Question

In the story The Case of the defaced painting

Answer 1

Why is Mrs. Williams clearly the guilty party in the case?


She is married, though she is not wearing her wedding ring.  Too, when the detective is questioning the painter and cleaning lady about the blue paint used to deface the painting, Mrs. Williams is seen biting the nails on her left hand—the hand where her wedding ring should be.  It can be assumed that Mrs. Williams is not wearing her wedding because she got paint on it, and she is biting her nails to remove the evidence of the blue paint that may have been on and/or under her nails in order to remove the evidence the way she might have done by removing a potentially paint-stained wedding ring.


What motivated her to ruin the Wyeth painting?


Mrs. Williams is angry with her husband by the way her husband treats Mrs. Williams’ family—his in-laws.  In order to get back at her husband, she for treating what she loves badly, she ruined something he loves—fine art.