Cain's Jawbone
- Downloads：4137
- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2021-11-19 00:21:44
- Update Date：2025-09-07
- Status：finish
- Author：E. Powys Mathers
- ISBN：1800180799
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary
Six murders。 One hundred pages。 Millions of possible combinations。。。 but only one is correct。 Can you solve Torquemada's murder mystery？
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。
Only two puzzlers have ever solved the mystery of Cain's Jawbone: do you have what it takes to join their ranks？
Please note: this puzzle is extremely difficult and not for the faint-hearted。
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。
Only two puzzlers have ever solved the mystery of Cain's Jawbone: do you have what it takes to join their ranks？
Please note: this puzzle is extremely difficult and not for the faint-hearted。
Reviews
Christoph
，
Wenn ich jetzt noch die Lösung hätte， wäre es perfekt！ 😅😂
Ingrid Haunold
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I read the book。 （Twice。）Now I need to solve the puzzle。But ★five stars★ for originality。
Kit Kooiker
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Reading it is the easy part。 Understanding what happened？ No clue。
Emily
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Unbound have done a fabulous job compiling this puzzle into a purchasable book in its own right。 Crediting the people who funded the project individually at the back of the book was also a pleasant touch and I'll be checking their site for future projects。I， however， found this book after its successful publication。 Intrigued by the unique mystery and haphazard order， I have completed my first read of 'Cain's Jawbone。' I am currently none the wiser for this effort， but can see the overwhelming n Unbound have done a fabulous job compiling this puzzle into a purchasable book in its own right。 Crediting the people who funded the project individually at the back of the book was also a pleasant touch and I'll be checking their site for future projects。I， however， found this book after its successful publication。 Intrigued by the unique mystery and haphazard order， I have completed my first read of 'Cain's Jawbone。' I am currently none the wiser for this effort， but can see the overwhelming number of possible combinations in greater detail。This is a puzzle which will keep my brain ticking， whether I want it to or not。 I don't think I will reach the correct order for a long while （if at all） but I am glad I have been able to add this fiendish mystery to my collection。 。。。more
Nostalgia Reader
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"I wished for the hundredth time I had a better brain。" Me too， Card 8 Narrator， me too。Well， I've at least read all the words now！ But I certainly have no clue who's what and what's whom， how many dogs there truly are， who Mithridatises whom， nor why so many random poetry lines are inserted purely to sound cultured。At least， not yet I don't。Everyone is obsessed with pens， poetry， Henry， jasmine， May， eyes， poisonous horticulture， tea， Sherlock Holmes， cigars， and some terrible--face-palm terrib "I wished for the hundredth time I had a better brain。" Me too， Card 8 Narrator， me too。Well， I've at least read all the words now！ But I certainly have no clue who's what and what's whom， how many dogs there truly are， who Mithridatises whom， nor why so many random poetry lines are inserted purely to sound cultured。At least， not yet I don't。Everyone is obsessed with pens， poetry， Henry， jasmine， May， eyes， poisonous horticulture， tea， Sherlock Holmes， cigars， and some terrible--face-palm terrible--attempts at puns。 Or some such things。 I might know more than I let on， but Henry won't know that。 。。。more
Zainab
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Couldn't open it at all。。。 Please help Couldn't open it at all。。。 Please help 。。。more
Saad
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I've heard a lot about the novel， but still haven't read a line in it yet！ I've been trying to download the book but couldn't， any help please？ Thank you！ :D I've heard a lot about the novel， but still haven't read a line in it yet！ I've been trying to download the book but couldn't， any help please？ Thank you！ :D 。。。more
Sean McGowan
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solved it。 fine
Adam Stevenson
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This is a strange book， in that I’ve read every page of Cain’s Jawbone but haven’t read Cain’s Jawbone。 This is because the book has been printed in a random order， though in this case are printed on cards to make them easier to rearrange。 Get the hundred pages in the right order and a coherent novel is revealed with six victims and six murderers。 I was one of the subscribers for this book， having heard of it from Shandy Hall’s twitter and as excited as I was to get it， it wasn’t until recently This is a strange book， in that I’ve read every page of Cain’s Jawbone but haven’t read Cain’s Jawbone。 This is because the book has been printed in a random order， though in this case are printed on cards to make them easier to rearrange。 Get the hundred pages in the right order and a coherent novel is revealed with six victims and six murderers。 