Mystery & Crime
The New York Public Library Book of Answers

Jay Pearsall

11/6/1999

"Who said, 'Everything ends'?
Philip Nore, in Dick Francis's Reflex (1980)."
"What rogue believed that danger is good for you?
Leslie Charteris's character the Saint. He believed that danger makes you feel more intensely alive."
"What espionage writer actually spent ten years working for the CIA?
Charles McCarry. McCarry is the creator of poet-spy Paul Christopher, who first appears in the excellent novel The Miernik Dossier (1973)."

The New York Public Library answers questions continuously. People ask questions about everything, including mystery novel questions. This book has compiled hundreds of those mystery novel questions. This book is fascinating. There are questions about authors, novel characters, types of mysteries, locations, strangest types of murders, unusual titles, basically whatever you can think about.

I had so much fun with this book the last month or two. I kept dog-earing the page where I stopped and would pick it up for two or three minutes while waiting. I don't want to think about all the mystery titles that I wanted to add to my list of things to read. Keep reading long enough and you will probably find one of your questions answered. The book ends with a list of the Edgar Allen Poe mystery writer award winners up through 1993.

"Who wrote The Swell Looking Babe?
That's one of our favorite titles (not books, just titles) and it was written by Jim Thompson in 1954."

This book is out of print, but is listed at , along with many reviews by other readers.