The Game's Afoot! Join In
BY KEN RAMSTEAD
WHEN SHERLOCK HOLMES plunged to his apparent death at the Reichenbach falls in "The Final Problem," the outcry from readers forced Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to revive him later in "The Adventure of the Empty House." Such has been the popularity of the whodunit.
How well do you know your sleuths? You won't need a deerstalker or a magnifying glass for this case -- just your wits. So come along, all you Watsons, the game is afoot!
1 Everyone knows that a murder mystery, The Mousetrap, holds the record for the longest continuous theatre run of any show in the world. But who poison-penned it?
2 You missed the bus.Toronto is the turf of police inspector Charlie Salter, Eric Wright's plucky detective. Get directions back to 27.
3 You're way off track. But Honolulu is home to Charlie Chan, Earl Derr Biggers's Hawaiian eye, and Thomas Magnum of TV's "Magnum, P.I." Travel back to 17.
4 What whodunit introduced us to Brother William of Baskerville, the cleric who investigated the deadly goings-on at a 14th-century abbey?
5 Wrong turn! New York is the home of the dapper Ellery Queen, who shares his West 87th Street apartment with his father, police inspector Richard Queen. Give 17 another try.
6 Not a good start. Dorothy L. Sayers created amateur sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey, her aristocratic peer of the realm. Let's go back to 1, shall we?
7 Bull's-eye. Of course, San Francisco was also the backdrop for the classic 1941 film version of The Maltese Falcon, with Humphrey Bogart as the cynical gumshoe. On to 13.
8 Sherlock Holmes is surely the best-known figure in whodunit literature. But what famous trademark is never mentioned in the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle?
9 Yes. As an operative for Pinkerton's National Detective Agency, Hammett travelled across the United States, drawing upon his experience to fashion Sam Spade and Nick Charles (The Thin Man). On to 34.
10 Sorry. A Thief of Time is staged on the Navaho reservation where Lieut. Joe Leaphorn and Officer Jim Chee have their beat. So far, author Tony Hillerman has had them solve 12 mysteries. Back to 13.
11 Terrific beginning. Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap opened at London's Ambassadors Theatre on November 25, 1952. Since then it has been seen by more than nine million theatregoers. Of course, Christie also created Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot, two of sleuthdom's most unforgettable detectives. Off you go to 8.
12 Sorry, Watson. Holmes's pipe is as much a part of him as he is of London. Scurry back to 8.
13 While most detective writers like to keep their characters close to home, Martin Cruz Smith set one of his mysteries in the Soviet Union. What is the book's name?
14 Verily, you are right. Umberto Eco's 1980 classic was later made into a movie starring Sean Connery as the intrepid Franciscan. Thou art city-bound now with 17.
15 You're way off the beam. Holmes first used his magnifying class in A Study in Scarlet, and it remained part of his arsenal ever after. Hail a hansom back to 8.
16 Oops, wrong brand of literature. J.R.R. Tolkien wrote fantasy novels like The Lord of the Rings. Begin again at 1.
17 The detective novel is a particularly urban genre, and Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade is the very model of a streetwise detective. But what city is home to the hero of The Maltese Falcon?
18 Elementary, my dear Watson! The hat is never mentioned in the 56 short stories and four novels featuring the great detective. But famed Holmesian illustrator Sidney Paget drew the "close-fitting cloth cap" appearing in "The Boscombe Valley Mystery" as a deerstalker, and ever since, no celluloid Holmes would face the Hound of the Baskervilles without it. Speaking of Baskerville, try 4.
19 No, though Gardner's career as a successful trial lawyer helped him create sleuthing attorney Perry Mason in over 75 mysteries. Raymond Burr later brought the courtroom to TV. Take a bead on 23 again.
20 Da, comrade. Smith set Gorky Park in Moscow. In it, Chief Homicide Investigator Arkady Renko has to battle the KGB, the FBI and the New York police department to get at the truth behind snow-covered corpses found in Gorky Park. Hotfoot it to 27.