I was one of the subscribers for this book， having heard of it from Shandy Hall’s twitter and as excited as I was to get it， it wasn’t until recently that I actually opened the box and read the cards。 My plan is to have a read through of the cards， then a read through and make some notes， then to focus more specifically on the areas suggested by the initial read throughs。Though， how can this book be judged？ As a novel it is， at present， pretty incoherent and as a puzzle， it definitely succeeds at being described as ‘fiendish’。 At the moment， it’s impossible to tell which features are part of the puzzle and which are mere playfulness。 In terms of style， it’s a pretty funny book。 There’s a lot of fun with idiom including such classics as， ‘absinthe makes the heart grow fonder’， ‘count your burdens’ and ‘every good gull loves a sailor’。 There’s an amused， world weary tone to the book also， never quite falling into Sam Spade territory but somewhere along the path。 I enjoyed the remark that， “Detective Sergeants have their manner but no plural’， or that “It had always been my habit to rise with the lark， if there was one going up about 9。” This all suggests that the finished novel is a fun， witty， thing， written with care and many of the sections are entertaining in and of themselves， though not always clear。The novel is narrated in the first person throughout but my big suspicion is that it contains multiple first person narrators。 I think there are about five narrators， I also think that two of them might be called Henry and one of those Henrys is a dog。 I was suspicious a few times。 “It was a pity about Dickens’s insane jealousy of chickens， and one could almost mistrust at his morbid distrust of sheep” is a sentence that only really makes sense if about a dog。 I was confirmed in my suspicions near the end when the narrator said， “I put my foot in it， which left three。” The reason I reckon the dog must be called Henry is because the name is used far too often for it just to refer to one person， so is mostly likely the name of the dog。If the narrators are identified by ticks， then one keeps quoting Oscar Wilde， another Tennyson， another mixes idioms and one often talks about how they admire their namesake - or they all do that and when I untangle the namesakes there are a number。It also seems like different murders have different locations or themes。 One is at a rundown London cabaret， another seems to be by the sea， another has a floral （possible poison） theme and another to be around books and poetry。These are just my first impressions though， I need far more readings and a little of bit proper， systematic sorting to get even a bit closer to the solution， and I imagine I never shall。 。。。more
Angela
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It’s been a while since I even attempted a cryptic crossword， yet I’m intrigued by this literary puzzle， which comes in the form of a crime novella， ingeniously crafted and fiendishly difficult to solve。 Not only do you have to figure out whodunnit， cracking six murder cases in total， you also have to re-order the 100 pages which make up the novella in order to do so。 Cain’s Jawbone was written by Edward Powys Mathers， a compiler of cryptic crosswords in The Observer newspaper， under the pseudon It’s been a while since I even attempted a cryptic crossword， yet I’m intrigued by this literary puzzle， which comes in the form of a crime novella， ingeniously crafted and fiendishly difficult to solve。 Not only do you have to figure out whodunnit， cracking six murder cases in total， you also have to re-order the 100 pages which make up the novella in order to do so。 Cain’s Jawbone was written by Edward Powys Mathers， a compiler of cryptic crosswords in The Observer newspaper， under the pseudonym Torquemada。 It was published in 1934， an era which is reflected in the cultural references it contains， many of which have become obscure over time。 The narrative is written in an elaborate style laden with archaic language， wordplay and， by way of light relief， a smattering of puns。 Here’s an example: “I never have a second Sundae during Lent。” My initial approach has been to think of the book like a jigsaw and look for pieces that would fit together to form part of a bigger picture， such as sentences running over from one page to another。 Frustratingly， this rarely happens， as most of the pages are self-contained sections， beginning and ending with a complete sentence。 Publishers Unbound are offering £，1000 prize for a correct solution， the monetary equivalent of the original £15 award， allowing for inflation。 If anyone does manage to solve this conundrum by the deadline， their reward will be richly deserved。 。。。more
Empress Reece （Hooked on Books）
