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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. What does Dr. Lorrimer inherit from his grandmother?

2. What does Mrs. Bidwell explain to Dalgliesh?

3. What does Nell do with the candle?

4. How does Director Howarth respond to Dalgliesh's question about what Dr. Lorrimer is like outside of work?

5. Who cleans up after the meeting with the senior scientists?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the situation with Mawson and Foley's need for money and how is Dr. Lorrimer mentioned in regards to money?

2. Why does Blakelock go up to Dr. Lorrimer's lab and what does he tell Director Howarth when coming back downstairs?

3. Describe the scene between Cliff and Susan Bradley as she is breastfeeding their new baby.

4. Describe the conversation between Inspector Blakelock and Adam Dalgliesh and what Dalgliesh seems to be quite concerned about during the questioning.

5. How helpful is the interview with Cliff Bradley for Dalgliesh?

6. What does Howarth talk to Dr. Lorrimer about and what is the outcome?

7. Describe Stella Mawson.

8. How do Angela Foley and Stella Mawson come to be living together?

9. What does Howarth do after Dalgliesh arrives and what does Dalgliesh learn about the case?

10. What does Mrs. Bidwell show Dalgliesh?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Death of an Expert Witness is one book in a series of novels involving Adam Dalgliesh. Discuss the following.

1. What are two advantages of writing and reading a series of novels about the same characters? Use examples.

2. What are two disadvantages of writing and reading a series of novels about the same characters? Use examples.

3. Do you prefer to read a standalone book, or a series of books with the same main characters? Explain your response.

4. Do you think it is easier or more difficult to write a standalone book versus one in a series? Explain your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss one of the following:

1. Thoroughly analyze how the setting informs the plot in Death of an Expert Witness. What is it about a small village in England changes the plot compared to a setting in a large city in the United States? Does the fact that in England the death penalty is illegal make a difference in how the reader feels about Dr. Kerrison in the end?

2. Trace and analyze one major theme of Death of an Expert Witness. How is the theme represented by symbolism, the characters' behaviors, or the action?

3. Trace and analyze two secondary themes of Death of an Expert Witness. How are the themes represented by symbolism, the characters' behaviors, or the action?

Essay Topic 3

Brenda Pridmore's character serves at least two functions in the novel. Discuss the following:

1. Analyze Brenda Pridmore's character. What are her strengths, weaknesses and personality? Is she a sympathetic character?

2. One of Brenda Pridmore's function in the story is to be as "ignorant" as the reader about criminal investigations and evidence gathering in order to ask questions that the reader might ask and thus educate the reader. How well does Brenda Pridmore serve in this function?

3. A second function for the character of Brenda Pridmore is to serve as a literary foil to several of the character. Define the term "literary foil" and analyze how Pridmore serves as a foil and to what characters and how she does so.

(see the answer keys)

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