21 Gadzooks! No. You must be thinking of Brother Cadfael, the 12th-century Benedictine monk-cum-sleuth created by British author Edith Pargeter, who published under the pseudonym Ellis Peters. Get thee hence to quattuor (4).
22 Right on! Howard Engel's gumshoe, Benny Cooperman, was born and bred in Grantham and still visits his parents once a week for supper. His success at solving cases owes a lot to his knowing how his small town operates. Let's go to 29.
23 While most whodunit wordsmiths are armchair practitioners at best, one writer was a real-life detective. Who was he?
24 Oops, you've hit a blind alley. Smiley made a name for himself in John le Carre's novels as a master spy. He did use his talents, however, to solve a murder at an English public school in A Murder of Quality. Essay 37 again.
25 Nope, though Cmdr. Adam Dalgleish of Scotland Yard, P.D. James's favourite sleuth in more than ten whodunits since Cover Her Face (1962), has several volumes of poetry to his credit. Back to 34.
26 Bull's-eye! Dannay and Lee wrote their first Ellery Queen whodunit, The Roman Hat Mystery, in 1928 as an entry in a magazine's novel-writing contest. Thirty-nine novels and seven collections of short stories followed. Tie up the loose ends now with 32.
27 Not all detectives and sleuths are big-city operators. What wise-cracking private investigator works out of the fictional southern-Ontario town of Grantham?
28 No scent on that trail. Detective Superintendent Douglas Archer of Scotland Yard is not a writer but the main character in Len Deighton's SS-GB. While unravelling a baffling murder in 1941, Archer finds mystery and mayhem in a Nazi-occupied Britain. Try 37 again.
29 Gumshoes and coppers aren't the only ones untangling matters of murder. What was Frank Dowling's occupation when he isn't solving mysteries?
30 Nyet, though Gyodor Dostoyevski's 1866 Russian masterpiece was among the first of the murderous genre. Back to 13.
31 Dead on! Nero Wolfe and his collection of 10,000 orchids occupy a West 35th Street brownstone not far from Ellery Queen's apartment. Speaking of Queen, take a cab to 37.
32 "I do nothing that a man of unlimited funds, superb physical endurance and maximum scientific knowledge could not do." What modest sleuth said these words?
33 You're probably thinking of Quincy, TV's one-time forensic pathologist played by Jack Klugman. Ponder 29 again.
34 It's hobby time! What is the unusual pastime of Nero Wolfe, Rex Stout's hard-boiled private eye?
35 Whoa. Dick may be good, but he's still just a cop. Retry 32.
36 Praise the Lord, yes! Father Dowling, played by Tom Bosley was the crime-solving pastor of TV's "Father Dowling Mysteries." Real-life occupations are the subject of 23. So hop to it.
37 What dynamic duo brought Ellery Queen to life?
- George Smiley and John le Carré: Go to 24.
- Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee: Go to 26.
- Douglas Archer and Len Deighton: Go to 28.
- Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee: Go to 26.
38 Holy quizmeister, Caped Crusader, you're right! Besides being a highly skilled detective, Batman is a master scientist and proficient in every known martial art. Advance to 42, please.
39 You might be thinking of Angela Lansbury in her incarnation as writer-cum-detective Jessica Fletcher in the recently cancelled TV series "Murder, She Wrote." Investigate 29 again.
40 It's "Elementary, my dear Watson." Good-bye.
41 Gee. Chet, you've got to be kidding. Frank and his brother, Joe, are the Hardy Boys. The young twosome have starred in over 100 mysteries in a series started by Edward Stratemeyer in 1927 under the pseudonym Franklin W. Dixon. Have another look at 32.
42 Well, the case is solved. The quickest way to get from there to here took 23 steps: 1-11-8-18-4-14-17-7-13-20-27-22-29-36-23-9-34-31-37-26-32-38 and 42. How did you do? One last question: What famous phrase did Sherlock Holmes never utter in print? See 40.
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