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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Lettice Wood's revelation of a brief affair with Harris change Wilton's motive?

2. What is implied by the fight that Harris and Lettice had in the inn before Harris' death?

3. Why does Rutledge wake Lettice in the middle of the night in the beginning of Chapter 19?

4. Who is the one character Rutledge most wants to interrogate in the murder investigation?

5. Where does Rutledge hide out in Chapter 16 in order to review the evidence in the case one more time?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter 16, Rutledge learns that Harris ate lunch at the inn often. What is unusual about Harris' lunch the Tuesday before his death?

2. What does Rutledge say in Chapter 12 that causes Lettice Wood to become angry with him? How does Rutledge respond to this anger?

3. Why does Rutledge interview the two women of ill-repute who live on the lane?

4. Why does Rutledge questions Mrs. Davenant about the pension Mavers' receives in Chapter 11?

5. How does Lizzie Pinter react to her father physically attacking Rutledge in Chapter 18?

6. What does Lettice Wood say about her thoughts on Wilton's possible motives for murder?

7. Who killed Colonel Charles Harris?

8. What does Rutledge discover in Chapter 20 when he goes into Helena Sommers' bedroom the morning of the funeral?

9. Why does Rutledge go to the Sommers' home the morning of the funeral?

10. Where does Rutledge find himself continuously drawn as he continues to investigate the murder of Harris?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What does Lettice reveal about her relationship with Harris? How did this changing relationship lead to a fight between Harris and Lettice? Harris and Wilton? How could this argument have been motive for murder? Is it? Why does Lettice fail to tell this story to Rutledge until late in the novel? What is Lettice trying to hide? Has Lettice done something wrong? Has Harris? What might the public have though had this truth come out more publicly?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss irony. How many examples of irony are there in this novel? How is the death of Hamish McLeod filled with irony? Is this part of what causes Rutledge to become obsessed with Hamish? What is ironic about the change in relationship between Lettice and her guardian? What is ironic about Harris' death? How could Harris' death been prevented? How did Harris' death prevent the death of another character?

Essay Topic 3

What is shell shock? Who experiences shell shock in this novel? What symptoms of shell shock does each character experience in the novel? What is the modern equivalent of shell shock? How does shell shock influence or take away from the investigation into Harris' murder? How has shell shock have the power to ruin the reputation of a main character of the novel?

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