Have a seat. Relax. We just have a few simple questions for you.
Photo: Ryan Klos
1. Crime happens even in the best of families. Match the paired writers with the correct relationship.
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C.W. Grafton and Sue Grafton Jesse Kellerman and Jonathan Kellerman Anthony Shaffer and Peter Shaffer Arthur Conan Doyle and E.W. Hornung Tabitha King and Stephen King |
a. father and son b. brothers-in-law c. father and daughter d. brothers e. husband and wife |
2. We seek him here, we seek him there,
The Frenchies seek him everywhere
Is he in heaven? Is he in hell?
That demmed, elusive Pimpernel!
This verse makes the rounds of late-18th-century London society in The Scarlet Pimpernel. The dashing hero specializes in rescuing French aristocrats from the revolutionary guillotines. Who wrote this most romantic of thrillers?
a. Anthony Hope
b. Mary Stewart
c. Baroness Orczy
d. Helen MacInnes
3. Mice will play when this detective is away—and James Qwilleran will have a harder time catching crooks, too.
a. Midnight Louie
b. Koko
c. Sneaky Pie Brown
d. Mrs. Murphy
4. The road to crime solving can be twisted—just ask Stephanie Plum. This New Jersey babe-turned-bounty hunter found her true calling in One for the Money only after spending several years as a:
a. New Jersey Turnpike tollbooth clerk
b. department store lingerie buyer
c. Trenton school crossing guard
d. dog groomer
5. “If there were no bad people, there would be no good lawyers.” No truer words were ever spoken, by...
a. Lisa Scottoline
b. Carolyn Wheat
c. John Grisham
d. Charles Dickens
6. She is not only frequently squired about town by the charming Archie Goodwin, she also once necked with Nero Wolfe in the backseat of an automobile.
a. Brigid O’Shaugnessy
b. Carmen Sternwood
c. Lily Rowan
d. Jacqueline Kirby
7. Not every successful crime fighter is a pro. Match the moonlighting detective with his or her day job.
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Goldy Bear Maggy Thorsen Claire Malloy |
a. caterer b. bookseller c. sports agent d. coffee shop owner |
8. The “V” in Sara Paretsky’s Chicago detective V.I. Warshawski stands for Victoria. What does the “I” stand for?
a. Isadora
b. Independence
c. Indemnity
d. Iphigenia
9. After she abandoned her garden club and joined the CIA, this fiftysomething New Jersey widow became “unexpected,” “amazing,” and “elusive.”
a. Maud Silver
b. Clara Gamadge
c. Emily Pollifax
d. Helen Climpson
10. “I’m not bad. I’m just drawn that way,” vamped ’toon bombshell Jessica Rabbit in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Touchstone, 1988). Actress Amy Irving did the singing honors for the character, but who gave Jessica her sultry speaking voice?
a. Glenn Close
b. Melanie Griffith
c. Kathleen Turner
d. Sigourney Weaver
11. Use the clue on the left to identity the sleuth on the right.
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Three Pines Teddy bears Bush tea Pommeroy's Wine Bar The Bobwhites Stop thief! |
c. Nick Velvet d. Mma Ramotswe e. Brad Lyon |
12. This critically lauded novelist wrote three mysteries in the 1950s under the pseudonym “Edgar Box.” He then gave his alter ego the following blurb: “The work that Dr. Kinsey began with statistics, Edgar Box has completed with wit in the mystery novel.” Who is he?
a. Norman Mailer
b. Ray Bradbury
c. Philip Roth
d. Gore Vidal
13. “All literature of the time told you that the cops got the guy. The cops didn't get the guy that killed my mother. I knew things that other 10-year-old boys didn’t.” Which novelist is speaking of his own life in this quote?
a. Ken Bruen
b. James Ellroy
c. Matthew Reilly
d. Michael Connelly
14. They oughta be in pictures! Match each printed-page protagonist to his or her actor on the big screen.
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Batman |
a. Christian Bale b. Matt Damon c. Julianne Moore d. Michelle Monaghan e. Jennifer Lopez |
15. Who summed up a writer’s position in Hollywood this way? “If I write a novel, I’m a god. If I write a screenplay, I’m a minor deity.”
a. Sue Grafton
b. Donald E. Westlake
c. Laurence Shames
d. Elmore Leonard
16. To lure you to the box office, a movie’s marketing should be as intriguing as the mystery. Match the tantalizing tag line to the crime caper.
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Unpolished. Unkempt. Unleashed. Undercover Truth needs a soldier. They’re back...and then some. Debonair. Defiant. Defrosted. All it takes is a little confidence. |
a. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery b. The Sting c. Miss Congeniality d. Clear and Present Danger e. Ocean’s Twelve |
17. This crime-caper character caught criminals quickly but had the longest engagement on record: He popped the question in 1931 but didn’t tie the knot with his patient sweetheart until June 4, 1949. The happy couple?
a. Batman and Catwoman
b. Dick Tracey and Tess Trueheart
c. Perry Mason and Della Street
d. Superman and Lois Lane
18. To achieve true greatness, every hero needs a nemesis. Match the crime fighter on the left with the evildoer on the right.
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Dr. Richard Kimble Sweeney Todd Steve McGarrett Aloysius Prendergast |
a. Judge Turpin b. Wo Fat c. His brother, Diogenes d. The One-Armed Man |
19. Even a brilliant detective needs to unwind sometimes. Match the sleuth to his leisure activity.
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a. fly-fishing b. rowing c. raises vegetable marrows d. collects crime and detective pulp magazines |
ANSWER KEY 1-C, A, D, B, E. 2-C. 3-B. 4-B. 5-D. 6-C. 7-C, A, D, B. 8-D. 9-C. 10-C. 11-B, E, D, A, F, C. 12-D. 13-B. 14-B, D, C, E, A. 15-B. 16-C, D, E, A, B. 17-B. 18-D, A, B, C. 19-D, A, B, C.
SCORING
1-9 You must be a youngster—you’re guessing!
10-19 Don’t take up detecting for a living.
20-29 Average—and there’s nothing wrong with that.
30-39 A tip of the deerstalker to you!
40+ Want to create a quiz for Mystery Scene?
