Cambridge English Readers Cambridge University Press 2009 www.cambridge.

org/elt/readers
PHOTOCOPIABLE
Worksheet
Answer Key
Level 5
Murder by Art Janet McGifn
Summary
This story takes place in Milwaukee in the USA and
moves between three different but connected worlds:
the medical world of Mercy Hospital where Maxine
Cassidy and Leo Hochstedder are doctors, the police
world where Grabowski is a detective, and the art
world where Helen Mueller and Lillian Hochstedder
run the Art Space gallery to exhibit Lillians work.
The story begins when gang leader Rolondo brings his
girlfriends sick flatmate, Latoya, to the hospital. While
at the hospital, his girlfriend Rosa and a friend artist
Wyoming Syzinski are brought in with gunshot
wounds. Latoya has been poisoned by INH, a drug used
to treat TB. She doesnt have TB and soon afterwards
dies. When Maxine and the ER nurse Shirley search
Latoyas flat, they find only a box of chocolates, which
later turn out to have been injected with INH.
That night, there is an exhibition of sculptures at the
Art Space by famous artist Soren Berendorf as well as
by Lillian. However, during the evening one of Sorens
sculptures called Musical Chairs (chairs suspended from
the ceiling) falls on the artist as he sits at the piano. He
later dies in hospital. Grabowski, who had been hired
by Helen to guard the art during the exhibition, takes
the rope that had been used to suspend the sculpture
away for examination; he learns that the rope was cut
with a knife.
Grabowski finds out that various people have motives
for wanting Soren dead. Louie, who has an antiques
shop next to the Art Space, admits to not liking Soren
because the artist treated him badly. He also says that
Lillian hated Soren because he said her sculptures
werent art, and that Helen hated him too because hed
threatened to break his contract and take his works out
of her gallery. He also tells Grabowski that Lillians
work is no longer good, and that she and Helen had
been fighting. We later find out that Lillians art has
been affected because she has gone blind in one eye.
Meanwhile, Grabowskis boss tells him that his
colleague Officer Koranda has gone missing. Maxine
later discovers a man (barely breathing) in one of
Lillians sculpture boxes in the Art Space garage. By
the time she returns to the garage with Grabowski,
however, he has disappeared. They later find out
that the man was Koranda and that hed been selling
human skulls to Lillian for her to model her statues
on. Soren had found out that Lillian was in fact using
the real skulls for her statues and had planned to
expose her at the art show by breaking them, thereby
also ruining Helens business. After the show, Koranda
had also tried to get some money out of Leo and
Lillian by threatening to tell the newspapers. During a
fight with Leo, hed fallen and hit his head. The couple
had been trying to hide him from the police.
After several interviews, and with Maxines help, we
discover that both Leo and Helen had tried to stop
Soren destroying the reputation of both Lillian and
the Art Space. Leo had cut the rope, so that Sorens
sculpture would fall and the show would be cancelled.
Helen had put sleeping pills in Sorens drinks so that
he would be unable to carry out his threat. Soren died
because he was too sleepy to move when the sculpture
fell. Latoyas poisoning and the shooting of Wyoming
(an old friend of Sorens) and Rosa had also been a
part of Leo and Helens plan to protect themselves.
Helen had then changed Louies allergy tablets to
sleeping pills, hoping to kill him, because he knew too
much and talked too much.
In a final scene over a picnic, all is revealed to
Wyoming. The story ends on a romantic note, with
Grabowski kissing Maxine.
Before reading
1. A grand piano.
2. Soren, a famous artist; by falling chairs
3. Milwaukee is a city in the state of Wisconsin; it
is in the north of the USA on Lake Michigan; to
the south is Chicago, to the east across the lake is
Detroit. Helen Mueller lives closest.
4. Medicine, Art, Police
Cambridge English Readers Cambridge University Press 2009 www.cambridge.org/elt/readers
PHOTOCOPIABLE
Murder by Art Janet McGifn
Check your reading
Chapter 1
1. 1 e; 2 f ; 3 a; 4 c; 5 b; 6 d
2. a Maxine/Grabowski; b Maxine; c Rolondos
girlfriend, Rosa; d Rolondo
Chapter 2
1. 1 c; 2 g; 3 e; 4 a; 5 d; 6 f; 7 b
2. It used to be a middle-class area, but now it is a
poor and dangerous part of town.
3. Students own answers.
Chapter 3
1. Smooth shapes of wood painted in different
colours; the largest consists of twelve chairs tied
together and suspended from the ceiling.
2. Twelve life-size heads made of clay, with glass
eyes and shell teeth; they stand on tall platforms
and are painted white, brown or black.
