Annie find embedded in the rose thorns that confirms Frances was murdered?
- A) Glass shards
- B) Tiny needles
- C) Metal filings
- D) Poison capsules
Where is Emily Sparrow’s body discovered in the present day?
- A) In the River Dimber
- B) Inside a trunk in Frances’s basement
- C) Beneath a rose bush at Gravesdown Hall
- D) In a locked drawer of Frances’s filing cabinet
What is the actual cause of Frances’s death, according to the autopsy?
- A) Hemlock poisoning
- B) Iron injection
- C) Heart attack induced by fear
- D) Needle puncture infection
Who does Annie initially suspect redirected the will meeting to conceal the murder?
- A) Saxon Gravesdown
- B) Walter Gordon
- C) Oliver Gordon
- D) Detective Crane
How does Annie solve the combination of the locked drawer in Frances’s file room?
- A) Using Emily’s birth date
- B) Using the fortune-teller’s words as a cipher
- C) Guessing the number of Frances’s age
- D) Finding the key in a flower vase
What does Annie discover inside the false-bottom wardrobe in Frances’s house?
- A) A hidden revolver
- B) Stolen heirlooms and Elva’s inventory
- C) The green leather diary
- D) A threatening note with “bones in a box”
In the climax, who traps Annie in an ambulance and attempts to inject her with a lethal overdose?
- A) Saxon Gravesdown
- B) Joe Leroy
- C) Magda
- D) Oliver Gordon

Character Motivation Questions

Why does Rose Kill Emily Sparrow in 1966?
- A) To inherit Frances’s estate
- B) Out of jealous, obsessive devotion to Frances
- C) To protect her son Joe from exposure
- D) Revenge for Emily’s affair with John
What is the reason Frances’s paranoia about “beware the bird” comes true?
- A) A bird necklace betrays a secret
- B) Emily Sparrow betrays Frances’s trust by imitating her
- C) Saxon Gravesdown wears a bird-shaped pin
- D) The fortune‑teller was named Peony Lane (peony is a flower, not a bird)
Why does Walter Gordon redirect monthly payments to Annie’s mother Laura for years?
- A) He was in love with Laura
- B) Frances discovered Emily’s body and used the payments to atone for the secret
- C) He was blackmailing Frances
- D) Laura was his illegitimate daughter
What motive does Oliver Gordon have for leaving the threatening notes in Frances’s house?
- A) To scare Frances into selling the estate to his firm
- B) To frame Detective Crane
- C) Because he believed Frances had ruined his career prospects
- D) To protect his grandfather Walt
Why does Saxon lie about his alibi on the day of Frances’s murder?
- A) He was committing a drug deal with Magda
- B) He was breaking into Frances’s house
- C) He was with his girlfriend
- D) He was trying to destroy evidence of his cannabis operation

Theme and Symbol Questions

The “queen” in the fortune symbolises what throughout the novel?
- A) Frances’s eventual power over her own fate
- B) Ford Gravesdown’s control over the estate
- C) The chess piece Frances holds when her slow demise begins
- D) The female heir who will solve the murder
What does the repeated image of “dry bones” in the fortune ultimately represent?
- A) Frances’s fear of being buried alive
- B) Emily Sparrow’s skeleton, hidden for decades
- C) The remains of the Gravesdown estate’s ruined farmhouse
- D) The fate of all the characters’ secrets
The fortune‑teller’s phrase “daughters are the key to justice” is fulfilled by which action?
- A) Annie discovers her biological father
- B) Frances chooses Annie as the “right daughter” to investigate her murder
- C) Laura Adams takes revenge on Frances
- D) Elva Gravesdown’s daughter solves the crime
How does the author use the motif of the bird necklace?
- A) As a charm that protects the wearer from harm
- B) As a symbol of betrayal—Emily wears one and Rose throws hers away
- C) As a clue that leads to the killer
- D) As a gift from Ford to Frances

Synthesis Questions

Compare the two murders in the novel: Emily Sparrow’s (1966) and Frances’s (present). What common element links the motives?
- Short answer (1-2 sentences): _____________________________________________________________
How does Annie’s development as an amateur detective mirror Frances’s own lifelong investigation? Provide one similarity and one difference.
- Short answer (2-3 sentences): _____________________________________________________________
The fortune predicts Frances’s murder by poison, yet she is actually killed by an iron injection. What does this discrepancy suggest about the theme of fate vs. free will in the book?
- Short answer (2-3 sentences): _____________________________________________________________

Answer Key

B) Poison – Madame Peony Lane forecasts “your future contains dry bones” and that Frances will be murdered by poison. (Prologue)
B) Tiny needles – Annie notices metal needles inserted into the rose thorns, confirming the bouquet was designed to kill. (Chapter 7)
B) Inside a trunk in Frances’s basement – The trunk was sent from the Chelsea house; inside is Emily’s skeleton. (Chapter 20)
B) Iron injection – The autopsy reveals a lethal dose of iron, not hemlock. (Chapter 16)
B) Walter Gordon – Annie theorizes Walt faked the call moving the meeting after he killed Frances. (Chapter 31)
B) Using the fortune-teller’s words as a cipher – The words “right” and “one” from the fortune match the rotary lock’s pattern. (Chapter 29)
B) Stolen heirlooms and Elva’s inventory – Elva had been hiding items there. (Chapter 33)
B) Joe Leroy – Joe traps Annie and tries to overdose her. (Chapter 37)
B) Out of jealous, obsessive devotion to Frances – Rose killed Emily because Emily had betrayed Frances. (Chapter 40)
B) Emily Sparrow betrays Frances’s trust by imitating her – Emily wears Frances’s coat and seduces John, fulfilling the fortune’s warning. (Multiple chapters)
B) Frances discovered Emily’s body and used the payments to atone for the secret – The payments began the day Frances found the body. (Chapter 37)
C) Because he believed Frances had ruined his career prospects – Oliver admits he left the notes in anger. (Chapter 42)
A) He was committing a drug deal with Magda – Saxon’s alibi was false because he was involved in drug trafficking. (Chapter 30-31)
C) The chess piece Frances holds when her slow demise begins – The fortune says “your slow demise begins right when you hold the queen in the palm of one hand.” (Chapter 11)
B) Emily Sparrow’s skeleton, hidden for decades – The “dry bones” predicted refer to Emily’s remains. (Chapter 22)
B) Frances chooses Annie as the “right daughter” to investigate her murder – Annie is the “right daughter” who brings justice. (Chapter 40)
B) As a symbol of betrayal—Emily wears one and Rose throws hers away – Emily’s bird necklace is the only evidence left when she disappears. (Prologue, Chapter 15)
Common motive: Obsession and the desire to protect a relationship with Frances. Rose killed Emily out of possessive love for Frances; Joe killed Frances to protect his mother Rose’s secret. (Chapters 40, 41)
Similarity: Both keep detailed journals/murder boards and question everyone. Difference: Frances was isolated in her investigation for decades; Annie works with others (Detective Crane, Saxon) and solves the case within a week.
The discrepancy shows that fate may appear predictable, but human actions and choices alter the outcome. Frances believed she would be poisoned, yet her real cause of death was a clever twist on poison (injection). She spent her life trying to outwit the fortune, but her killer adapted the method.

For more on the story, read our main book page, explore questions and answers, or see the ending explained.