Cain's Jawbone: A Novel Problem

Edward Powys Mathers

The world's most fiendishly difficult literary puzzle.

Six murders. One hundred pages. Millions of possible combinations… but only one is correct. Can you solve Torquemada’s murder mystery?

Publication date: 19 September, 2019

Status: Published

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Description

Over half a million copies sold

In 1934, the Observer’s cryptic crossword compiler, Edward Powys Mathers (aka Torquemada), released a novel that was simultaneously a murder mystery and the most fiendishly difficult literary puzzle ever written.

The pages have been printed in an entirely haphazard order, but it is possible – through logic and intelligent reading – to sort the pages into the only correct order, revealing six murder victims and their respective murderers.

Dare you take it on?

Please note: this puzzle is extremely difficult and not for the faint-hearted.

'If James Joyce and Agatha Christie had a literary love child, this would be it' Daily Telegraph

About the Author

Edward Powys Mathers

Edward Powys Mathers (1892 – 1939) introduced the cryptic crossword to Britain in 1924 through the pages of the Observer. Known as Torquemada, he was acknowledged as a brilliant translator and a critic specialising in crime fiction. In 1934 he published a selection of his puzzles under the title The Torquemada Puzzle Book – the final hundred pages of which contained the novel-cum-puzzle Cain’s Jawbone.

The book is being re-issued with the assistance of The Laurence Sterne Trust and Patrick Wildgust, the curator of Shandy Hall.

Boundless Publishing Group

Cain's Jawbone: A Novel Problem