Mystery Authors and Titles Trivia Quiz

Answer: Agatha Christie

Published in 1939, this mystery, crime and psychological thriller took its title from a 1869 minstrel song which features in the story but was deemed too racially sensitive for the US market. The 1940 US edition "And Then There Were None" uses the last five words of the song.

The UK editions used various titles until 1985 when they followed the US lead. Agatha Christie's most successful book, it has sold over 100 million copies and had numerous film and TV adaptations.

Answer: Agatha Christie

Published as a novel in 1932, it had been serialised in both the US and the UK during 1931. This was the sixth book to feature the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. He and his companion Captain Hastings are on holiday in Cornwall when Poirot becomes convinced that someone is threatening to kill a young woman whom they had met. Adaptations have been made for the stage, TV and film, radio, a computer game and a graphic novel.

The book was dedicated to Eden Phillpotts, an author, neighbour and friend of the family.

He offered the right kind of encouragement after her first rejections by publishers. She said as much in her 1977 autobiography.

Answer: Agatha Christie

This 1941 book is the third appearance of Tommy and Tuppence, a husband-and-wife team of detectives, in this wartime spy thriller. Christie's naming of one of the characters as Major Bletchley sparked a brief investigation by the British intelligence agency MI5 to find out if there was a connection with Bletchley Park, the then top-secret code-breaking facility.

Answer: Agatha Christie

Realising "Postern of Fate" (1973) was her last novel, Agatha Christie authorised publication of the Hercule Poirot send-off novel "Curtain" (written in 1940) in 1975 and the Miss Marple detective novel "Sleeping Murder" in 1976. Written during 1940/41 (or possibly later), it was not published until shortly after she died.

Originally titled "Murder in Retrospect", that title got used in the US for "Five Little Pigs". A similar issue applied to her next choice, "Cover Her Face", which was used by P.D. James for her debut crime novel.

It is noticeable that Miss Marple has aged in later-written novels when compared to this one.

Answer: Arthur Conan Doyle

Originally titled "A Tangled Skein", the novel "A Study in Scarlet" by Arthur Conan Doyle was the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Published in the 1887 "Beeton's Christmas Annual", it attracted little attention at the time. Nor did the three subsequent book editions of 1888, 1890 and 1891.

It was publishing the short story "A Scandal in Bohemia", the first of a series of six in "The Strand Magazine" in 1991, that caught the public's attention.

Answer: Arthur Conan Doyle

The second of Arthur Conan Doyle's 'Holmes' novels, it was commissioned for a British version of the American publication "Lippincott's Monthly Magazine". Oscar Wilde was at the same dinner and went on to contribute "The Picture of Dorian Gray". "The Sign of the Four" was published in 1890, before Sherlock Holmes had grabbed the public's attention.

The name changed in the course of the novel being republished to "The Sign of Four", although the text stuck with the five-word version when describing the symbol in the story.

Answer: Arthur Conan Doyle

Arthur Conan Doyle tried to kill off Sherlock Holmes with his short story "The Adventure of the Final Problem" (1893), however he was persuaded to revive the character. The events in "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (1902) occur two years before "The Final Problem" and was his third crime novel featuring Holmes.

A popular story, there have been over 20 film and TV adaptations made. The book lends its name to the Baskerville effect, which is an apparent increase in deaths due to heart attacks on days considered unlucky.

Answer: Arthur Conan Doyle

"The Valley of Fear" was published in book form in 1915 after appearing as a serial. The book is in two parts with an epilogue, the first part dealing with the crime and the second providing the background. It touches on a number of themes including betrayal, revenge, fear, morality and deception.

The final 'Holmes' novel, Doyle also wrote 56 'Holmes' short stories which were subsequently published in collections. He wrote a number of other works including historical fiction, adventure stories, plays, poems and non-fiction.

Answer: Raymond Chandler

Raymond Chandler had over 20 years of poems, followed later by short stories, published in periodicals before his first novel, "The Big Sleep", came out in 1939. This crime novel was the first to feature fictional detective Philip Marlowe. Chandler's earlier short stories, appearing in pulp magazines "Black Mask" and "Dime Detective", contained similar characters such as Carmady and John Dalmas.

He re-worked some of these short stories to turn them into 'Marlowe' books in a publishing term called 'fix-up'; in this case: "Killer in the Rain" (1935), "The Curtain" (1936) and elements from a couple of others.

Answer: Raymond Chandler

Published in 1942, this was the third novel to feature the detective character Marlowe and the first not to make use of earlier short stories for content. It is also one of the clearer examples of how Marlowe differs from his hard-boiled colleagues, showing some Romantic hero-type idealism.

For example, the narrator describes Marlowe as "shop-soiled Sir Galahad" following his rescue of Merle Davis, 'the damsel-in-distress'. Real-life murders also appear in Chandler novels. The 1929 Greystone Mansion murder mystery gets a retelling as the 'Cassidy Case' in chapter 15.

