basil rathbone as sherlock holmes and nigel bruce as doctor watson in a still from the adventures of sherlock holmes; surrounded by yellow, purple, and tan circles with question marks

Photo Collage: MOA Staff; (Source: Allstar Picture Library Limited. / Alamy)

The Case of the Detective Shows Quiz

Test how well you know these classic sleuths

Thom Geier,

AARP

Published August 03, 2023

10 Questions

Steve Martin, 77, and Martin Short, 73, reteam with Selena Gomez for the third season of Hulu’s comedy-mystery series Only Murders in the Building, premiering Aug. 8. The three residents of a Manhattan apartment building chase clues to solve murders in this clever update on the classic detective genre. But how well do you know other classic sleuths? Strap on your gumshoes and see if you can crack the case.

The Case of the Detective Shows Quiz

[ {
  "question" : "What amateur detective did Agatha Christie first create in the 1930 novel “The Murder at the Vicarage”?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "Sam Spade",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Philip Marlowe",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Sherlock Holmes",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Miss Marple",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "Jane Marple, a perpetual singleton, appeared in 12 of the best-selling author’s novels, and was portrayed on film and TV by actresses including Margaret Rutherford, Helen Hayes, Angela Lansbury and Geraldine McEwan. The author said she partly modeled the character’s temperament on her grandmother: “Although a completely cheerful person, she always expected the worst of anyone and everything.”",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "What is the name of Sherlock Holmes’ brilliant archnemesis?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "James Moriarty",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "Mycroft",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "John Watson",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Mrs. Hudson",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "Arthur Conan Doyle refers to his detective hero’s most frequent antagonist as the “Napoleon of crime,” a phrase that he borrowed from a Scotland Yard inspector’s description of the real-life master criminal Adam Worth. On screen, he’s been played by multiple actors including Laurence Olivier and Ralph Fiennes.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "What was the name of Jack Webb’s L.A police detective character in the ’50s and ’60s TV series “Dragnet”?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "Joe Mannix",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Pete Molloy",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Robert Ironside",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Joe Friday",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "“Dragnet” began as a radio series in the 1940s after actor Jack Webb met an LAPD officer who complained that Hollywood never got police work right. Webb managed to persuade the LAPD to supply actual case files — as well as police cars — to lend the show an air of authenticity.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "Who is the credited author of the Nancy Drew mystery series of books?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "Enola Holmes",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Louise Fitzhugh",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Franklin W. Dixon",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Carolyn Keene",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "Starting in 1930, publisher Edward Stratemeyer published scores of books under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene so that he could pay authors a flat fee (as little as $125 in the 1920s) and avoid handing out royalties; he used the same approach on the Hardy Boys books, which were credited to Franklin W. Dixon beginning in 1927.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "Isaac Hayes won an Oscar for writing the theme song to which 1971 film about a Black private detective?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "“Shaft”",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "“Foxy Brown”",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "“Coffy”",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "“In the Heat of the Night”",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "Richard Roundtree arguably became Hollywood’s first Black action hero playing John Shaft in director Gordon Parks’ blockbuster “blaxploitation” film. The actor went on to play the character in four more films (including a 2019 reboot starring Samuel L. Jackson as Roundtree’s son).",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "What tiny town did mystery-writer-turned-crime-solver Jessica Fletcher call home in “Murder, She Wrote”?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "Cabot Cove",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "Mayberry",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Knot’s Landing",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Petticoat Junction",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "The Maine town of Cabot Cove, population 3,500, may have had the highest homicide rate of any place in the U.S. Online fans counted 274 murders over the course of 264 episodes. “Murder, She Wrote” star Angela Lansbury, who died in 2022 at age 96, was nominated for best actress in a drama series at the prime-time Emmys for every single year in the CBS hit’s 12-season run (from 1984 to 1996) — but shockingly never won.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "What classic ’60s comedy star played crime-solving defense attorney Ben Matlock?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "Dick Van Dyke",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Andy Griffith",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "Larry Hagman",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Lee Majors",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "“Matlock” ran for nine seasons — from 1986 to 1995 — on two networks and became such a favorite in syndicated reruns that CBS is launching a reboot this fall starring Kathy Bates. Griffith also reteamed with his “Andy Griffith Show” costar Don Knotts, who appeared in 17 episodes as Matlock’s neighbor (and one-time client).",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "Which future James Bond got his big break in the ’80s TV hit “Remington Steele” as a con man pretending to be a licensed private investigator?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "Pierce Brosnan",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "Timothy Dalton",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Daniel Craig",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Sean Connery",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "Brosnan, 70, who was best known for a miniseries about Irish American immigrants, was initially rejected for the role by NBC executives who thought he wasn’t a big enough star to play opposite Stephanie Zimbalist (the daughter of “77 Sunset Strip” star Efrem Zimbalist Jr.). But Brosnan parlayed the role, which ran for five seasons, into a career that included big-screen hits like “Mrs. Doubtfire” and “Mamma Mia!”",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "Magnum P.I. solves crimes in what state?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "New York",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "California",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Hawaii",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "Florida",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "In the original 1980s series, Tom Selleck played a private detective who lived in the guest house of a vast Hawaii estate owned by a reclusive novelist named Robin Masters. Though we never saw Masters on the show, Orson Welles voiced his character in at least three episodes. (Actress Perdita Weeks plays a female equivalent of Robin Masters in the Jay Hernandez-led reboot that debuted in 2018.)",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "What NYPD detectives, played by Sharon Gless and Tyne Daly, are widely credited as TV’s first all-female crime-fighting duo?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "“Starsky & Hutch”",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "“Rizzoli & Isles”",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "“Cagney & Lacey”",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "“Simon & Simon”",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "Loretta Swit played Christine Cagney in the 1981 TV movie on which the series was based, but the role was recast with Gless after the producers of “M*A*S*H” refused to let Swit out of her contract. Gless went on to win two Emmys for best actress in a drama series for the role, and costar Daly won four playing her onscreen partner, Mary Beth Lacey.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
} ]

Quiz Progress

0 Correct

0 Incorrect

get help and give help through AARP Community Connections

Caption for quiz image

Credit for quiz image

NEED A HINT?

CLOSE HINT

CORRECT

INCORRECT

Answer:

The Case of the Detective Shows Quiz

0 Correct

0 Incorrect

Score:

Oops...something went wrong. Please log out and log back in to continue.

Thom Geier is an award-winning writer and editor with a passion for American pop culture. He served as executive editor of the digital news site TheWrap.com and as a senior editor at Entertainment Weekly, where he oversaw coverage of movies, theater and books. His essays and reviews appear regularly on CultureSauce.net.