Crime Does Pay (for These Authors Anyway)! Quiz

Answer: Edgar Allan Poe

Poe produced 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue' (1841) which was a short story featuring the fictional detective Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin. Many consider this to be the first crime novel (although some others have been argued for). Poe followed this up with two other Dupin stories during the 1840s.

Answer: Wilkie Collins

Collins not only wrote 'The Woman in White' (1859) but also the probably better known 'The Moonstone' (1868). In the latter he created a detective character called Sergeant Cuff. Collins used the literary device in this novel of having the narration of the tale shared by various characters who were themselves potentially involved in the mystery.

Answer: Metta Victoria Fuller Victor

Seeley Regester was the pseudonym used by Metta Victoria Fuller Victor (1831-1886). She was an American dime novelist and was born in Pennsylvania. This novel is now out of copyright and can be viewed in full text on line by using a competent search engine. It is published on the Web by the University of California State Library. In my opinion it is worth reading.

Answer: Bleak House

In 'Bleak House' Dickens created the character of Inspector Bucket which he apparently based on a real life famous London detective of the day called Charles Field. Bucket's character was one of the first detectives in English Literature. In the novel Inspector Bucket was hired by the evil lawyer Tulkinghorn to inquire into Lady Dedlock's secret past. Ironically, Bucket has later to investigate the murder of Tulkinghorn himself.

Answer: Anna Katherine Green

Anna Katherine Green (1846-1935) was born in Brooklyn, New York. Her first ambition was to write romantic verse, and she corresponded with Ralph Waldo Emerson but was not successful. Next she tried fiction and produced her first and best known novel, 'The Leavenworth Case' (1878). She became a best-selling author, eventually publishing about forty books.

Answer: A Study in Scarlet

Conan Doyle was a prolific writer who much preferred his suite of historical novels over his extremely popular 'Sherlock Holmes' stories. Holmes appeared in a total of sixty stories, written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. They were published between 1887 and 1927. His first novel ' A Study in Scarlet' was published in 1887, 'The Sign of the Four' appeared in 1890, 'The Speckled Band' in 1892 , and 'The Red-Headed League' in 1891.

Answer: Fergus Hume

This novel can be said to be the original Australian blockbuster. It became an international best-seller crime novel. It was first published in 1886, though the author claimed that because he was a mere colonial, he had great difficulty in getting it published. It was set in Melbourne and has since sold many hundreds of thousands of copies around the world. It is now down-loadable from the Gutenberg press web site as it is out of copyright. It is (in my opinion) a thundering good read.

Answer: Mary Roberts Rinehart

The Circular Staircase (1908) by author Mary Roberts Rinehart is now available as an out of copyright book. It is offered on line by the University of Virginia Library Electronic Text Center. The opening lines from the novel suggest an enticing and interesting read. "This is the story of how a middle-aged spinster lost her mind, deserted her domestic gods in the city.... and then the madness took me..."

Answer: The Innocence of Father Brown

The early years of the 20th century produced a number of distinguished detective novels including the introductory work of G.K. Chesterton, 'The Innocence of Father Brown' (1911) was the first in a series of five volumes of collected stories about the intuitive deductive observer.

Answer: Edgar Allan Poe

The Edgar Allan Poe Award For Excellence is given by The Mystery Writers of America, a professional organization founded in 1945 to improve the standards of mystery writing, including the detective story.