The Researcher's First Murder: A New Cain's Jawbone Puzzle — John Finnemore

John Finnemore's challenge for fans of Cain's Jawbone: the TikTok sensation and international bestseller.

A body is found stabbed to death in a locked room. The police find no weapon, no motive and no suspects.

However, the murderer has in their possession a box of one hundred cryptic picture postcards which – if properly understood – would explain not just this murder, but nine others. These are those cards.

Solvers must rearrange the pages of text to unravel the story and identify the murderer, victim and location for each of the ten murders. They must also consider the separate puzzles presented by the curious images on the other sides.

Can you explain The Researcher’s First Murder?

The Competition

In 1934 a prize of £15 was offered to the first reader who could reorder the pages and provide an account of the six persons murdered in Cain’s Jawbone and all the names of their murderers. 

In the spirit of Torquemada, publishers Unbound are going to host a competition for The Researcher’s First Murder which will close at midnight GMT on Friday 28th February 2025. You can read more about how to submit to the competition here.