Nostalgia City Mysteries

Mark S. Bacon

Category Archives: Mystery writers quiz

Mark S. Bacon’s College of Mystery Knowledge*

1
Noir II – Advanced Investigation MB-302  Cain Building  T-Th 9 a.m.

Students,

Welcome to Investigation 302. Here we’ll be studying the works of the masters, such as Hammett, Chandler, Gardner and others.  I know it’s unconventional to begin with a quiz, but even though you’re all mystery majors, and this is an upper division course, I need to discover your understanding of the subject before we can advance.

Answers to these questions will appear in the next installment of this course. Please complete your answers before you read the next online installment here.  And remember, we’re on the honor system at Bacon’s College so you may grade yourself.

Quiz #1

  1. Name the actors who have played Philip Marlowe in movies.
  1. Who wrote the first modern mystery story? Clue: it was published 182 years ago.
  1. Where did the idea for the TV show Columbo come from?
  1. True or false: The movie based on the book, The Maltese Falcon, starred Bette Davis, Bebe Daniels and Warren William.
  1. What was the name of Ross Macdonald’s PI, and how did he come up with the name?
  1. Who was the author of more than 20 noir novels and wrote the short story Rear Window that became a James Steward movie?

 

 *Apologies to the late Kay Kyser

 

 

Not whodunit, who wrote it?  Part 2

Each question is the name of a fictional detective. Select the author who created him.  (Continued from a previous post.)  Answers next week.

6. Inspector Roderick Alleyn

a. P.D. James

b. Ngaio Marsh

c. Elizabeth George

d. Martha Grimes

 

7. James Qwilleran

a. Lillian Jackson Braun

b. M.C. Beaton

c. Charlotte MacLeod

d. Mignon F. Ballard

 

8. Matt Scudder

a. Earl Stanley Gardner

b. Lawrence Block

c. Rex Stout

d. John Dickson Carr

 

9. Father Brown

a. G. K. Chesterton

b. Colin Dexter

c. Rhys Bowen

d. Elizabeth Peters

 

10. Homer Kelly

a. Mary Higgins Clark

b. Marcia Muller

c. Jane Langton

d. Antonia Fraser

Not whodunit, who wrote it – answers

A quiz in the Jan. 16 post asked you to match the fictional detective with his or her author.  Here are the answers:

 

1. Philip Marlowe    b. Raymond Chandler

2. Kinsey Millhone    d. Sue Grafton

3.  Auguste Dupin    a. Edgar Allen Poe

4. Jackson Brodie     d. Kate Atkinson

5. Sgt. Jim Chee     d. Tony Hillerman