I'm going to post twenty of the mystery-related trivia questions from our fabulous Bouchercon game show, Who Wants To Be A Mysteryaire. (How do I know it was fabulous? We filled up the ballroom and the organizers had to tote in extra seating!) Questions are immediately below, then there's a loooong spoiler space, and then the answers. Take the quiz and see how good your mystery knowledge is - no peeking! - and post your score on the back blog.
1.This
American author, sometimes called the American Agatha Christie, is
credited with coining the phrase "The butler did it."
2. What inanimate object missing for 40 years turns up at the beginning of Hallie Ephron's YOU'LL NEVER KNOW, DEAR?
3.Who
is the Grand Dame of the “cozy” mystery?
4.Which
Red is formerly a librarian?
5.Who is considered the
father of the hardboiled story?
6.In Deborah Crombie's
series, who is Inspector Gemma James's sergeant?
7. Who wrote The Singing
Sands?
8. In
Sue
Grafton‘s Kinsey Milhone series, K is for knowledge. But what is L
for?
9. What was the murder
weapon used in Lucy Burdette's first Key West mystery, An Appetite
for Murder?
10. Scott Turow’s seminal
legal thrillers are set in a fictional county in Illinois. What
is the name of the county?
11. What is title of the Book
by James Grady that was made into the movie Three Days of the Condor?
12. Only one author has won
the Agatha award for best first novel, best novel, best short story
and best nonfiction. Which author is that?
13. On which island does
Jeffrey Siger set his mysteries?
14. What profession do
Victoria Thompson and Edith Maxwell’s heroines have in common?
15. In Royal Blood what does
Lady Georgie think she is up against?
16. What is the profession of
Donna Andrews’ Meg Langslow?
17. Which writer’s book
starts with characters being killed by an exploding cow?
18. What character is
featured in both Charles Todd's Bess Crawford books and Ian Rutledge
series?
19. What classic mystery
novel was set in Thebes in 2000 BC?
20.Which Reds have written
under different pen names?
 |
| Three friends having a very good time. |
 |
| Debs and Julia with Texas author Nancy West |
 |
| Two superstars: Hank interviews James Patterson |
 |
| The ARC of Julia's next book was a welcome guest! |
1. Mary
Roberts Rinehart (it was used in her novel The Door)
2. A doll
3. Agatha Christie
4. Jenn McKinlay
5. Carroll John Daly (wrote
“The False Burton Combs” in 1922 for Black Mask magazine)
6. Melody Talbot
7. Josephine Tey
8. Lawless
9. Poisoned Key Lime pie (what a way to go!)
10. Kindle County
11. Six days of the Condor
12. Hank Phillippi Ryan
13. Mykonos
14. They're both midwives
15. Vampires!
16. She's a blacksmith
17. CJ Box
18. Melinda Crawford
19. Death Comes as the End by Agatha Christie
20. Rhys Bowen (Janet Quin-Harkin) Lucy Burdette (Roberta Islieb), Jenn McKinlay (Josie Bell, Lucy Lawrence) and coming up, Hank Phillippi Ryan, who will be published as Anna Ryan in the UK. In addition, Julia and Hallie write under their maiden names but are known by their married names socially.
Sixteen . . .
ReplyDeleteand now I'm curious to know about Lucy's travel adventure.
It was ugly Joan! I left Friday afternoon for a big event in CT on Saturday. After 2 malfunctioning planes including one skittering off the runway, I spent the next 4 hours in a roach motel, then back to the airport at 4 and finally home mid afternoon. Missed the big AAUW lunch but happy to be alive!
DeleteLucy, were you on the same flight as Dru Ann Love?
DeleteWhat a nightmare.
Oh, my goodness, how awful . . . so glad you are okay.
DeleteShe was keeping us updated, but I hadn't heard about a plane leaving the runway! Which I'm glad I didn't know, because I flew American the next day!
DeleteSo glad you finally made it home, Lucy! XO
DeleteI'm a fail - only got nine! But I'm delighted to have been part of one of the questions. I wish you all a calm recovery from the whirlwind. And look forward to seeing some of you at Crime Bake next weekend.
