Ho ho ho! It’s time for a quiz! A holiday quiz!
Like the quizzes that came before it, this one is part quiz, part “weird difficult exercise.” Under “questions” I have listed many descriptions of detectives’ thoughts on Christmas lines from crime, mystery, and thriller novels. And you have to guess which famous detective character each general sentiment comes from. If the detective’s name is in the passage, I cross it out. But other than that, I tried to make this quiz a little easier.
I tried.
I call these “classic” books. They aren’t all necessarily old, but they are definitely some of the better-known, well-respected books in their genre.
The answer key is way, way down at the bottom. As you take the quiz, I’d write down your answers next to the corresponding questions’ numbers (on a sheet of paper or in your notes app or something) and then score yourself in one go when you’re done, so that you’re not constantly scrolling down and up again as you go, thereby risking seeing some of the other answers.
If you can get the vague idea but can’t get the name of the detective, then give yourself half a point. If you can get the writer, give yourselves half a point.
Away we go!
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Questions:
1. ‘In my country, Christmas, it is for the children. The New Year, that is what we celebrate.’
‘Ah, said Mr Jesmond, ‘but Christmas in England is a great institution and I assure you at Kings Lacey you would see it at its best.'”
2. It wasn’t snowing. It was ridiculous for a man of more than fifty to go on being disappointed that there was no snow on Christmas morning, but middle-aged people are not always as dull and withered as the younger generation often think.
The sky, heavy and low and dirty white, seemed to weigh down on the roofs. Boulevard Richard-Lenoir was completely deserted and, directly opposite, above the wide main gate, the words ‘Entrepôts Legal, Fils et Cie’ were as black as boot polish.
3. “Nora stopped drinking to ask: ‘Did Wynant really steal it?’
‘Tch, tch, tch,’ I said. ‘This is Christmas Eve: try to think good of your fellow man.'”
4. “Christmas? Christmas?” Racer made it sound like a new holiday only recently forced into the calendar by Parliament. Then, softly, he continued. “Strange, isn’t it, —, how sex maniacs are still prowling the woods on Christmas. Did the Ripper stop for Christmas, —? Did Crippen?”
— took the opportunity. “I don’t actually believe Jack the Ripper was in the alleys on Christmas Day, sir. As I remember it—”
Silence. “Are you being funny, —?”
5. — pulled to a stop in front of the Splendid Age Retirement Home and got out with the saxophone and its stand. He heard Christmas music drifting out of an open window. Elvis Presley singing “Blue Christmas.”
He thought about Nikolai Servan spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in the Parker Center jail. It would probably be the only jail time he’d ever see.
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Answers down below.
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Keep scrolling!
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Answer Key:
1. Hercule Poirot (“The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding,” Agatha Christie)
2. Inspector Maigret (“A Maigret Christmas,” Georges Simenon)
3. Nick Charles (The Thin Man, Dashiell Hammett)
4. Richard Jury (The Man with a Load of Mischief, Martha Grimes)
5. Harry Bosch (“Christmas Even,” Michael Connelly)
