The Silkworm Quiz

The Silkworm takes us into the world of Publishing, where every word matters…how many of them can you remember from this chilling story? To get the most enjoyment out of this quiz (and a better result!), we recommend reading the book before attempting!

Question 1 of 20

‘So you’re here about your husband, Mrs Quine?’  ‘Yeah,’ said Leonora. ‘He’s missing.’ 

Where does Leonora Quine believe her husband has disappeared to?

A writer’s retreat

The home of his mistress

Their second-home in Baron’s Court

Score 0/20

The Silkworm Quiz

‘So you’re here about your husband, Mrs Quine?’ ‘Yeah,’ said Leonora. ‘He’s missing.’

Where does Leonora Quine believe her husband has disappeared to?

Owen Quine was a large, pale and portly man of around sixty, with straggly yellow-white hair and a pointed Van Dyke beard. His eyes appeared to be of different colours, which gave a peculiar intensity to his stare. For the photograph he had wrapped himself in what seemed to be a Tyrolean cape.

The region of Tyrol, from which Owen Quine’s favoured garment hails, is in which mountain range:

‘Yeah, and you know what? I always thought they were like spiders spinning their webs, but you know how they get silk from the worms?’ ‘Can’t say I do.’ ‘They boil them,’ said Robin. ‘Boil them alive’

What does ‘Mori’ refer to in the latin name for silk worms that gives Owen Quine’s novel its title?

‘We published a kids’ book on English folklore last year,’ said Fisher, pushing open white double doors.

What does Strike’s name ‘Cormoran’ refer to – as identified by publisher Christian Fisher?

‘Unusual. Where did that come from?’ ‘I was – well, I was conceived there, apparently,’ she said, pink in the face. ‘In ******. What’s your middle name?’

What is Robin’s middle name, and the place it’s derived from?

So she was marrying in seven weeks’ time. Seven weeks left until she became Mrs Matthew . . . but if he had ever known her fiancé’s surname, he could not recall it.

Robin and Matthew’s wedding date was coincidentally set to take place on the anniversary of:

‘Quine’s in the so-bad-he’s-good category these days – we could’ve done something offbeat with the marketing. Anyway,’ said Fisher, ‘there was ******** ******. That was a good book. I figured he might still have something in him.’

What is the name of Owen Quine’s most successful and respected novel?

Elizabeth Tassel’s stuffy office was a kind of concentration of the outer room: it stank of cigarettes and old dog. A tweed bed for the animal sat under her desk.

Owen Quine’s agent is a dog lover. What breed is her aged pet?

Charlotte Campbell, breathtakingly beautiful daughter of 1960s It Girl Tula Clermont and academic and broadcaster Anthony Campbell, will marry the Hon. Jago Ross…

What title is Charlotte, Strike’s ex-girlfriend, due to acquire through her marriage?

'The consensus is that he died more or less on the spot where the body was found. That’s where the greatest concentration of the acid is.’ ‘D’you know what kind of acid it was?’

What kind of acid is poured on the victim’s body – that also occurs naturally in the human gastric system?

Strike felt at home as soon as he set foot inside the lobby. Once an eighteenth-century gentleman’s chess club, ******** spoke to Strike in an old and familiar language, of hierarchy, order and stately decorum.

Which old London restaurant - famous for its roasts - serves as a meeting place for Strike and Quine’s editor, Jerry Waldegrave?

‘Mystic Bob,’ said a voice. Richard Anstis of the Metropolitan Police and the Territorial Army entered the room grinning, his hair wet with rain, carrying a bundle of papers under his arm.

Why does Anstis feel a debt of gratitude to Strike?

The style was ornate and florid, the story gothic and surreal. Two brothers by the names of Varicocele and Vas were locked inside a vaulted room while the corpse of their older brother decayed slowly in a corner. In between drunken arguments about literature, loyalty and the French writer.

Strike attempts to read one of Quine’s previous books. Which real-life writer – author of La Comédie humaine - features in the title?

He was younger and fitter-looking than Strike had expected and handsome in his way, with thick dark eyebrows over deep-set eyes, a hawkish nose and a thin-lipped mouth. His charcoal suit was unexceptional but his tie, which was pale mauve, was much wider than the average and bore drawings of…

What is the pattern on Publisher Daniel Chard’s tie?

‘Want to come to a tedious dinner party tomorrow night?’ he asked her. She laughed, clearly elated. ‘What’ll be tedious about it?’ ‘Everything. You’d cheer it up. Fancy it?’ ‘Well – why not?’ she said happily.

Where does Strike invite Nina Lascelles?

‘And Fancourt’s ex-directory,’ she finished, ‘but there’s loads of biographical stuff about him online. He owns an Elizabethan place just outside Chew Magna called Endsor Court.’ ‘Chew Magna?’

Where is the real town of Chew Magna?

‘Orlando?’ repeated Strike, his tired mind on the Florida resort. He did not have time to go to America and Leonora Quine, in her ancient coat, certainly did not look as though she could afford a ticket for him. ‘Our daughter, Orlando,’ said Leonora.

Quine’s daughter is named after a novel by which celebrated modernist?

‘When I met her she had it round her neck and she kept producing things out of nowhere – pictures, crayons and a card she sneaked off the kitchen table. I’ve just realised she was pulling it all out of the pyjama case.

What is the brand name of Orlando Quine’s plush bag full of personal treasures?

Strike watched her vanish into the darkness, imagined her skidding a little on the slippery floor of the station, not falling, looking wildly around for the platform . . .

Where does Robin abandon Strike in a hired car he can’t drive, to make the train for Matthew’s mother’s funeral?

‘Then cheer the f*** up and eat your burger.’ Robin found it hard to eat with the huge lump in her throat. She felt shaken but elated.

Robin is stirred up as Strike finally answers a question she hadn’t dared ask…

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‘So you’re here about your husband, Mrs Quine?’  ‘Yeah,’ said Leonora. ‘He’s missing.’ 

‘Unusual. Where did that come from?’  ‘I was – well, I was conceived there, apparently,’ she said, pink in the face. ‘In ******. What’s your middle name?’

‘Quine’s in the so-bad-he’s-good category these days – we could’ve done something offbeat with the marketing. Anyway,’ said Fisher, ‘there was ** . That was a good book. I figured he might still have something in him.’

'The consensus is that he died more or less on the spot where the body was found. That’s where the greatest concentration of the acid is.’ ‘D’you know what kind of acid it was?’ 

‘Mystic Bob,’ said a voice. Richard Anstis of the Metropolitan Police and the Territorial Army entered the room grinning, his hair wet with rain, carrying a bundle of papers under his arm.

‘Want to come to a tedious dinner party tomorrow night?’ he asked her. She laughed, clearly elated. ‘What’ll be tedious about it?’ ‘Everything. You’d cheer it up. Fancy it?’ ‘Well – why not?’ she said happily. 

‘And Fancourt’s ex-directory,’ she finished, ‘but there’s loads of biographical stuff about him online. He owns an Elizabethan place just outside Chew Magna called Endsor Court.’ ‘Chew Magna?’ 