Lezersrecensie
Put on your detective hat
Have I read this book or not? That's a trick question.
Did I read every word written on the 100 pages? Yes.
Do I know how the story goes? No.
Not so long ago I was joking around with a friend who writes fiction, by telling him it would be original if he wrote a book with the pages in a random order, so that the reader has to put them in the right order and puzzle the story together.
You can imagine my surprise when a few days after our conversation I stumbled upon Cain's Jawbone in which author Torquemada already did this, back in 1934!
Torquemada is the pseudonym of Edward Powys Mathers (1892-1939).
This nom de plume was linked to the Spanish Inquisition, because Edward believed that puzzles should be mind-bendingly difficult but equally rewarding when the solution was found.
He introduced the cryptic crossword to England in 1924 through the pages of the Observer newspaper and in 1934 a selection of his puzzles was published by Gollancz under the title The Torquemada Puzzle Book.
This contained difficult crosswords, spooneristics, verbal games, telacrostics, triple cricket acrostics, anagrams and - in the final 100 pages - Cain's Jawbone (which refers to the first recorded murder weapon).
A prize of £ 15 was offered to the first reader who could re-order the pages and provide an account of the 6 persons murdered in Cain's Jawbone and the full names of their murderers.
In 1935 two people - Mr. S. Sydney-Turner and Mr. W.S. Kennedy - succeeded to find the solution to this puzzle with millions of possible combinations of pages, but with only one correct order.
In the subsequent years the answer to this mystery book was thought to have been lost.
That is until Shandy Hall, an independent literary museum in the UK operated by the Laurence Sterne Trust, received a donation of The Torquemada Puzzle Book.
It came from Geoffrey Day, who is a Trustee of the Laurence Sterne Trust and a Sterne scholar. He had had the book for years but had not been able to solve the puzzle.
Shandy Hall curator Patrick Wildgust gave it a shot, but finding the right answer proved difficult. So he put out a call in The Guardian, which brought him in contact with John Price. The latter had become obsessed with discovering the solution to Cain's Jawbone after coming across a second hand copy. In 1988, he appealed for information in the pages of the magazine run by the national Crossword Club. Amazingly, he received an answer that came 'from an elderly gentleman who lived in a nursing home in Nether Wallop,' who solved the problem in the 30s and even had a written congratulation from Torquemada. Finally, the only correct solution was found again!
Patrick Wildgust then collaborated with the crowdfunding publisher Unbound to re-issue the novel in the fall of 2019, with new artwork by Scottish cartoonist Tom Gauld.
This re-edition consisted of a box with 100 cards. The publisher offered a reward of £ 1.000 to anyone who could solve it.
Throughout the course of the next few months, twelve people submitted their responses.
Only the one of John Finnemore, a British comedy writer and crossword setter, held the correct answer. The funny thing is that he told The Guardian: “The first time I opened the box, I swiftly concluded that it was way out of my league, and the only way I’d even have a shot at it was if I were for some bizarre reason trapped in my own home for months on end, with nowhere to go and no one to see.”
And then there was COVID-19 and the pandemic quarantine. It took him four months to solve the puzzle.
In February 2021 a paperback edition was released.
Apparently a TikTokker named Scannell posted a video about this original book, the post went viral and lots of people wanted to try their luck.
To meet the startling surge in demand, Unbound printed 10.000 additional copies in November and announced an additional 70.000-copy print run early December.
There’s also a new competition: everyone who submits a correct answer before December 31, 2022, will receive a £250 /$350 credit to spend supporting other book projects at https://unbound.com/.
Yours truly decided to put on her detective hat and is now totally hooked!
Having bought the paperback a few weeks ago, I discovered yesterday that there's also an e-book version available now (apparently since this month).
With both versions within easy reach, I'm now able to fully immerse myself in this original murder mystery.
There are lots of literary and historical references, each of which could either be an important clue or simply a red herring.
It's so much fun to find out what these words or sentences are refering to!
Already learned so much in just one day, that - even if I don't find the correct final answer - I'm sure the coming months will provide a very gratifying experience.
Or as they say: it's all about the journey, not the destination.
Although I wouldn't mind to solve this brain teaser ;-)
Part of the background info about Torquemada and his work is already covered in this review.
But if you want to know even more and/or read about interesting references I can totally recommend following articles:
- https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/crossword-blog/2017/oct/30/crossword-blog-a-vintage-mystery-with-a-bizarre-twist
- https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/653534/cains-jawbone-book-puzzle
Did I read every word written on the 100 pages? Yes.
Do I know how the story goes? No.