Answer: Raymond Chandler

The sixth novel to feature the character Philip Marlowe, "The Long Goodbye" by Raymond Chandler was published in 1953. It won the 1955 Edgar Award for Best Novel. It included autobiographical elements with two characters, the habitually drunken Roger Wade and the alcoholic Terry Lennox, being identified with him.

His wife Cissy's long illness during this period had a profound effect on him. She died in 1954.

Answer: Raymond Chandler

The seventh and last of the Philip Marlowe detective novels written by Raymond Chandler, "Playback" was published in 1958. Chandler died in 1959 leaving four chapters of what was transformed into "Poodle Springs" (1989) by admirer Robert B. Parker. "Playback" was re-worked from a screenplay Chandler wrote.

It is the only completed novel of his not set in Los Angeles. The story begins about 18 months after "The Long Goodbye".

Answer: Dashiell Hammett

American writer Dashiell Hammett based some of his writing on his experiences as an operative with the Pinkerton Detective Agency. In "Red Harvest" (1929) the Agency is fictionalised as the Continental Detective Agency with the story being narrated by the unnamed Continental Op, a character who appears repeatedly in Hammett's writing. Part of the storyline was inspired by the 1920 labour dispute known as the Anaconda Road massacre.

Answer: Dashiell Hammett

The detective novel "The Maltese Falcon" (1930) sees the introduction of the character Sam Spade. It was originally serialised in the pulp magazine "Black Mask" in 1929/30. Told entirely in the third-person, the story marked a departure from the (nameless) Continental Op. Spade shared some characteristics of previous detectives such as cold detachment, determination for justice and keen eye for detail.

The novel contains elements of his 1925 "Black Mask" short stories "The Whosis Kid" and "The Gutting of Couffignal" but Hammett was noted as saying that Sam Spade had no real-life model.

Answer: Dashiell Hammett

In Dashiell Hammett's "The Glass Key", the protagonist is Ned Beaumont, gambler, racketeer and amateur detective. He is a less cold and distant character than Hammett's the Continental Op or Sam Spade, willing to work with the heroine and perhaps more involved with her.

The novel also shows its Depression era setting and the way that affects people's morality and actions in a small-town environment. First appearing as a serial in "Black Mask" magazine during 1930, it was published in book form in 1931.

The Glass Key Award, which goes annually to the best Scandinavian crime writer, takes its name after the novel.

Answer: Dashiell Hammett

"The Thin Man" (1934) marked a different style of detective novel for Dashiell Hammett. It featured relatively light and humorous writing with the protagonists Nick and Nora Charles, a husband and wife duo who solved murder mysteries whilst enjoying sarcastic banter.

A film adaptation came out in 1934 with five sequels quickly following. Hammett did not write another Nick and Nora novel; however, he was commissioned to write scripts for two sequels which, when discovered in 2011, were turned into novellas by his biographer and a granddaughter and published as "Return of the Thin Man" (2012).

Answer: Dorothy L. Sayers

Dorothy L. Sayers' debut novel was "Whose Body?" (1923), which introduced the aristocratic Lord Peter Wimsey as an amateur detective. The original text had the erstwhile detective dismissing the suggested identity of the pince-nez wearing body in the bath as the body was uncircumcised.

This was deemed too much by the publisher and toned down. Sayer's portrayal of the British class system is mildly satirical, which allowed her to overdo the portrayal of the protagonist and the relationship with his butler Bunter.

Answer: Dorothy L. Sayers

"Strong Poison" (1930) is Dorothy L. Sayers' fifth Lord Peter Wimsey novel. This has the first appearance of Harriet Vane, on trial for murder. The title comes from the ballad "Lord Rendal" and the information given about building up an immunity to arsenic is now known to be wrong. During the writing of "Whose Body?", Sayers was involved with an advocate of free love who had no desire for marriage or children.

The relationship foundered and both wrote of their experiences, in Sayers' case, as part of "Strong Poison" and, for the now married ex, in "The Devil is an English Gentleman" (1932).

Answer: Dorothy L. Sayers

If you want to learn about campanology, or bell ringing, while reading a mystery book then this is probably the one for you. "The Nine Taylors" (1934) by Dorothy L. Sayers takes its name from an old saying where the number of tolls rung indicate whether a deceased is male or female. Nine for a man, six for a woman. Set in fen country, Sayers also spent some of her childhood living in a village near fens where her father was a rector.

He was involved in the restoration of the church's bells in the village.

The campanology knowledge came from "Change Ringing" by Charles Troyte.

Answer: Dorothy L. Sayers

The tenth mystery novel to feature Lord Peter Wimsey was "Gaudy Night" (1935) by Dorothy L. Sayers. The character Harriet Vane also plays a significant role in her third book appearance. Sayers attended Somerville College at Oxford University which was the model for the all-female Shrewsbury College, Oxford in the book.

The book's title refers to a college feast, typically a formal meal held as a reunion for former students. Again, referencing her own experience, a woman's right to academic education is a key theme of the book. Sayers was one of the first women to obtain an Oxford University degree.