ReplyDeleteEdith, not to worry. I only got asked two questions (I was moderating) and I flopped both of them. I was never good at trivia, and honestly, these days I'm happy if I can remember the names of my own books, let alone someone else's.
DeleteI was there and know all the answers! We stayed at a roachless airport hotel last night because of the early flight. The shower was broken! And this morning I requested and got the room comped. Found money. Bcon was great. Melinda has a blast and scored thirty books, all signed, all but three free. She’s planning for the next one.
ReplyDeleteOh, yes, plan for the books! I packed my rollerboard to the brim (I was gone for over a week, including visiting Virginia) and I had to s-q-u-e-e-z-e that sucker tight to slide my paltry five books in.
DeleteBrilliant! My carryon was much heavier upon return! LOL!
DeleteSo much fun! Love this —and love seeing all of you!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Edith -- looking forward to seeing you and Lucy and Hank and Julia at Crime Bake this weekend...
ReplyDeleteAnd my knowledge of these questions is pitiful. I'm not even going to tell you what score I'd get, and I wrote some of them!
And just to correct the 'correct' answers - I wrote 5 novels under the shared pen name G. H. Ephron. And I've never published under my married name.
Okay, I was taking the answers from the questions that had been sent to me, so I'm suspecting our local librarian has done it again? (Now I've met Jenn in person, I'm totally comfortable throwing her under the bus.)
DeleteHa ha ha! Yes, that was my boo boo! Hallie has more layers than I knew about!
DeleteI got Hallie's pen name right and didn't even realize it wasn't in the official answers list!
DeleteAnd Julia, you were an absolutely phenomenal moderator! Absolutely perfect perfect perfect !
ReplyDeleteBeing loud and cracking jokes is not much of a stretch for me. Thanks, Hank.
DeleteAgree! Julia has a natural gift for public speaking. And besides that, she's beautiful!
DeleteOkay, rub it in--y'all could have your own 'RedCon' conference and it would be packed!! And it should kick off its inauguration in Cleveland :-)
ReplyDeleteRest up, those next novels are eagerly awaited! But no pressure!!
Redcon! What a great idea! Only, you would have to organize it.
DeleteI'd do it in a heartbeat if we could have more of those "Better Dead than Red" cocktails. Those were GOOD.
DeleteDrop Dead Red, Julia!
DeleteI expected to do much better than I did, but oh well, it was fun. Wish I could have been to see all of you and meet you.
ReplyDeleteJudi, trust me, we didn't do so hot during the game show itself. Thank heavens for the highly knowledgeable audience! And the nice thing about Bouchercon is it moves around - sooner or later, the carnival will show up within driving distance of you.
DeleteThis kind of quiz shows me how badly my memory has deteriorated. Yikes.
ReplyDeleteThe questions and answers, though, were not the point, I'm sure. The point was the general hilarity which must have ensued. Glad everyone is home safe.
Karen, an early question was about the cat in Lucy's Key West series - Evinrude - and for some reason, we all kept answering "Evinrude" whenever no one knew the answer to later questions. I may forget my own cat's name, but I won't forget Hayley Snow's cat's name from now on...
DeleteHilarious.
DeleteJulia picked all the hard questions. There were easier ones mixed in at the actual panel. I felt fortunate to be excused from the answering, since they appointed me one of the scorekeepers. I only got seven of the above, and that's only because I was there when Deb came up with two of them.
ReplyDeleteI DID pick the hard ones! I figured we have some real mystery mavens in our Red community.
DeleteI can't play because I was there and know the answers.
ReplyDeleteThe panel was a blast, so funny, and B'con was great! It was lovely to see you all and get to meet Jen.
Hallie, I finished CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR on the plane. Awesome. I love one of the last lines, too (I can tell you which one, but you can probably guess).
I’ll bet I can guess!! 😘
DeleteLiz/Mary and I agree there needs to be a Reds badge at these conferences so we can find our people - or maybe we should host a party! Yeah, says the woman who’s still in recovery from the signature cocktail!
