Cain’s Jawbone

　　六件謀殺案、一百頁的故事
　　超過上千萬種的可能組合，但真相只有一個…
 
　　《Cain’s Jawbone》是1934年由知名填字遊戲大師Edward Powys Mathers(外號Torquemada)創造的推理謎題，故事內頁以亂數排列，只要能將一百頁的小說以正確方式排序，就能找出六位謀殺案的兇手和被害者。
 
　　傳說中世上最棘手的謎題《Cain’s Jawbone》，近90年來僅有4人成功破解，原著還在電影《鋒迴路轉：抽絲剝繭》中短暫出現在神探貝諾瓦．白朗的身邊。
 
　　《Cain’s Jawbone》盒裝版將故事印製為精美紙卡，方便邊思考邊調整卡片順序，也可以布置成專屬的推理牆。(文／博客來外文館)

The original box set edition available again - individually numbered, limited run.

 

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

 

’A unique hybrid of word puzzle and whodunnit’ Literary Review

 

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 three 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.

 

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.