The Mysterious Lives of Mystery Authors Quiz

Answer: Arthur Conan Doyle

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created Sherlock Holmes. Doyle had long been interested in spiritualism, but during World War I, his belief in psychics, spiritualists, and fairies heightened considerably. Doyle claimed spirituality was a gift from God to help people cope with the massive loss of life during the war. Doyle even tried to contact spirits to locate Agatha Christie during her infamous disappearance. Doyle remained an ardent spiritualist until his death, despite the fact that a number of alleged psychics he believed in were exposed as frauds.

Answer: Ngaio Marsh

Ngaio Marsh led a notoriously private personal life. This, coupled with the fact that she never married, led to rumors that Marsh was a lesbian. Marsh's association with theater and artists groups (typically looked at as Bohemian) did nothing to hamper the rumors. Marsh was engaged to a man named Edward who died during World War I, and it is not believed she had any further romantic relationship beyond that. Marsh spent most of her adult life with female friends, namely Sylvia Fox, but denied any kind of female romantic relationship.

In compared to the other three Queens of Crime, Marsh is generally seen as more socially liberated which also added to the rumors.

Answer: Anne Perry

Anne Perry was born Juliet Marion Hulme in New Zealand. When she was fifteen, she and her friend Pauline Parker murdered Pauline's mother. The case became one of New Zealand's more infamous murders and was depicted in the film "Heavenly Creatures" (1994). After leaving prison at age 21, Perry moved to England and changed her name and identity.

She was not revealed to be Juliet Hulme until 1994 when she was exposed after "Heavenly Creatures" was released. Perry spoke out against the film and the revelation of her identity. Perry said the public did not understand the true story because Perry was a minor when the murder happened and she was not allowed to speak about it or defend herself. Perry claimed the film was overdramatized and inaccurate.

Answer: Agatha Christie

When Agatha Christie was a relatively new but still well-known writer, she disappeared for 12 days. Amidst a bitter divorce from her husband, Archie Christie, the couple had a fight on December 3, 1926, after which Christie disappeared. Initially, it was believed she drowned herself in a nearby lake, but no body was found.

The disappearance became an international sensation that lasted for nearly two weeks when Christie was found at the Swan Hydropathic Hotel checked in under the name Neale, which was the surname of Archie's mistress. What exactly happened to Christie remains unknown, but the official solution is that Christie suffered from temporary memory loss. Other theories include a publicity stunt and a trick to humiliate her husband.

Answer: Margery Allingham

In her World War II-set Albert Campion novel "Traitor's Purse" (1941), Allingham wrote about a fictional plot in which Nazi Germany flooded Britain with counterfeit money in an attempt to weaken the British economy. Allingham developed the plot on her own, however, this plot actually turned out to be real. Years after the war ended, this plot was made public.

The plan was called Operation Bernhard.

Answer: Dorothy L. Sayers

Dorothy L. Sayers was known as a religious woman, so it may come as a surprise that she once lived with John Cournous, a Bohemian who advocated for free love. Their relationship was depicted by Sayers in "Strong Poison" (1930), in which heroine Harriet Vane is falsely arrested for the murder of her fiancee, who was described as being similar to Cournos. Cournos also wrote about the relationship in "The Devil is an Englishman" (1932), in which a character portrayed similar to Sayers is depicted as a judgmental shrew.

Answer: Edmund Crispin

Edmund Crispin was a well-known mystery writer and creator of Gervase Fen, for which he is best remembered for today. However in his time, he was also known as a famous composer, in particular for the "Carry On" films. Crispin was also a notorious alcoholic whose drinking is said to have caused both his music and writing to suffer.

Answer: Rex Stout

Rex Stout, creator of Nero Wolfe, was an ardent anti-Communist but this did nothing to prevent him from being the target of both McCarthy's House of Unamerican Activities and J. Edgar Hoover's FBI. Stout was outspoken against what he saw as witch hunts before, during and after World War II.

A number of Nero Wolfe's novels deal with either this subject matter or bumbling politicians and FBI agents. Stout was president of different writers' organizations with gave him a mouthpiece to speak out against McCarthy and Hoover but also increased his target. Stout had a huge folder dedicated to him as a possible Communist, most of which dealt with the content of his books.

Answer: Anthony Berkeley Cox

Anthony Berkeley Cox had a series of tumultuous romantic relationships, all of which ended badly. Cox divorced his first wife Margaret to marry the wife of his literary agent, Helen Peters. That marriage was also unhappy and Cox soon became infatuated with his sister-in-law. Cox's relationship with women is largely blamed for what scholars consider blatantly sexist and chauvinistic portrayal of women in his novels.

Answer: Edgar Wallace

Edgar Wallace wrote a whopping 170 novels and nearly 1,000 short stories in his career. Although he was a popular writer, Wallace was usually in debt. He was so heavily indebted that his wife couldn't pay off the debts, even with his large royalties, before she died the following year.