In our recent trilogy of quizzes on this site, this one going to be the most challenging. Ain’t it just like a dame.
Like the quizes that came before it, this one is part quiz, part trivia. Under “questions” I have listed many descriptions of femme fatales from crime novels. And you have to guess which book each description comes from.
Now, because this category might be incredibly hard otherwise, I really mean it when I say: these are classics. I’ve stuck to the most famous crime and mystery novels. You don’t have to rack your brains for femme fatale-types, like Circe or Salome or Lady Macbeth.
I’ll also say that you should feel free to guess characters from the same author, and even from the same book. Sometimes, there’s more than one femme fatale in the midst.
The answer key is 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) and then grade yourself in one swoop 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.
I think it’s toooo hard to ask you to remember the name of each femme fatale; the book should be enough. If you can only get the author, give yourself half a point. If you CAN guess the name of a femme fatale, give yourself an extra point!
Also, be forewarned: some of these descriptions are… ahem, a bit sexist.
Well, happy quizzing!
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Questions:
1. “Then I saw her. She had been out back, in the kitchen, but she came in to gather up my dishes. Except for the shape, she really wasn’t any raving beauty, but she had a sulky look to her, and her lips stuck out in a way that made me want to mash them in for her.
‘Meet my wife.’
She didn’t look at me. I nodded at the Greek, gave my cigar a kind of wave, and that was all.”
2. “Her face was beautiful. More beautiful than the photograph. Wavy hair so light brown that you might have called it blond from a distance, and eyes that were either green or blue depending on how she held her head. Her cheekbones were high but her face was full enough that it didn’t make her seem severe. Her eyes were just a little closer than most women’s eyes; it made her seem vulnerable, made me feel that I wanted to put my arms around her—to protect her.”
3. “A voice said, ‘Thank you,’ so softly that only the purest articulation made the words intelligible, and a young woman came through the doorway. She advanced slowly, with tentative steps, looking at Spade with cobalt-blue eyes that were both shy and probing.
She was tall and pliantly slender, without angularity anywhere. Her body was erect and high-breasted, her legs long, her hands and feet narrow. She wore two shades of blue that had been selected because of her eyes. The hair curling from under her blue hat was darkly red, her full lips more brightly red. White teeth glistened in the crescent her timid smile made.”
4. “She was twenty or so, small and delicately put together, but she looked durable. She wore pale blue slacks and they looked well on her. She walked as if she were floating. Her hair was a fine tawny wave cut much shorter than the current fashion of pageboy tresses curled in at the bottom. Her eyes were slate-gray, and had almost no expression when they looked at me. She came over near me and smiled with her mouth and she had little sharp predatory teeth, as white as fresh orange pith and as shiny as porcelain. They glistened between her thin too taut lips. Her face lacked color and didn’t look too healthy.”
5. ““Oh, she has turned all the men’s heads down in that part. She is the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings.””
6. “She was worth a stare. She was trouble. She was stretched out on a modernistic chaise-longue with her slippers off, so I stared at her legs in the sheerest silk stockings. They seemed to be arranged to stare at. They were visible to the knee and one of them well beyond. The knees were dimpled, not bony and sharp. The calves were beautiful, the ankles long and slim and with enough melodic line for a tone poem. She was tall and rangy and strong-looking. Her head was against an ivory satin cushion. Her hair was black and wiry and parted in the middle and she had the hot black eyes of the portrait in the hall. She had a good mouth and a good chin. There was a sulky droop to her lips and the lower lip was full.
She had a drink. She took a swallow from it and gave me a cool level stare over the rim of the glass.
‘So you’re a private detective,’ she said. ‘I didn’t know they really existed, except in books. Or else they were greasy little men snooping around hotels.'”
7. “’She’s money-mad, all right, but somehow you don’t mind it. She’s so thoroughly mercenary, so frankly greedy, that there’s nothing disagreeable about it. You’ll understand what I mean when you know her.'”
8. “All these Spanish houses have red velvet drapes that run on iron spears, and generally some red velvet wall tapestries to go with them.
This was right out of the same can, with a coat-of-arms tapestry over the fireplace and a castle tapestry over the sofa. The other two sides of the room were windows and the entrance to the hall.
‘Yes?’
A woman was standing there. I had never seen her before.
She was maybe thirty-one or -two, with a sweet face, light blue eyes, and dusty blonde hair. She was small, and had on a suit of blue house pajamas. She had a washed-out look.”
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Answers down below.
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Keep scrolling!
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Answer Key:
1. Cora Papadakis: The Postman Always Rings Twice, James M. Cain
2. Daphne Monet: Devil in a Blue Dress, Walter Mosley
3. Brigid O’Shaughnessy: The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett
4. Carmen Sternwood: The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler
5. Irene Adler, “A Scandal in Bohemia,” Arthur Conan Doyle
6. Vivian Regan (née Sternwood): The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler
7. Dinah Brand: Red Harvest, Dashiell Hammett
8. Phyllis Nirdlinger: Double Indemnity, James M. Cain
