Book Club Discussion Questions for A Death of No Importance by Mariah Fredericks

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, Evelyn Nesbit and the "Trial of the Century" and our BookBrowse Review of A Death of No Importance.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. Jane begins her story by stating, "I will tell it. I will tell it badly, forgetting things that are important and remembering things that never happened." How do these first two sentences set up Jane's reliability as a narrator? Does Jane acknowledging her potentially faulty memory affect your trust in her positively or negatively?
2. How does Jane's status as a servant impact her investigation?
3. Who did you initially suspect was the murderer? Looking back, which clues pointed toward the killer, and which were red herrings?
4. How does the relationship between Jane and Anna change throughout the book? Do you think Jane's friendship with Anna affects how she views the case?
5. Jane begins her partnership with Michael Behan quite reluctantly, mostly because of his profession as a journalist. How does the press contribute to their investigations? Clippings from various newspapers also appear periodically throughout the story. What impact do these clipping have on the story, and on the lives of the characters?
6. Which "upper-class" characters did you find the most sympathetic? How was their likeability reflected in their relationships with Jane? In their relationships with each other?
7. In the final pages, Jane draws a comparison between Tip the elephant and Josef Pawlicec. In what ways are their situations similar? In what ways are they different?
8. In the end, do you feel justice was served?

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Minotaur Books. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.