Jigsaw by Jonathan Kellerman: Full-Book Quiz

Test your recall and understanding of Jigsaw, the 36th Alex Delaware novel. This quiz spans the entire book with questions on plot, character motivation, themes, and synthesis. Mix of multiple-choice and short-answer formats.

How to use this quiz: Take it after reading the book, use it for book club discussion, or challenge yourself to see how many details you remember. The complete answer key with explanations follows all 20 questions.

Part One: Plot and Sequence (Questions 1–8)

Question 1 (Multiple Choice)

What piece of evidence initially made Michael Heck the prime suspect in Sophie Barlow's murder?

A) His fingerprints on the kitchen door
B) Two cigarette butts with his DNA found in a bowl at the scene
C) A voicemail he left threatening Sophie the night she died
D) His wallet discovered under Sophie's body

Question 2 (Multiple Choice)

Where was retired detective Martha Matthias's body discovered?

A) In the trunk of her car
B) Buried in her backyard garden
C) Inside a working deep-freeze in her garage
D) Beneath a pile of newspapers in her living room

Question 3 (Short Answer)

What did neighbor Genevieve Winslow's dog, Balthazar, do that provided a possible timeline for the crime?

Question 4 (Multiple Choice)

How much hidden cash was ultimately found inside Martha Matthias's hoarder home?

A) $5,000
B) $10,000
C) $60,000
D) $150,000

Question 5 (Short Answer)

Where was Lynne Gutierrez's body ultimately discovered, and what caused her death?

Question 6 (Multiple Choice)

What disguise did attorney Bettina Bel Geddes use to fabricate Michael Heck's alibi?

A) A surgical mask and sunglasses
B) A platinum blonde wig
C) A fake pregnancy belly
D) A wheelchair

Question 7 (Short Answer)

What weapon did Tiana Crown pull from her handbag when confronted by detectives in the downtown alley?

Question 8 (Multiple Choice)

What resolution did prosecutor John Nguyen reach in Tiana Crown's case?

A) A life sentence after trial
B) A 40-year plea deal contingent on explaining her motives
C) A mistrial due to incompetent defense
D) A not-guilty verdict by reason of insanity

Part Two: Character Motivation (Questions 9–13)

Question 9 (Short Answer)

Why did Bettina Bel Geddes orchestrate Michael Heck's brief incarceration and false-arrest lawsuit strategy?

Question 10 (Multiple Choice)

According to Tiana Crown's confession, what was her primary motive for murdering Sophie Barlow?

A) Sophie had insulted Tiana at the gym
B) Sophie owed Tiana money from a failed business deal
C) Punishing Michael Heck for betraying their enterprise and rejecting her romantically
D) Sophie had discovered Tiana's steroid use

Question 11 (Short Answer)

Why did Lieutenant Milo Sturgis feel a personal obligation to solve Martha Matthias's murder?

Question 12 (Multiple Choice)

What was Michael Heck's professional relationship to disgraced attorney Darren Alberts?

A) He was Alberts's personal lawyer
B) He worked at Alberts's firm managing expenses
C) He was Alberts's stepson
D) He was an FBI agent embedded in the firm

Question 13 (Short Answer)

How did Tiana Crown rationalize the murder of Lynne Gutierrez?

Part Three: Theme and Symbolism (Questions 14–17)

Question 14 (Short Answer)

What trauma or psychological condition does Alex Delaware associate with Martha Matthias's severe hoarding?

Question 15 (Multiple Choice)

What dual significance does the jigsaw tool hold in the novel?

A) It symbolizes the fragmented family dynamic and was used to cut up documents
B) It is the likely dismemberment weapon and connects to Tiana's craft hobby of building birdhouses
C) It represents Alex's approach to therapy and was found in Sophie's kitchen
D) It is a metaphor for the legal system and was used to break into Martha's safe

Question 16 (Short Answer)

What does the blonde wig worn by Bettina Bel Geddes symbolize within the story's exploration of deception?

Question 17 (Multiple Choice)

What broader failing does the novel expose through the initial dismissal of Lynne Gutierrez's missing-person report?

A) The incompetence of forensic pathologists
B) Institutional neglect and police apathy toward vulnerable adults
C) The corruption of federal prosecutors
D) The unreliability of neighborhood canvasses

Part Four: Synthesis (Questions 18–20)

Question 18 (Short Answer)

Alex Delaware initially struggles to link three murders with different methods. What ultimately connects Sophie Barlow, Martha Matthias, and Lynne Gutierrez to a single perpetrator?

Question 19 (Multiple Choice)

What statistical observation prompts Alex to suspect the murders might be connected despite their apparent differences?

A) All three victims were killed on the same day of the week
B) Strangulation and blunt-force trauma are extremely rare homicide methods, making three in rapid succession statistically anomalous
C) All three victims shared the same blood type
D) The murder weapons were all purchased from the same hardware store

Question 20 (Short Answer)

Explain how the title Jigsaw functions on multiple levels: as a literal object in the plot, as a metaphor for the investigation, and as a reflection of the characters' fractured lives.

Answer Key

Plot and Sequence Answers

Question 1: B. Two cigarette butts containing Michael Heck's DNA were found in a bowl on Sophie Barlow's kitchen table. The DNA match through CODIS prompted his arrest, but Heck's attorney produced ironclad alibi evidence placing him at a La Jolla hotel at the time of the murder.