3. a Maxine, b Soren Berendorf, c Lillian
Hockstedder, d Louie, e Helen Mueller
4. He was standing by the food table.
5. Because there were so many people.
6. Students own answer.
7. Students own answer.
Chapter 4
1. a False, b True, c False, d True, e True, f False
2. He goes to give blood for Wyoming; hed done it
when they were teenagers and Wyoming was in a
car accident.
Chapter 5
1. 1 well-trained; 2 unconscious; 3 sharp;
4 sensitive; 5 serious; 6 nice
2. Because he was seen touching the rope.
3. Because he never thanked Louie for his help he
only liked important people.
Chapter 6
1. scratching his arms; biting his nails
2. why Louie was so nervous; why Lillian stood by
Soren at the piano for a long time
3. Because he could hear them from his kitchen.
4. Her painting went downhill and stopped selling.
5. She wanted to own the gallery by herself.
6. a Lillian; b Helen
7. Students own answer.
Chapter 7
1. 1 a 3; b 4; c 1; d 5; e 2
2. a) he wanted Helen to break the agreement and
ruin her business.
b) she moved away from the piano before the
chairs fell.
c) she had said she wanted to kill Soren.
3. Students own answer.
4. To the Police Crime Lab to check about the rope
and take the knives in for examination.
5. It wasnt done by a local gang (Rosa didnt recognise
either the man who shot them or the driver).
Chapter 8
1. 1 Lillian and Helen; 2 Korandas neighbour;
3 Louie; 4 the captain of detectives; 5 the art
store owner; 6 Helen; 7 Officer Koranda
2. Because he thinks its just another gang shooting.
3. Students own answer.
Chapter 9
1. She died of an overdose of INH. She didnt have
TB.
2. Louie. Because he took an overdose of sleeping
tablets after an earlier fight and she thinks he
might do it again.
3. Jealous (though not actually stated in text).
4. A man wrapped in a blanket in a box.
5. She calls an ambulance and runs to get Grabowski.
6. Louie is there. The man in the box has gone.
7. Students own answer.
Worksheet
Answer Key
Level 5
Cambridge English Readers Cambridge University Press 2009 www.cambridge.org/elt/readers
PHOTOCOPIABLE
Chapter 10
1. a false; b true; c false; d false; e true; f true
2. Students own answer.
Chapter 11
1. 1 important; 2 responsible; 3 angry; 4 high; 5 bad
2. These looked real; those were made of shells.
3. Students own answer.
Chapter 12
1. d b f c a e
2. Because shes jealous hes having dinner with
Helen.
3. Draw a picture of the people who shot him and
Rosa.
4. Students own answer.
Chapter 13
1. a Rolondo; b Rolondo; c Grabowski; d Helen;
e the man in the wooden box
Chapter 14
1. She sends them to a friend in Madison to test for
INH.
2. Rolondo.
3. A blue Ford Taurus X.
4. The two people who shot him and Rosa, and
Officer Koranda.
5. a) She was a student in his class in Arizona.
b) She came in while Wyoming was visiting
Lillian.
c) They grew up together.
6. That they were Wyomings and that Latoya ate
most of them.
Chapter 15
1. Mercy Hospital several inner city bars
Rolondos apartment Lake Michigan
Korandas house Lillians house
2. a) Koranda sold human skulls to Lillian for her
sculptures.
b) Koranda got bones for Leo to study when he
was a medical student.
3. Nothing.
Chapter 16
1. a 3; b 5; c 1; d 6; e 2; f 4
2. That Grabowski thinks Louie cut the rope.
3. No, he doesnt.
4. Lillian.
Chapter 17
1. a) In the Art Space.
b) A human skull.
c) Its bleeding inside.
d) Soren Berendorf.
e) No, she didnt.
f ) Helen.
g) Her husband Leo.
Chapter 18
1. In the trunk (boot) of Leo and Lillians car.
2. In the basement of Leo and Lillians house.
3. For money so that he wont tell about the skulls
in the sculptures.
4. Koranda fell down and hit his head.
5. Leo, so that the chairs would fall, the show
would close and Lillians secret would be safe.
6. So that he wouldnt expose Lillians secret.
7. So he would be too sick to come to the show and
help Soren expose Lillian.
8. Leo.
9. Enough evidence to arrest Lillian, Leo and Helen.
Chapter 19
1. That its Grabowskis stolen car.
2. They explain what happened and why.
3. Outside Grabowskis house having a picnic.
4. Money.
5. Love.
Worksheet
Answer Key
Level 5
Murder by Art Janet McGifn