More Than Just a Quiz Book

When is a quiz book not just a quiz book? When it’s so much more.

Of the handful of quiz and trivia books in my Sherlockian library, Kathleen Kaska’s recently revised The Sherlock Holmes Quiz Bookis by far the leader in value-added content.

The 298-page volume, attractively formatted and illustrated, contains 105 quizzes and five crossword puzzles, covering among them all of the Canon, the world of Sherlock Holmes, Holmes on stage, screen, and television (with substantial attention to all the recent reworkings of the Great Detective), Sherlockian literature, and Arthur Conan Doyle.

Specific episodes of “BBC Sherlock” and “Elementary” are covered as well as all 60 Canonical tales.

Each of the quizzes is preceded by a short introduction. In the case of the ones for Canonical stories, I often found that they provided me with fresh insight into the background of the story’s writing even after the more than half of century I’ve been reading about the Agent.

Interspersed throughout are full-page and partial-page boxes headed TRIVIA FACTS: DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . . For example:

Conan Doyle may have conceived of the idea for his story “A Scandal in Bohemia” after his trip to Vienna in 1891. At that time all of Europe was in shock over the apparent double suicide of Austrian Archduke Rudolph and his mistress.

No, I didn’t know that!

If you only have room for one quiz book on your shelves, I recommend this one.