Question 2: C. Martha Matthias's dismembered body was found inside a working deep-freeze in her garage during a welfare check. Her arms had been cleanly severed postmortem and placed across her torso.

Question 3: Balthazar growled at the front window approximately four nights before the welfare check, providing detectives with a possible window for when the crime occurred. Pathologist Basia Lopatinski urged caution about relying on the dog's reaction for pinpointing the exact time of death.

Question 4: C. A total of $60,000 was discovered. Detective Alicia Bogomil found $10,000 hidden in a paper bag among old magazines, and Alex later spotted five envelopes containing $50,000 stuffed into a slit in the mattress.

Question 5: Lynne Gutierrez's body was discovered at an Irwindale landfill, identified through DNA. She died from three blows to the back of the skull with a metal object (blunt-force trauma). Her body was intact and wrapped in a burst garbage bag.

Question 6: B. Surveillance footage showed Bettina Bel Geddes removing a platinum blonde wig to reveal her red hair after exiting Michael Heck's car at the La Jolla hotel, definitively exposing the false alibi.

Question 7: A hobby knife with a tiny triangular blade. Tiana slashed Detective Hector Villalobos's wrist with it before being subdued. After her arrest, a small saw identical to one Robin had found online was also discovered in her bag.

Question 8: B. Prosecutor John Nguyen secured a 40-year plea deal contingent on Tiana Crown explaining her motives to Milo Sturgis and Alex Delaware. Her inexperienced public defender, Wilf Mankell, had filed meritless motions before the deal was struck.

Character Motivation Answers

Question 9: Bettina Bel Geddes was having an affair with Michael Heck and orchestrated the false-arrest scheme to keep her husband from discovering their relationship. Simultaneously, she planned to file a lucrative civil-rights lawsuit against the LAPD for wrongful arrest.

Question 10: C. Tiana confessed she murdered Sophie to punish Michael Heck both for his role as a potential informant in the Alberts investigation and for rejecting her sexually. She described Sophie as a romantic rival eliminated out of jealousy and vengeance.

Question 11: Martha Matthias, a pioneering female homicide detective, treated Milo kindly when he was a young officer facing homophobic harassment within the LAPD. This personal history of support deepened his emotional investment in finding her killer.

Question 12: B. Michael Heck worked as an expenses manager at Darren Alberts's firm. He claimed to have left before the firm collapsed and denied knowledge of Alberts's Ponzi scheme. Prosecutors may have used him as an informant.

Question 13: Tiana claimed she killed Lynne as a mercy killing. She argued that with Martha dead, no one would pay for Safe Place and Lynne would be alone and abandoned. Despite having liked Lynne and walked with her, Tiana said she "put her out of her misery" with blows to the head.

Theme and Symbolism Answers

Question 14: Alex associates Martha's hoarding with trauma and anxiety, specifically linking its onset to her second husband's death approximately 22 years earlier. He also suggests cognitive decline or early dementia may have contributed to both the compulsive hoarding behavior and her earlier career transfer out of Homicide.

Question 15: B. The jigsaw tool is both the likely weapon used to dismember Martha Matthias postmortem and an object connected to Tiana Crown's hobby of building birdhouses (a craft she pursued while volunteering at Safe Place and later in prison). The tool links the physical evidence to the suspect's personal life.

Question 16: The wig represents layers of deliberate deception and false identity. Bettina used it to fabricate an alibi, conceal her affair, and manipulate the legal system. It also echoes the theme of appearances versus reality that runs through the Alberts fraud narrative.

Question 17: B. When Safe Place supervisor Pam Buttons tried to file a missing-persons report for Lynne, Officer Harvey Pocan dismissed her concerns and the LAPD failed to follow up despite Lynne's cognitive disability. This reflects the novel's critique of institutional neglect of vulnerable adults.

Synthesis Answers

Question 18: All three victims are connected through Tiana Crown, the volatile wife of disgraced attorney Darren Alberts. Her separate grievances formed a single web: she murdered Sophie out of jealousy over Michael Heck; killed Martha for perceived coldness during the Alberts investigation and for neglecting Lynne; and bludgeoned Lynne as a "mercy killing" after Martha's death. Cell-tower data, blood evidence in her SUV, and DNA on a jigsaw blade confirmed the link.

Question 19: B. Alex consults FBI homicide statistics and learns that strangulation accounts for less than 1.5% of murders nationally, while blunt-force makes up approximately 4%. Having two strangulations and one bludgeoning occur in rapid succession in what initially appeared to be unrelated cases struck him as statistically improbable, suggesting a hidden connection.

Question 20: The title Jigsaw works on three levels. Literally, a jigsaw is the tool used to dismember Martha Matthias and is found in Tiana Crown's possession. Metaphorically, the investigation requires Alex and Milo to piece together seemingly unrelated clues—planted DNA, hidden cash, a missing daughter, a fraudulent alibi—into one coherent picture. Thematically, the fractured lives of the characters (Martha's hoarding, Lynne's institutionalization, Tiana's descent into violence) mirror broken puzzle pieces that only make sense when assembled into the full tragic story.

Want to explore more? Dive deeper with our complete guide to Jigsaw or read the ending explained. For a different format, check out questions and answers.