Not so long ago I was joking around with a friend who writes fiction, by telling him it would be original if he wrote a book with the pages in a random order, so that the reader has to put them in the right order and puzzle the story together.
You can imagine my surprise when a few days after our conversation I stumbled upon Cain's Jawbone in which author Torquemada already did this, back in 1934!
Torquemada is the pseudonym of Edward Powys Mathers (1892-1939).
This nom de plume was linked to the Spanish Inquisition, because Edward believed that puzzles should be mind-bendingly difficult but equally rewarding when the solution was found.
He introduced the cryptic crossword to England in 1924 through the pages of the Observer newspaper and in 1934 a selection of his puzzles was published by Gollancz under the title The Torquemada Puzzle Book.
This contained difficult crosswords, spooneristics, verbal games, telacrostics, triple cricket acrostics, anagrams and - in the final 100 pages - Cain's Jawbone (which refers to the first recorded murder weapon).
A prize of £ 15 was offered to the first reader who could re-order the pages and provide an account of the 6 persons murdered in Cain's Jawbone and the full names of their murderers.
In 1935 two people - Mr. S. Sydney-Turner and Mr. W.S. Kennedy - succeeded to find the solution to this puzzle with millions of possible combinations of pages, but with only one correct order.
In the subsequent years the answer to this mystery book was thought to have been lost.
That is until Shandy Hall, an independent literary museum in the UK operated by the Laurence Sterne Trust, received a donation of The Torquemada Puzzle Book.
It came from Geoffrey Day, who is a Trustee of the Laurence Sterne Trust and a Sterne scholar. He had had the book for years but had not been able to solve the puzzle.
Shandy Hall curator Patrick Wildgust gave it a shot, but finding the right answer proved difficult. So he put out a call in The Guardian, which brought him in contact with John Price. The latter had become obsessed with discovering the solution to Cain's Jawbone after coming across a second hand copy. In 1988, he appealed for information in the pages of the magazine run by the national Crossword Club. Amazingly, he received an answer that came 'from an elderly gentleman who lived in a nursing home in Nether Wallop,' who solved the problem in the 30s and even had a written congratulation from Torquemada. Finally, the only correct solution was found again!
Patrick Wildgust then collaborated with the crowdfunding publisher Unbound to re-issue the novel in the fall of 2019, with new artwork by Scottish cartoonist Tom Gauld.
This re-edition consisted of a box with 100 cards. The publisher offered a reward of £ 1.000 to anyone who could solve it.
Throughout the course of the next few months, twelve people submitted their responses.
Only the one of John Finnemore, a British comedy writer and crossword setter, held the correct answer. The funny thing is that he told The Guardian: “The first time I opened the box, I swiftly concluded that it was way out of my league, and the only way I’d even have a shot at it was if I were for some bizarre reason trapped in my own home for months on end, with nowhere to go and no one to see.”
And then there was COVID-19 and the pandemic quarantine. It took him four months to solve the puzzle.
In February 2021 a paperback edition was released.
Apparently a TikTokker named Scannell posted a video about this original book, the post went viral and lots of people wanted to try their luck.
To meet the startling surge in demand, Unbound printed 10.000 additional copies in November and announced an additional 70.000-copy print run early December.
There’s also a new competition: everyone who submits a correct answer before December 31, 2022, will receive a £250 /$350 credit to spend supporting other book projects at https://unbound.com/.
Yours truly decided to put on her detective hat and is now totally hooked!
Having bought the paperback a few weeks ago, I discovered yesterday that there's also an e-book version available now (apparently since this month).
With both versions within easy reach, I'm now able to fully immerse myself in this original murder mystery.
There are lots of literary and historical references, each of which could either be an important clue or simply a red herring.
It's so much fun to find out what these words or sentences are refering to!
Already learned so much in just one day, that - even if I don't find the correct final answer - I'm sure the coming months will provide a very gratifying experience.
Or as they say: it's all about the journey, not the destination.
Although I wouldn't mind to solve this brain teaser ;-)
Part of the background info about Torquemada and his work is already covered in this review.
But if you want to know even more and/or read about interesting references I can totally recommend following articles:
- https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/crossword-blog/2017/oct/30/crossword-blog-a-vintage-mystery-with-a-bizarre-twist
- https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/653534/cains-jawbone-book-puzzle
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Terwijl Emmy probeert de raadsels op te lossen die door twee verdwenen tienermeisjes zijn achtergelaten, realiseert ze zich dat ze hen nooit écht heeft gekend. Elke tiener heeft geheimen, maar wie zou ervoor willen moorden?