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For all those not familiar with Cain's Jawbone and like to solve mysteries and puzzles， you should read the introduction and/or Google it。 I dare say， you'll be hooked and ordering your own limited edition boxed set。 Mine arrived yesterday！ I'm so excited！！ I glanced briefly through the pages a。k。a。 cards last night and read the introduction booklet and it appears to be just as difficult to solve as I imagined it would。 I feel like I need a huge table to spread out on， which I have， but with 100 For all those not familiar with Cain's Jawbone and like to solve mysteries and puzzles， you should read the introduction and/or Google it。 I dare say， you'll be hooked and ordering your own limited edition boxed set。 Mine arrived yesterday！ I'm so excited！！ I glanced briefly through the pages a。k。a。 cards last night and read the introduction booklet and it appears to be just as difficult to solve as I imagined it would。 I feel like I need a huge table to spread out on， which I have， but with 100 cards and two 'toddler' cats， you can imagine how challenging that is turning out to be。 I then tried locking myself in my room for a little while but locking cats on the outside of a room when you're in it， doesn't work too well either。 If you have cats， then you know exactly what I'm going through。 I'm going to have to get creative。 lol I will continue to update as I progress。。。 Good luck to all of the other puzzlers out there embarking on this same journey！ May your cats give you more peace then mine are giving me。: ） 。。。more
Sammy
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"I did not quite agree with De Quincey that murders in Ireland did not count。。。"Such fun！ In 1934， famed crossword compiler Torquemada published a book of puzzles， all as terrifying as each other。 But the final 100 pages were even more so: a modernist murder mystery novel， with all the pages out of order。 The puzzler's goal is to identify the full names all six victims and the murderer or murderers， as well as the exact order of the pages。 Nothing hazy， nothing guessed at。 Only the exact solutio "I did not quite agree with De Quincey that murders in Ireland did not count。。。"Such fun！ In 1934， famed crossword compiler Torquemada published a book of puzzles， all as terrifying as each other。 But the final 100 pages were even more so: a modernist murder mystery novel， with all the pages out of order。 The puzzler's goal is to identify the full names all six victims and the murderer or murderers， as well as the exact order of the pages。 Nothing hazy， nothing guessed at。 Only the exact solution。 Two people achieved it in 1934。 Perhaps more impressive - without Google！ Perhaps less impressive - they didn't have to investigate the obvious references to mundane aspects of 1930s life which now read like cryptic crosswords themselves！ After 85 years， Unbound has released Cain's Jawbone in a lovely commemorative box， with 100 individual cards so potential detectives can rearrange them to their heart's content。 The prize is 1，000 of those fancy British Pounds， and the deadline for completion is 12 months （plus a few weeks for those of us lucky enough to have joined the crowdfunding campaign）。 "They had， in the words of the old song， gone the same way home。"It's a challenging task at the best of times。 Even the characters' names are hidden behind a shroud of wordplay and literary references。 Torquemada （aka Edward Powys Mathers） covers the reader in a deluge of poetry and wit。 The narration - in contemporary 1930s style - is often stream-of-consciousness， rendering the connections between pages as discombobulating as trying to figure out the plot。 There's a lot of rather queer business going on with small metallic objects， some rather large yews， some gum prunes， and something called Lover's Delight。 The solution seems impossible！But it is there。 After spending a delightful （if often headscratching） month in Torquemada's world， I now understand everything。。。 most things。。。 some things。。。 enough things to make a feint at a solution to this demonic confection。 Thus I have humbly submitted my answer sheet to Unbound today， and will have to wait patiently until September 2020 （the competition deadline） to find out just how close I got to being completely and utterly incorrect。 No， seriously。 I definitely didn't get it completely right; I marvel at the person who can do so。 But on reflection I suspect I hit the 90-95% mark。 Perhaps， once the competition is over， I will publish a piece on the interwebs about my process and the meaning of it all。 Until then， my lips are sealed。 "I always felt a bit dazed on these occasions， and was so then。"This is， as the box says， "not for the faint hearted"。 You will need to research， think outside the box， be open to scrunching up your pet theories and tossing them into the trash， and occasionally walking around in public berating yourself like a loon when you have a moment of revelation while on the tram。 If all of this sounds worthwhile to you （i。e。 like me， you have no life）， what are you waiting for？What's that？ Really？ Okay， if you insist。 The only clue I can give you is the clue that is given on the first page of the introductory booklet: there is one correct order。 In a puzzle like this， there has to be。 Which means: if you're just guessing the link between any two given pages， you're not reading the clues thoroughly enough。Good luck， and happy puzzling！ 。。。more
Reference
google book https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=Cain's Jawbone
hathitrust digital library https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?q1=Cain's Jawbone&field1=ocr&a=srchls&ft=ft&lmt=ft
The British Library https://bll01.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Cain's Jawbone&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=Not_BL_Suppress&vid=44BL_INST:BLL01&lang=en&offset=0