Let's hear it for the girls Trivia Quiz

Answer: Science Fiction

Sheri Tepper is a science fiction writer. Her books often feature strong and resourceful women, such as Marjorie Westriding in "Grass" (1989). She tends to write with a feminist slant. She has been Hugo, Locus and Arthur C. Clarke awards nominated several times, and won the Locus Award in 1992 for "Beauty", a reimagining of the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale.

Prior to marrying Gene Tepper she wrote under the name of Sheri Eberhart, and has also written as B.J. Oliphant and A.J. Orde.

Answer: Tommy and Tuppence Beresford

Dame Agatha Christie is acknowledged as England's foremost crime writer. Her Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple books have sold around the world and have been made into plays, films and television series. In addition to this she also wrote "The Mousetrap", the longest running play in the world.

Tommy and Tuppence Beresford appeared in only five books. The first "The Secret Adversary" is set before their marriage and was published in 1922. Fans had to wait seven long years to 1929 before the second book "Partners in Crime". The third "N or M" did not appear until 1941, and it was 27 years until "By The Pricking of My Thumbs" appeared in 1968. The final book "Postern of Fate" came in 1973. It was almost as if every so often she needed a break from her two main characters so wrote a "Tommy and Tuppence" book just for a change.

Answer: Chelsea Cain

Born in 1972, Chelsea Cain spent her early years living in a hippie community close to Iowa City. Because her father refused the Vietnam Draft the family spent some years living in various underground communities. These experiences later formed the basis of her University dissertation, which turned into her first book "Dharma Girl".

Gretchen Lowell first appeared in "Heartsick" in 2007. She, and the detective hunting her down, Archie Sheridan, who develop a sort of "Stockholm syndrome" relationship after she captures and tortures him, have gone on to appear in several further works.

Answer: She died

Margaret Mitchell had only one novel published in her lifetime, the American civil war story, "Gone With the Wind". It received the 1936 award for Book of the Year and the 1937 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. The foundations for it were rooted in her imagination when she was very young. At the age of around six her mother took her on a tour through ruined plantations, showing her what was left of the houses after Sherman's march through Georgia. That, coupled with civil war stories she heard when visiting relatives laid the basis for the book.

It was always her intention to write a sequel, and she had copious notes prepared. World War 2 put a hold on any writing activities, and in August 1949 she died. She was hit by a speeding car whilst crossing the road with her husband when they were on their way to see a film. She died in hospital five days later. The driver was later imprisoned for involuntary manslaughter.

Answer: Regency

Georgette Heyer's Regency romances have proved enduringly popular. When "These Old Shades" was published in 1926 during the General Strike in Britain it was a success despite the strike meaning it had no publicity. This, Ms. Heyer decided, meant that publicity was not necessary for good sales and from then on she refused all requests for interviews, book signings etc. It certainly did her sales no harm. All her Regency romances were set in the upper echelons of society, and are noted for their historical accuracy and humour. Many of them are laugh out loud books in places.

She was also a noted thriller writer and for some years published one romance and one thriller a year. The thrillers all have contempory settings and whilst some critics said they were rather unoriginal they all praised them for attention to detail and meticulous plot lines. All loose ends are tied up, all red herrings explained. You never finish a Georgette Heyer thriller thinking "what happened about (x) though".

Answer: Kathy Reichs

In addition to being an author, Kathy Reichs is a professor of anthropology. It is perhaps not surprising that the heroine of her books, Temperance Brennan, is a forensic anthropologist. In addition to her writing Ms. Reichs was also involved in the television series "Bones", which is loosely based on her books. She was also a member of the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team that was assigned to assist after the World Trade Centre attacks.

She did not start writing novels until the late 1990s. Her first, "Deja Dead", was published in 1997 and won the Arthur Ellis Award for best first novel. She has said that she and Temperance Brennan share the same CV, and the same traits.

Answer: Forties

Born in 1920, P.D. James did not have her first Adam Dalgliesh book published until 1962, when she was in her forties. The first book was "Cover Her Face". Two years after it was published her husband died and she then worked in the Home Office, whilst still writing. She stayed in the Home Office until her retirement in 1979. As the books have continued over the years we have also seen the development of Adam Dalgliesh both as a policeman and a person. In later books there is much more written about his private life and him as a poet. He has also risen through the ranks, starting as a Detective Chief Inspector rising to Commander.

Many of her books have been adapted for television with Roy Marsden playing the role of Adam Dalgliesh in most of the adaptations. Unfortunately though these have not been filmed in any chronological order so do not give quite the same sense of time passing for the main characters as the books do.

Answer: Naomi James

In her career Eleanor Hibbert used at least eight different pen names. Her three best known are Jean Plaidy, under which she wrote historical fiction. Philippa Carr, which she used for family saga type stories, and Victoria Holt for what can best be described as gothic romances. Most of her 200 plus books were written as Jean Plaidy, 91 in total. The accuracy of her historical detail has been much praised.

Other names she used were Eleanor Burford (31 books), Elbur Ford (4 books), Kathleen Kellow (8 books), Ellalice Tate (5 books) and Anna Percival (1 book). Each "author" wrote in a different genre. Eleanor Burford for example wrote romance.

Answer: Caroline Graham

From eight books written by Caroline Graham between 1987 and 2004, television has made several series of "Midsomer Murders". In fact Midsomer should, by now, have zero population as the entire population seem to be either murderers or victims.

"The Killings at Badger's Drift" was the first novel, published in 1987, and this was adapted for the screen without too many changes. Of course the books soon ran out, and as the programme started filming series seventeen in April 2014 the stories are now written for the screen, not taken from the books.

Other than the "Midsomer" series Caroline Graham has not published many other books, although she did work as a scriptwriter on the soap opera "Crossroads" for a while. Early in her career she also worked on some radio plays. "The Killings at Badger's Drift" was named one of the top 100 crime novels of all time, and it also won the 1989 Macavity Award for best first novel.

Answer: Camilla Lackberg

Camille Lackberg's books are characterised by the way she explores deep into the personalities of her characters. She takes time to develop them into people you feel you know and care about, whilst at the same time delivering plots full of twists and turns.

She often runs two stories beside each other, the present day mystery and a story from the past, that somehow has a bearing on the present. Her series of books featuring detective Patrick Hedstrom and his wife, author Erica Falk, have been translated into over thirty languages.

The first in the series "The Ice Princess" was published in 2003 and translated into English in 2008.