Solve the Mystery: 6 Character Riddles

How well do you know your mysteries? Below are clues to six of my favorite mystery novel characters. I challenge you to solve them all without looking at the answers below!


1. A self-proclaimed hobo, I have no address, no credit cards and no cell phone. I don’t even have a middle name. What I do have is 13 years of military training, dozens of medals and nothing better to do with my time. Who am I?

2. My foppish, upper-class persona and classic good looks may have convinced some that I slept my way into the Yard, but my ability to hide a wealth of feeling behind my aristocratic mask has proven useful whether I’m interviewing a confessed murderer, dealing with my partner’s tortured past or watching the girl I love marry one of my closest friends. Who am I?

3. My motto is: it’s better to be lucky than good. And I need all the luck I can get with my ongoing financial disaster, two men who drive me crazy, a gun-toting grandma and a co-worker who would trade sexual favors for a bucket of chicken, not to mention the fact that my cars keep exploding. I need a Tastykake. Who am I?

4. As the world’s first and only “consulting detective,” I have an uncanny ability to collect evidence based on my skills of observation and deductive reasoning. And though I do go through bouts of depression, I overcome my melancholy with the help of my violin, my pipe and my cocaine habit. Who am I?

5. Everything I did, I did for love. I never knew the guilt of it would kill me. I only wanted to give Hugo his chance to inherit. But somehow everything went wrong. Abandoned and broken-hearted, I took the secretarial job with Mrs. Owens. After all, a girl has to survive. Who am I?

6. I like enclosed spaces, long runs and peanut butter and pickle sandwiches. Unlucky in love, I have two divorces under my belt, but that doesn’t stop me from having the occasional fling with a handsome man. Though truthfully, I did have to shoot one of them from inside a trash can. And my ears are still ringing. Who am I?

Find the answers below.

Answers:

  1. Jack Reacher
  2. Thomas Lynley
  3. Stephanie Plum
  4. Sherlock Holmes
  5. Vera Claythorne
  6. Kinsey Millhone

How well did you do? Did you meet some mysterious characters you would like to know more about? You can find these characters and more at your local Half Price Books and HPB.com. Don’t forget to vote for your favorites during The Tournament of Mysteries!