ReplyDeleteA party, Jenn! What a great idea. Hmmm.
DeleteAt one Bouchercon there were "I Read RED" buttons. I had one, but who knows what happened to it when we moved.
DeleteBut a party sounds awesome.
I'm all in for a party!
DeleteI think it would be great for the Reds to have some way of identifying other reds. Party or not a simple button or sticker would be sufficient.
DeleteI'm ashamed at how poorly I did during the original game. The one answer I was POSITIVE I had right was...WRONG. (Apologies to the green team.)
ReplyDeleteI was not a great help for green team too
DeleteWild, enthusiastic cheering always makes up for actually knowing the answers, you two!
DeleteDarn! I didn’t try the signature cocktail. Maybe if I had worn red I would have chanced it. My moment of triumph was answering the question about Matthew Venn’s unusual upbringing: religious cult!
ReplyDeletePat, the drink was surprisingly good. And strong, as some of us can attest lol
DeleteOh, yes. "Gosh this is practically fruit juice" followed by waking up with a split skull, wondering if the bartender put Everclear in the thing.
DeleteThe trivia game had lots of great questions. I knew a few of the answers like Mykonos the greek island and midwives.
ReplyDeleteLucy, sounds like you survived that ugly travel adventure and now you are home.
Sounds like everyone had wonderful time at Bouchercon Dallas!
Diana
We missed you at this one, Diana!
DeleteThank you, Deborah. I plan to be at Sacramento next year!
DeleteThe game was a blast, even if it did make me realize just how bad my memory is. What a fantastic few days! Debs, thank you for spending a few minutes talking with me and my friend after I waylaid you on your way to the elevators -- I'm sure you were tired by that point in the conference. And Hank, it was nice chatting with you while we waited in line at the FedEx office. Now I'm waiting for that box to arrive so I can dive into all those books.
ReplyDeleteI' eagerly awaiting FedEx too.
DeleteChris, it was my pleasure!
DeleteThank heavens for the FedEx store in the hotel! Otherwise we'd all need to bring an extra empty suitcase to the conference (and probably develop tendonitis from hauling it around!)
DeleteI had a great time and will not report on my knowledge or lack thereof. I knew the name of Eve Dallas' cat. Yea me! Oh, and I was on Team Tangerine.
ReplyDeleteTeam Tangerine rocked!
DeleteHey, so did Team Green! Even if we didn't win!!
DeleteIt was a fabulous panel! Thank you all for coming to Dallas. If you need a social media manager for RedCon, Gizmo and I are available 😘❤
ReplyDeleteCareful What You Wish For
DeleteHallie, that would make a clever book title. :=)
DeleteThe Reds' panel is always a highlight of Bouchercon for me, and I missed it so much, since I was unable to attend this year. I do have to say that the my first Bouchercon in Albany and my first Reds' panel game with your dear Ross and Youngest giving out the books to winners, Julia, will always be one of my favorite Bouchercon experiences ever. I got twelve questions right on this quiz, but I should have gotten more. I'll have to brush up on my mystery knowledge for Sacramento. And, let me add that you all looked fabulous!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter and I were on team Green, I knew the answers to most of the questions, but my daughter is more of a fantasy fan, so she didn't know as many. I was surprised I knew as many as I did.
ReplyDeleteIt was a great panel! I saw all the reds but didn't introduce myself, I don't interrupt conversations just to introduce myself. Hallie did a great job with the Elizabeth George interview. I did meet Ann, at a different author panel.
We returned to eighty degree weather here in the southern Bay Area, where out temps are thirty degrees warmer than San Francisco. No smoke, the fires are almost out.
We had the best plane flights from San Jose to Dallas and back. It was wonderful to be on flights that were not full and the seats on the Alaska planes are so large with so much leg room. These are new smaller airplanes. This was possible because we did not fly into and out of DFI but instead Love Field. Really nice small, regional airport with lots of flights all over there US,.
Just for the record, K is for Killer, not Kindness.
ReplyDelete