The Red-Headed League: a Sherlock Holmes Mystery by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle quiz: 15 questions by TTocs

Progress: 1 of 15 questions

This was the second of the short stories that Arthur Conan Doyle wrote about Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson. It features one of the more elaborate con jobs in detective fiction. This quiz has spoilers but they all do really. Don't take a trivia quiz about a book that you haven't read. If you've read it, it's hard to spoil it.

Holmes begins the story remonstrating again with Watson about this contention he first made during the Mary Morstan case, "The Sign of the Four". What statement does he defend as an aphorism ?

Actions speak louder than words.
Truth is stranger than fiction.
He who hesitates is lost.
A barking dog never bites.

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Progress: 2 of 15 questions

The client, Jabez Wilson, was running his own business. What was it?

Carpenter Shop
Pawn Shop
Boat Building Shop
Ceramics Shop

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Progress: 3 of 15 questions

Jabez Wilson has an assistant working in his business. Mr Wilson has provided a room in the cellar for his assistant's hobby. What was his hobby?

Photography
Stamp Collection
Butterfly Collection
Pottery Creation and Firing

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Progress: 4 of 15 questions

The Red-Headed League provided 200 pounds a year to it's members for what purpose?

To support the marriage of red headed people in order to insure the procreation of more red-heads.
To support male Londoners with bright blazing red hair.
To encourage people to dye their hair a brilliant shade of red in order to popularize the hair colour among the masses.
To encourage the healthy upkeep and breeding of Irish setters.

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Progress: 5 of 15 questions

Mr Wilson met with the representative of the Red-Headed League. Who was it?

Duncan Ross
Peter Jones
Vincent Spaulding
John Clay

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Progress: 6 of 15 questions

What nominal service did Jabez Wilson have to perform to earn his four pounds a week?

He spent four hours a day walking the dogs of more senior members of the league.
He spent four hours a day dying other peoples' hair a brilliant red hue.
He spent four hours a day copying out the Encyclopedia Britannica.
He spent four hours a day at speakers corner in Hyde Park declaiming about the need for more red haired people in London.

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Progress: 7 of 15 questions

Dr John Watson observed Sherlock Holmes' nature in this story. His description most closely resembles what psychological condition ?

Manic Depression
Catatonia
Paranoia
Autism

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Progress: 8 of 15 questions

After eight weeks as a member of the Red-Headed League what event brought Jabez Wilson to Sherlock Holmes ?

His hours with the league were doubled.
The League moved it's office to Bristol
The League disbanded.
He was fired from his position with the League.

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Progress: 9 of 15 questions

Why did Jabez Wilson hire Vincent Spaulding as his assistant ?

He was the only applicant to answer the advertisement
He had ten years experience in the business
He was his nephew.
He agreed to be paid half wages to learn the business.

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Progress: 10 of 15 questions

Holmes recruits a member of Scotland Yard to help him with the final arrest. Who is it ?

Inspector G. Lestrade
Inspector Tobias Gregson
Inspector MacKinnon
Inspector Peter Jones

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Progress: 11 of 15 questions

What criminal activity was going on in the basement of Jabez Wilson's cellar ?

Counterfeiting
Holding the victim of a kidnapping
Tunneling into the vault of one of the nearby London banks
Burying of murder victim bodies

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Progress: 12 of 15 questions

Holmes believes the villain in this case is a young man at the head of his profession, the fourth smartest man in London and perhaps the third most daring. Who is this well regarded criminal ?

John Clay
Lysander Stark
Charles Augustus Milverton
Sir George Burnwell

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Progress: 13 of 15 questions

Sherlock Holmes' brilliant reasoning leads to a successful capture and arrest of both criminals involved in the Red Headed League. At the end of the case what emotion does Holmes feel most prominently ?

Pride
Happiness
Anger
Ennui

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Progress: 14 of 15 questions

The Red Headed League is the first instance of a Holmes villain using an extraordinary con game to move an innocent bystander away from a location that he wants to use for his crime. What are the other two Sherlock Holmes stories that feature this plot device?

The Five Orange Pips, The Bruce Partington Plans
The Stockbroker's Clerk, The Three Garrideb's
The Three Gables, The Red Circle
The Copper Beeches, A Case of Identity

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Progress: 15 of 15 questions

How does Sherlock Holmes describe the Scotland Yard Inspector who he enlists to help him with this case?

The best of the Scotland Yarders
A man whose abilities far exceeded his opportunities
An imbecile at his profession but brave as a bull dog and tenacious as a lobster
He's an extremely competent officer who might rise to great heights if he were just gifted with imagination

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