Who Dunnit - A Quiz Murder Mystery

Answer: The Man in the Brown Suit

"The Third Man" is by Graham Greene. Thomas Hardy wrote "The Mayor of Casterbridge". "Oliver Twist" is by Charles Dickens.

"The Man in the Brown Suit" is more a thriller than a detective story. Hercule Poirot does not appear in it, though we do meet Colonel Race for the first time. It portrays a world of diamond thieves and political intrigue.

Answer: 4.50 from Paddington

"Last Bus to Woodstock" is an Inspector Morse mystery by Colin Dexter. Graham Greene wrote "Stamboul Train". "Stagecoach" is a 1939 John Wayne Western film.

"4.50 from Paddington" features Mrs McGillicuddy, who sees a murder from a train window and is unable to convince the authorities of her story until of course Miss Marple appears on the scene!

Answer: N or M?

"Who killed Cock Robin?" is an English nursery rhyme. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" is a play by Edward Albee. Anthony Trollope wrote "Can You Forgive Her?" in 1864 as the first in his Palliser series.

"N or M?" features Tommy and Tuppence Beresford. It is an espionage thriller in which the couple are middle aged and written off as being too old to be of use in the war effort. Not true, of course!

Answer: Partners in Crime

"Partners in crime" involves Tommy and Tuppence again. It is a collection of short stories about the adventures and criminal investigations of the newly wed Tommy and Tuppence Beresford who have taken over a London detective agency.

"You Never Can Tell" is a play by George Bernard Shaw (as well as a Chuck Berry song). "Time Will Tell" is a first historical novel, published in 2012, by Donald Greig. Just kidding about Lord Lucan!

Answer: Surprise, Surprise!

"Never, Never - Never, Never!" is an Anthony Trollope short story of 1875.
"I Confess!" is a 1953 Hitchcock film starring Montgomery Clift and Anne Baxter. "You Can Tell the World" is, of course, a Simon and Garfunkel song.

"Surprise Surprise!" is a collection of short stories all of which appear in other collections. Both Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple appear in them. It has nothing to do with a Cilla Black Television game show of the same name!

Answer: Cards on the Table

In "Cards on the Table" the villainous Mr Shaitana invites eight people to a dinner and bridge party. Four are detectives and four are people suspected but not convicted of earlier murders. During the evening he is himself murdered.

Tennessee Williams wrote the play "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof". "Room at the Top" was written by John Braine. "Little House on the Prairie" is the brainchild of Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Answer: Sparkling Cyanide

"Whisky Galore" is a 1947 novel by Compton Mackenzie, later made into comedy film. Dorothy Sayers wrote the Lord Peter Wimsey mystery "Strong Poison". "A Handful of Dust" is a book by Evelyn Waugh.

"Sparkling Cyanide" is an expansion of an earlier short story entitled "Yellow Iris". Colonel Race appears in the story but Hercule Poirot does not. The story has been adapted for TV and film several times under various titles and with some alterations.

Answer: Death Comes as the End

"Tender is the Night" was written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" is by Ken Kesey. Anita Loos wrote "Gentlemen prefer Blondes".

"Death Comes as the End" is set in Thebes in 2000 BC, and is the first novel to combine historical fiction with the detective story. The story is told from the viewpoint of Renisenb, a young widow.

Answer: Why Didn't They Ask Evans?

"Who was Oswald Fish?" is a book by A.N. Wilson. "Quo Vadis?" is a book originally written in Polish by Henry Sienkiewicz. "Where's Spot?" is a delightful children's book by Eric Hill.

In "Why Didn't They Ask Evans?" a young man finds the body of a dying man on a golf course and as he dies the man asks this question. Evans eventually turns out to be a parlour maid at the vicarage but what they had to ask you must find for yourself! It's a good story!

Answer: Black Coffee

"Cider with Rosie" is a book by Laurie Lee. "Cakes and Ale" is by Somerset Maugham. "Mr Weston's Good Wine" was written by T.F.Powys.

"Black Coffee" is a Christie play produced initially in 1930. Hercule Poirot and Arthur Hastings are called in by a famous physicist but find that he has been murdered, an important formula having been stolen.