Cain's Jawbone: A Novel Problem (Card Edition) [Mathers, Edward Powys]

Author: Edward Powys Mathers

The most fiendishly difficult literary puzzle ever written, presented here as cards for you to shuffle and sort into the only correct order, revealing the solution!

Six murders. Millions of possible combinations . . . all in one box . . .

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.

Presented here as cards for you to shuffle and--through logic--sort into the only correct order, this boxed novel is the perfect gift for the bravest puzzlers, ready for you to rearrange and solve.

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.

Publisher: Macmillan Publishers (MPS)
Published: 10/06/2026
Binding Type: Board Games
Weight: 0.06oz
Size: 7.01h x 4.37w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9781037210471

About the Author
Edward Powys Mathers's (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 100 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.