How well do you know mystery classics?

Ever since its birth in 1841, Mystery has been one the genres most popular with readers worldwide, and even more so today. Just look around you on your next train or plane travel and you'll find yourself surrounded by people reading the latest from Ian Rankin, James Patterson, Mary Higgins Clark or Patricia Cornwell - maybe you'll even be one of those! But Mystery, as said above, has a long history, having been around for one century and slightly more than a half. As any other genres, it has its classics, some widely recognized, some rather neglected.

How well do you know the classics of mystery fiction? Do names like Ellery Queen or Dorothy B. Hughes ring a bell or just leave you scratching your head? Evaluate your knowledge - and, maybe, find some great reading ideas! - with this quizz.

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1. Edgar Allan Poe's C. Auguste Dupin appears in only three stories. Which one is not part of the cycle?
The Mystery of Marie Roget
Thou Art the Man
The Purloined Letter
2. What book did British historian Julian Symons regard as the first full-length detective novel?
The Moonstone
L'Affaire Lerouge
The Notting Hill Mystery
Uncle Silas
The Lady in White
3. Which of the following Agatha Christie recurring characters never appeared in a novel?
Superintendent Battle
Ariadne Oliver
Parker Pyne
Mr. Satterthwaite
4. The mystery duet known as Ellery Queen comprised Frederic Dannay and...
Richard Lockridge
Bob Wade
Manfred B. Lee
Barnaby Ross
5. Who wrote the short story "Lacrimae Raerum"?
Edmund Crispin
Agatha Christie
Dorothy L. Sayers
Margery Allingham
Ronald Knox
6. What pseudonym did Willard Huntington Wright hide behind to write detective stories?
Jonathan Stagge
Carter Dickson
S.S. Van Dine
Harrington Hext
7. What is Dr. Thorndyke's middle name?
John
Patrick
Derek
Nelson
Evelyn
8. What was the title of Rex Stout's first book?
Fer-de-Lance
How Like A God
The Doorbell Rang
Too Many Cooks
9. This French writer (1832-73) is credited with writing one of the first full-length detective novels, and his master sleuth Monsieur Lecoq was a decisive influence on the creation of Sherlock Holmes. What's his name?
Fortuné du Boisgobey
Henri Cauvain
Emile Gaboriau
Xavier de Montépin
10. What American writer and critic penned the Lupin pastiche "Arsène Lupin versus Colonel Linnaus"?
Vincent Starrett
Anthony Boucher
Jon L. Breen
John Dickson Carr
11. Dorothy L. Sayers' unfinished novel "Thrones, Dominations" was completed by:
Ruth Rendell
P.D. James
Jill Paton Walsh
Carolyn Heilbrun
12. What detective was nicknamed "The Man of the Forty Faces"?
Sherlock Holmes
Monsieur Lecoq
C. Auguste Dupin
Hamilton Cleek
13. Who created Prince Zaleski, "the farthest out of all detectives" according to William DeAndrea?
Robert Louis Stevenson
Baronness Orczy
Josef Škvorecký
M.P. Shiel
The Hanshews
14. Novelist and academic J. I. M. Stewart is better-known to mystery readers as:
Nigel Morland
Michael Innes
Robert Player
Nicholas Blake
15. Which of the following John Dickson Carr novels does NOT involve an impossible crime?
The Three Coffins
To Wake the Dead
In Spite of Thunder
The House at Satan's Elbow
16. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone" is told by:
Dr. Watson
Sherlock Holmes
Inspector Lestrade
Mrs. Hudson
None
17. Fergus Hume wrote "The Mystery of..."
The Yellow Room
The Blue Train
Holly Lane
A Hansom Cab
The Double Cross
18. What female author did Anthony Boucher describe as "one of the few authentic witches of modern times"?
Agatha Christie
Mary Higgins Clark
Charlotte Armstrong
Margaret Millar
19. Which of the following titles is not part of the Peter & Iris Duluth series?
Puzzle for Wantons
Puzzle for Pilgrims
Death Rides The Ski-Tow
Puzzle for Actors
20. What famous private detective does "The Moving Target" introduce to the world?
Shell Scott
Mike Hammer
Lew Archer
Travis McGee
21. La Jolla, California, was home to:
Raymond Chandler
Ross MacDonald
John D. MacDonald
Stuart Palmer
22. Who was the first president of the Detection Club?
Anthony Berkeley
Agatha Christie
Dorothy L. Sayers
Gilbert Keith Chesterton
E.C. Bentley
23. Which of the following stories is not part of Melville Davisson Post's Uncle Abner cycle?
The Wrong Hand
The Treasure Hunter
The Roswell Tiara
The House of the Dead Man
24. Anthony Berkeley's short-story "The Avenging Chance" was later expanded into a novel, with a different title. What was it?
Trial and Error
The Poisoned Chocolates Case
The Second Shot
Malice Aforethought
25. After "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" Agatha Christie never used the narrator-as-murderer trick again.
True
False
26. Which of the following novels did Patricia Highsmith NOT write?
A Madness of the Heart
A Suspension of Mercy
A Game for the Living
Found in the Street
27. Which of these books earned Eric Ambler the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel?
Passage of Arms
The Levanter
Doctor Frigo
The Light of Day

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