“If James Joyce and Agatha Christie had a literary love child, this would be it.”
This is the blurb on the front of the book “Cain’s Jawbone” by Torquemada. When my friend, Nichelle, first mentioned it, I was intrigued but now both of us are getting more and more invested.
“Cain’s Jawbone,” a murder mystery, is actually a puzzle. There are only 100 pages but they’re not in the right order and they’re written like journal entries. It’s up to the reader to decipher the right order of pages, who the killers are and who they killed.
A disclaimer reads, “Be assured that there is an inevitable order, the one in which the pages were written, and that, while the narrator’s mind may flit occasionally backwards and forwards in the modern manner, the narrative marches on, relentlessly and unequivocally, from the first page to the last. Please note: this puzzle is extremely difficult and not for the faint-hearted.”
I’ve only read about half of the book, and it’s apparent that it’s extremely difficult.
I’m a bit obsessed with the history and origins of this book. The title of “Cain’s Jawbone” is a reference to the first recorded murder weapon described in the Bible.
Also known as the Torquemada Puzzle Book, it was first published by Gollancz in 1934, written by Edward Powys Mathers (1892-1939). His pen name was Torquemada, a name relating to the Spanish Inquisition. In one of the book’s disclaimers, it says Powys Mathers believed puzzles should be “mind-bendingly difficult but equally rewarding when the solution was found.”
He was the man that brought cryptic crosswords to England in 1924 in the Observer newspaper, and he also was a critic who specialized in reviewing crime fiction.
“In 1934, he published a selection of his puzzles under the title The Torquemada Puzzle Book. As well as some gloriously difficult crosswords, the book contained spooner istics, verbal games, telacrostics, triple cricket acrostics and anagrams — enough to keep a family occupied for weeks,” according to the disclaimer.
In 1934, when he published his puzzle book, now known as “Cain’s Jawbone,” it was reported that the pages were “accidentally” printed out of order. They invited the public to find the correct combination of pages.
To make it even harder, apparently there are millions of possible combinations, but only one is correct.
“The puzzle is extremely difficult and has only ever been solved by three puzzlers; the solution to the problem remains a secret,” the disclaimer reads.
Not only do you win bragging rights if you solve it, you also win $350. The deadline to submit the entry is Dec. 31, 2022.
I’m really impressed with the publisher Unbound and the Laurence Sterne Trust. According to the disclaimer, the trust organization “responded with a mixture of surprise and delight” when the book was donated to the museum’s contemporary collection. However, the solution was missing.
The organization is known for supporting literary works that challenge the linear narrative, and I can imagine they had a ball of a time solving “Cain’s Jawbone.” Unbound published the novel to make it easier, and cheaper, for readers to take the book apart and scribble notes. Nichelle and I both have two copies.
The odds may be against us, but we’re determined. We’ve also enlisted help from a few of our book friends, and Nichelle and I will no doubt spend a few nights with pages strewn across floors and tables, attempting to find that perfect combination.
Join us in this challenge! And please buy from Fenton’s Open Book or another independent bookstore as opposed to Amazon.
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March 12, 2022 at 02:00AM
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Join us in solving the most difficult murder mystery - Tri-County Times
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