Cain's Jawbone: The Most Challenging Puzzle in Literary History

I recently read an article about a British novel called “Cain's Jawbone” and became curious about its content. The novel, published in 1934, is a narrative-driven puzzle written by the inventor of cryptic crosswords, Edward Powys Mathers, under the pseudonym "Torquemada." Its title is derived from the jawbone of an ass that Cain allegedly used to slay his brother Abel, as mentioned in the Bible.

The novel is a murder mystery that revolves around a series of tragic events spanning less than six months, during which six murderers kill six people in six different ways. The reader must solve the mystery, which is far more challenging than a typical game of Clue.

Here's the catch: 

None of the novel's pages are in order, and the reader must put the first 100 pages in the correct order. In addition, the reader must correctly identify all six murder victims and the killer who killed them. With over 30 million possible combinations, it is the most challenging puzzle in literary history.

The publisher offered a prize of £25, equivalent to $2,500 today, as mentioned in the December 1934 Observer newspaper.

Cain's Jawbone was virtually forgotten for decades until 2019, when someone documented their progress in solving the puzzle in a viral TikTok video.

The world is now obsessed with trying to solve this mystery, as reported by The Washington Post. To date, only four people have solved the puzzle.

You can purchase the book for $15 on Unbound.com.

If you solve the mystery, you will receive a prize of £350 ($428.08) credit to your Unbound account. Alternatively, you can buy the book on Amazon for $10.39, but you won't receive the prize.

As a lover of mystery stories, I am tempted to purchase the book and try to solve it.

It should be fun, right? 😁