I'd Like to Meet a Detective Trivia Quiz

Answer: Janet Evanovich

Before Janet Evanovich introduced Stephanie Plum in 1994's "One for the Money" she wrote romance novels under the name Steffie Hall. She's made the decision to keep Jersey girl Stephanie perpetually 32 and allowed for minimal character development. Sure, Stephanie is slightly more competent than she was at the start of the series and she's in a relationship with Joe Morelli, but most of the characters are static and she still takes her laundry to her parents' house.

Answer: Tasha Alexander

Tasha Alexander introduced Lady Emily Ashton as a recent widow who solves her husband's murder in 2005's "And Only to Deceive". Over the course of 16 novels (as of 2022), Lady Emily has become an expert in ancient history and traveled extensively with her second husband, Queen's agent Colin Hargraves. Emily's childhood friends, Jeremy, Duke of Buckingham (who styles himself the most useless man in England) and Ivy Brandon, occasionally aid her in solving mysteries, as do Frenchwoman "of a certain age" Cecile and American bluestocking Margaret.

Answer: Laura Joh Rowland

Laura Joh Rowland wrote 18 novels featuring Sano Ichiro, starting with 1994's "Shinju" and wrapping up the series with 2014's "The Iris Fan". When we meet him, he's teaching martial arts but his crime solving skills bring him to the attention of a fictionalized version of Shogun Tokugawa. Aided by his wife, judge's daughter Lady Reiko (who's unconventionally educated in both law and martial arts), and his assistant Hirata, he solves crimes for the Shogun while trying to stay above the political intrigue released by the fictionalized Chamberlain Yanigasawa.

Answer: Sara Paretsky

Sara Paretsky's first VI Warshawski novel, "Indemnity Only", was published in 1982. The daughter of an Italian refugee who'd trained as an opera singer and a Chicago cop, VI combines South Side toughness with a law degree and uses classic music and vocal exercises to relax.

As of 2022, Paretsky has published 21 VI Warshawski novels along with two non-mysteries. She's also one of the founders of Sisters in Crime, an organization for women mystery writers. As of 2022, the organization, which stared as a meeting during the 1986 Bouchercon mystery convention, has over sixty chapters.

Answer: Julie Smith

Julie Smith wrote nine Skip Langdon mysteries between 1990's "New Orleans Mourning" which won the 1991 Edgar Award for Best Novel and 2003's "Mean Woman Views". She brought Skip back in 2018's "Murder on Magazine" and 2019's "The Big Crazy". Smith has written four other mystery series, featuring San Francisco lawyer Rebecca Schwartz, novelist Paul McDonald, and New Orleans PI Talba Wallis.

Answer: Lisa Scottoline

Lisa Scotoline practiced law before turning to writing after the birth of her daughter. Her first novel, "Everywhere That Mary Went" (1993), introduced her recurring character Mary DiNunzio, who later becomes an associate under Bennie Rosato before being promoted to partnership. Scottoline's legal thrillers focus on a rotating group of recurring characters, all attorneys in Bennie's firm.

She's also written several stand alone mysteries, including "Final Appeal" which won the 1995 Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original.

Answer: Sue Grafton

Sue Grafton's second novel, "The Lolly Madonna War" was adapted into the 1973 movie "Lolly Madonna XXX" starring Rod Steiger and Jeff Bridges. Co-writing that screenplay brought her to Hollywood where she developed and wrote episodes of the TV series "Nurse".

She also wrote the screenplay for several TV movies, including two Agatha Christie adaptations, "Sparkling Cyanide" and "A Caribbean Mystery". The first of her alphabet mysteries, 1982's "A Is for Alibi" was partially inspired by fantasies of killing her husband during a divorce and custody battle. Grafton died December 28, 2017, and Kinsey Millhone's final appearance is in "Y Is for Yesterday".

Answer: Marcia Muller

The long and prolific career of Marcia Muller includes 35 Sharon McCone novels and two short story collections as of 2022. Initially the investigator for a San Francisco legal cooperative, McCone eventually opened her own successful agency which later merged with her husband's security company. Muller has written four other mystery series, but none as extensive as the McCone series.

Answer: Laura Lippman

Laid-off reporter Tess Monaghan solved the murder of which a friend was accused in 1997's "Baltimore Blues" and discovered a new career. Lippman wrote 10 novels and a novella featuring Tess before focusing on her stand-alone mysteries, but brought her original heroine back for 2015's "Hush, Hush." Her 2004 Anthony Award-winning non-series novel, "Every Secret Thing", was adapted into a 2014 movie starring Diane Lane, Elizabeth Banks, and Dakota Fanning.

Answer: Faye Kellerman

Faye Kellerman introduced Pete Decker and Rina Lazarus to us and each other in "The Ritual Bath". At the time he was a divorced LAPD detective who'd been raised as a Southern Baptist and she was a recently widowed Orthodox Jewish woman who supervised the local mikvah (ritual bath) and potential witness in a rape case.

He converted (sort of - an adoptee, his birth parents were Jewish) and the two married in "Day of Atonement" and added a daughter to their blended family. Rina doesn't officially help her husband solve crimes but acts as a sounding board and gives him advice. Kellerman's husband Jonathan and son Jesse are also mystery writers, and although she never practiced, she has a degree in dentistry.