The Final Jeopardy question (12/10/2012) in the category “1920s Literature” was:

The collapse of this title structure causes the death of Esteban, Uncle Pio, Don Jaime, Pepita & a Marquesa.

New champ, Josh Frumkin, won Friday’s game with $17,200. Today he will try to break last week’s string of one-day champions as he takes on these two players: Joel Alderson, from Andover, KS and  Mandy Tuthill, from Milwaukee, WI.

Josh found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “She Created Him” before the first commercial break. He was in second place with $1,600, $800 behind Joel in the lead. He bet $1,000, thought it was Amy Tan and that was WRONG.

Wang Lung.
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WHO IS PEARL S. BUCK (‘The Good Earth’)?

Josh finished in the lead with $6,000. Joel was second with $4,800 and Mandy was last with $3,000.

Josh found the first Double Jeopardy Daily Double in “Landmarks.” He was in second place with $9,600, $400 less than Joel in the lead. He bet $3,400 and he was RIGHT.

This Moscow green space gave Martin Cruz Smith a novel title.
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WHAT IS GORKY PARK?

Mandy found the last Daily Double in “Awards & Honors.” She had $3,800, $16,000 less than Josh in the lead. She bet $3,500. She had the right queen but the wrong object when she said medal, so that was WRONG.

This highest decoration for valor in the British Armed Forces was instituted at the request of Prince Albert.
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WHAT IS THE VICTORIA CROSS?

Josh finished in the lead with $23,400. Joel was next with $13,200 and Mandy was in third place with $300.

Only ONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.

WHAT IS THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY?

Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1927 novel deals with the deaths of the characters mentioned in the clue when a suspension rope bridge in Peru collapses. The story has been put on the big screen 3 times: in 1929, 1944 and 2004, with F. Murray Abraham, Robert DeNiro and Harvey Keitel in the last one. (wikipedia)

Mandy wrote down Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1851 novel, “The House of the Seven Gables.” That cost her everything but a dollar.

Joel didn’t write anything down. He bet $12,000 so he wound up with $1,200.

Josh got it right. He bet $3,001 so he won today’s game with a very healthy $26,401, though it did look like he wished he bet more. He broke the week-long string of one-day champions and his 2-day total is $43,601.