Mysterious Quiz

By OTTO PENZLER
January 2, 2008

Mystery readers generally like puzzles, so here is another challenge for you. This presumes that you like mysteries, of course, as your sanity would have to be questioned for reading this column if you don't.

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Humphrey Bogart.

1. Which of these authors did not write a novel involving the CIA? A. William F. Buckley; B. Norman Mailer; C. Charles McCarry; D. E. Phillips Oppenheim.

2. Who created the iconoclastic journalist Fletch? A. Ross Macdonald; B. Gregory Mcdonald; C. John D. MacDonald; D. Philip MacDonald.

3. Humphrey Bogart's breakout role, both on Broadway and in a motion picture, was as the gangster Duke Mantee. What was the title? A. "To Have or Have Not"; B. "The Mousetrap"; C. "The Petrified Forest"; D. "Dead End."

4. Which of these is not a Sue Grafton title? A. "A Is for Alibi"; B. "B Is for Burglar"; C. "C Is for Culprit"; D. "D Is for Deadbeat."

5. H.T. Greenstock is an anagram for what famous detective story writer?

6. In which crime film did one of the stars say of another: "It's a terrible thing to hate your mother. But I didn't always hate her. When I was a child, I only kind of disliked her"? A. "Rosemary's Baby"; B. "The Manchurian Candidate"; C. "Taxi Driver"; D. "Bonnie and Clyde."

7. Who created Simon Templar, better known as the Saint? A. Leslie Charteris; B. John Gardner; C. Erle Stanley Gardner; D. Ellis Peters.

8. Which of these films was based on real-life incidents? A. "The Black Dahlia"; B. "The French Connection"; C. "Goodfellas"; D. All of them.

9. Bill Pronzini was recently named the 2008 grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America. What is the name of the long-running series hero of his private-eye novels?

10. Which author's byline is not identical to his character's name? A. Ellery Queen; B. Kinky Friedman; C. Samuel Holt; D. Andrew Klavan.

11. Who said, "I am not a policeman. I am a private detective. I entrap criminals, and find evidence to imprison them or kill them, for hire"? A. Nero Wolfe; B. Sam Spade; C. the Continental Op; D. Shell Scott.

12. In which novel does Lord Peter Wimsey not appear? A. "The Documents in the Case"; B."Whose Body?"; C. "The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club"; D. "The Nine Tailors."

13. Name the first adventure of Sherlock Holmes. A. "A Study in Scarlet"; B. "The Hound of the Baskervilles"; C. "The Sign of the Four"; D. "The Valley of Fear."

14. Who described Wilkie Collins's classic novel, "The Moonstone," as "the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels"? A. Arthur Conan Doyle; B. T.S. Eliot; C. Edmund Wilson; D. W.H. Auden.

15. Which sitting president provided the plot to a novel, "The President's Mystery Story," at a White House dinner? A. Harry S. Truman; B. Franklin D. Roosevelt; C. Bill Clinton; D. John F. Kennedy.

16. Which mystery movie won the Academy Award for Best Picture? A. "Fargo"; B. "To Kill a Mockingbird"; C. "Silence of the Lambs"; D. "Chinatown."

17. Which of these outstanding contemporary mystery writers has never won an Edgar? A. Michael Connelly; B. Thomas H. Cook; C. Robert Crais; D. Robert B. Parker.

18. Who did not play a member of the Corleone family in any of the three godfather movies? A. Al Pacino; B. Robert Duval; C. Robert De Niro; D. James Caan.

Mr. Penzler is the proprietor of the Mysterious Bookshop in Manhattan, and the series editor of the annual "Best American Mystery Stories." He can be reached at ottopenzler@mysteriousbookshop.com.

Answers: 1. D; 2. B; 3. C; 4. C; 5. G.K. Chesterton; 6. B; 7. A; 8. D; 9. He is known only as the nameless detective; 10. D; 11. A; 12. A; 13. A; 14. B; 15. B; 16. C; 17. C; 18. B.