Question. The detective story is sometimes called 'whodunit' because the reader has to work ....... who did it, who committed the crime.
(a) in
(b) out
(c) off
(d) over
Answer. B
Question. The skill of course of the writing is how many times a reader can be sent up ....... alleys.
(a) short
(b) twisted
(c) blind
(d) long
Answer. C
Question. Another way of putting this is how many red ....... the author can throw in the reader's path.
(a) fish
(b) sharks
(c) cod
(d) herrings
Answer. D
Question. The idea is to keep the readers in a permanent state of ....... so that they never know what's going to happen next.
(a) suspense
(b) suspension
(c) suspending
(d) suspenders
Answer. A
Question. As the plot ......., you find yourself agreeing with one character's solution and then another's.
(a) undoes
(b) unfolds
(c) unties
(d) unfurls
Answer. B
Question. As a result you feel as if you are walking in a ....... since at each turning you come to a block end.
(a) muddle
(b) mess
(c) maze
(d) mist
Answer. C
Question. One of the best known detectives is Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot who uses what he calls his little grey ....... — his brains.
(a) molecules
(b) cells
(c) particles
(d) atoms
Answer. B
Question. Invariably Poirots calls all the ....... together in the last part of the story.
(a) suspicions
(b) suspecting
(c) suspected
(d) suspects
Answer. D
Question. One by one he ....... the innocent until finally the murderer is unmasked.
(a) extinguishes
(b) excludes
(c) eliminates
(d) exerts
Answer. C
Question. The thing that always surprises me is the fact that the murderer bothers to take ....... in the final meeting.
(a) partition
(b) part
(c) parting
(d) parted
Answer. B