Crime Fiction Quizzes

As lovers of crime fiction we read a lot. And then we read some more. But how much do we actually remember? Think you know your Christie? Are you confident on your knowledge of Ngaio Marsh, Allingham or Sayers novels? How much do you know about the Golden Age of crime fiction?

Click on the pictures below and test your wits against my (mostly Golden Age inspired) quizzes!!

N. B. Due to this being a wordpress.com blog I can’t embed my quizzes from sporcle so clicking on the pictures opens it up in another tab.

Also since technology is neither my first love nor one of my strengths feel free to let me know if any of the quizzes need tweaking and of course if there are any answers which are wrong let me know!

July 2020 Update: I have begun including copies of the quizzes on this page, so those who do not like using Sporcle can still enjoy the quizzes themselves, though the format of the quiz is sometimes different. Answers to each quiz are included at the very bottom. When I have the time I will add copies to the remaining quizzes.

Quiz Number 1 – Crime Fiction Firsts

Quiz Number 2 – Golden Age Crime Writers and their Creations

 

 

 

 

 

Quiz Number 3 – Decide which of these Gladys Mitchell Titles were Published Before or After 1960.

 

Quiz Number 4 – Which of these titles by Ngaio Marsh were published after 1960?

 

 

 

 

Quiz Number 5 – Can You Complete These P. D. James Titles?

 

 

 

 

 

Quiz Number 6 – Can You Put Poirot’s Novels in Order?

 

Quiz Number 7 – What Poisons Did Christie Use in Her Novels?

 

Quiz Number 8 – Can You Complete These Dorothy L. Sayers Titles?

 

 

 

Quiz Number 9 – Sayers vs. Christie Characters

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quiz Number 10 – Can You Pick the Settings of Agatha Christie’s Novels?

Quiz Number 11 – How Well Do You Remember the Victims of Christie’s Mysteries?

For each letter of the alphabet (except Q and X) write in a surname of one of Agatha Christie’s Victims. A clue to which novel to find them in the right hand column.

 

Answers

Quiz Number 1 – Crime Fiction Firsts

1. Death Comes as the End

2. The Female Detective

3. Anna Katharine Green

4. A Scandal in Bohemia

5. A Study in Scarlet

6. The Mysterious Affair at Styles

7. The Murder at the Vicarage

8. John Lang

9. Dashiell Hammett

10. Fly Paper

11. The Big Sleep

12. Lawrence Treat

13. John Strachey

14. Edgar Allan Poe

15. Agatha Christie

16. G K Chesterton

17. Margaret Rutherford

18. Charles Laughton

19. Gracie Fields

20. The Mystery of the Blue Train

21. Max Carrados

22. The Conjuror Man Dies

Quiz Number 3 – Decide which of these Gladys Mitchell Titles were Published Before or After 1960.

Speedy Death – Before

My Bones Will Keep – After

Adders on the Heath – After

The Longer Bodies – Before

Watson’s Choice – Before

Dance to Your Daddy – After

The Twenty-Third Man – Before

The Crozier Pharaohs – After

The Mudflats of the Dead – After

Tom Brown’s Body – Before

The Croaking Raven – After

The Mystery of the Butcher’s Shop – Before

The Saltmarsh Murders – Before

Death and the Maiden – Before

A Javelin for Jonah – After

When Last I Died – Before

Lament for Leto – After

Winking at the Brim – After

Late, Late in the Evening – After

Sunset Over Soho – Before

Quiz Number 4 – Which of these titles by Ngaio Marsh were published after 1960?

The titles published after 1960 were: Photo Finish, Tied Up in Tinsel, Grave Mistake, Light Thickens, Last Ditch, Hand in Glove, When in Rome, Dead Water, Clutch of Constables

Quiz Number 5 – Can You Complete These P. D. James Titles?

1. Cover/Face

2. Mind

3. Unnatural

4. Nightingale

5. Black

6. Expert

7. Taste

8. Devices/Desires

9. Sin

10. Certain

11. Holy

12. Murder

13. Lighthouse

14. Private

Quiz Number 6 – Can You Put Poirot’s Novels in Order?

The Mysterious Affair at Styles	(1920)
The Murder on the Links	(1923)
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd	(1926)
The Big Four	(1927)
The Mystery of the Blue Train	(1928)
Peril at End House	(1932)
Lord Edgware Dies	(1933)
Murder on the Orient Express	(1934)
Three Act Tragedy	(1935)
Death in the Clouds	(1935)
The A.B.C. Murders	(1936)
Murder in Mesopotamia	(1936)
Cards on the Table	(1936)
Dumb Witness	(1937)
Death on the Nile	(1937)
Appointment with Death	(1938)
Hercule Poirot’s Christmas	(1938)
One, Two, Buckle My Shoe	(1940)
Sad Cypress	(1940)
Evil Under the Sun	(1941)
Five Little Pigs	(1942)
The Hollow	(1946)
Taken at the Flood	(1948)
Mrs. McGinty’s Dead	(1952)
After the Funeral	(1953)
Hickory Dickory Dock	(1955)
Dead Man’s Folly	(1956)
Cat Among the Pigeons	(1959)
The Clocks	(1963)
Third Girl	(1966)
Hallowe’en Party	(1969)
Elephants Can Remember	(1972)
Curtain	(1975)

Quiz Number 7 – What Poisons Did Christie Use in Her Novels?

Answers: Cyanide, Thallium, Bacillus Anthracis, Physostigmine, Taxine, Arsenic, Monkshood, Phosphorous, Belladonna, Strychnine, Veronal, Morphine, Coniine.

Quiz Number 8 – Can You Complete these Dorothy L. Sayers’ Titles?

1. Papers

2. Documents

3. Teeth/Evidence

4. Death/Bellona

5. Striding

6. Cloud

7. Advertise

8. Have

9. Nine

10. Honeymoon

11. View/Body

12. Night

13. Whose

14. Busman’s

15. Five/Herrings

16. Strong

17. Unnatural

Quiz Number 10 – Can You Pick the Settings of Agatha Christie’s Novels?

The correct locations are: Egypt, Iraq, France, Turkey, Iran, Greece, Morocco, Yugoslavia, Canary Islands, South Africa, Syria, Italy, Switzerland, Baghdad, Belgium, West Indies

Quiz Number 11 – How Well Do You Remember the Victims of Christie’s Mysteries?

A – Ackroyd

B – Blore

C – Carter

D – Doyle

E – Edgware

F – Fortescue

G – Gorman

H – Hunt

I – Inglethorp

J – Johnson

K – Keene

L – Lansquenet

M – Murgatroyd

N – Nicoletis

O – Obolovitch

P – Polonska

R – Ratchett

S – Strange

T – Tressilian

U – Upward

V – Vandemeyer

W – Wade

Y – Yahmose

Z – Zielinsky