These Names Make Clues

By: E. C.R. Lorac

Narrated by: David Thorpe

Chief Inspector Macdonald has been invited to a treasure hunt party at the house of the Graham Coombe, the celebrated publisher of Murder by Mesmerism. The clues of the hunt have been devised by Coombe's thriller-writer friends, disguised on the night under literary pseudonyms. The fun comes to an abrupt end, however, when 'Samuel Pepys' is found murdered in the telephone room in bizarre circumstances. Amidst the confusion of too many fake names and convoluted alibis, Macdonald and his allies in the CID must unravel a truly tangled case in this metafictional masterpiece from the beloved Golden Age author.

©1937, 2021 The Estate of Edith Caroline Rivett, Introduction Marting Edwards (P)2021 Soundings

Too confusing

I liked the characters and the narrator/tion but all the puzzles and word games just drove me up the wall! I got almost none of them and certainly not as easily and quickly as it seemed I was expected to.
Once I got the basic plot mechanics and rules, which is usually pretty much what a mystery is, I was still lost. I guess it might be a problem in that it was a mystery written by and for an English person. Also an Englishperson who had an upper English style education from the time period (the 1930’s).
Anyway, it was just too high falutin’ for me. I got very little enjoyment from it.

Not among her best

The author did not sufficiently interest me in the main characters. They never stood out as individuals and because they were introduced under pseudonyms and some of them also wrote under pseudonyms some of them had three names. Also, the actions of the journalist seemed a silly diversion used to pad the plot rather than to elucidate it.

Classic Golden Age mystery

I've really enjoyed Lorac's books. This is a well-plotted book with the complexities of a great mystery. I'm a huge fan of David Thorpe as narrator, but his narration doesn't detract from the story.

Who is talking?

I found the narrator’s voice difficult to distinguish between male characters.

I think this book might do better in written form as it would be possible to keep the large cast of characters straight.

Perfect for puzzle lovers

Pseudonyms, anagrams, misdirection, murder by gadget - an inventive mystery by one of my favorite Golden Age writers.