Nostalgia City Mysteries

Mark S. Bacon

Category Archives: Mystery writers quiz

9:27 am - October 30, 2023 -

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

 

 

Categories: Dashiell Hammett, film noir, mystery writers, Mystery writers quiz, New mystery book, noir novels, Raymond Chandler, Trivia quiz Tags: , , , , , ,
6:30 am - March 6, 2013 -

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

Category: Mystery writers quiz Tags: , , , , ,
4:51 pm - February 7, 2013 -

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

Categories: contests, Mystery writers quiz
11:37 am - January 16, 2013 -

Not whodunit, who wrote it

How do fictional detectives get their names?  Is it the writer’s history?  Are they descriptive of the character’s personality?  What would that say about Joe Nesbo’s  Harry Hole?  Are private eye names designed to be remembered?

Can you remember who created some of the most famous characters in detective fiction?  Try this quiz.  Each question is the name of a fictional detective.  Select the author who created him or her.  Answers next week.

1. Philip Marlowe

a. Robert B. Parker

b. Raymond Chandler

c. Dashiell Hammett

d. Mickey Spillane

 

 

2. Kinsey Millhone

a. Diane Mott Davidson

b. Sara Paretski

c. Susan Wittig Albert

d. Sue Grafton

 

 

3.  Auguste Dupin

a. Edgar Allen Poe

b. Georges Simenon

c. Fodor Dostoyevsky

d. Leslie Charteris

 

 

4. Jackson Brodie

a. Kate Ross

b.  J.A. Jance

c. Amanda Quick

d. Kate Atkinson

 

 

 

5. Sgt. Jim Chee

a. Nevada Barr

b. Robert Barnard

c. Josephine Tey

d. Tony Hillerman

Category: Mystery writers quiz Tags: ,
7:29 am - November 14, 2012 -

Short mystery story writers quiz – part 1

          “Cops, Crooks & Other Stories” contains flash fiction mysteries, certainly not the first time whodunit writers have reduced the genre to a few pages (or a few words).   In fact, many of the most well-known mystery novelists also published also short stories–some short-short stories.  (Which begs the question, are they short mystery stories or mystery short stories or maybe short story mysteries?)  In any event, here (and in the next installment) is a quiz about writers of short mystery fiction.   It’s not too easy.  Answers next time.

 

1.  Known more for mystery novels than short stories, this prolific author wrote hundreds of short stories.  Only Shakespeare’s works have been published more than this author’s.  A mystery play by this author has been running continuously in London since 1952.

a. P.D. James

b. Agatha Christie

c. Josephine Tey

d. Ellery Queen

 

2.  Many of this author’s 200 short stories featured a detective who was a parish priest .

a. G. K. Chesterton

b. Mary Higgins Clark

c. Dorothy L. Sayers

d. Donald Westlake

 

3.  Also an attorney, this British author wrote about a curmudgeonly barrister with a taste for wine.   More than a dozen short story collections featuring this character are in print.

a.  Colin Dexter

b.  Earl Stanley Gardner

c.  John Mortimer

d.  Lawrence Sanders

 

4.  Although this author is known for novels, First Blood and Brotherhood of the Rose, his/her suspense short stories include Dead Image and Black Evening.

a. T.  Jefferson  Parker

b.  Robert B. Parker

c.  Charlotte MacLeod

d.  David Morrell

 

5.  Awards presented by the Mystery Writers of America bear this short story writer’s first name.

a.  Arthur Conan Doyle

b.  Agatha Christie

c.  Raymond Chandler

d.  Edgar Allen Poe

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