These Names Make Clues by E.C.R. Lorac

These Names Make Clues
by E.C.R. Lorac

ISBN-13: 9781728261188
Trade Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Released: November 1st 2022

Source: Review copy from the publisher.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Chief Inspector Macdonald has been invited to a treasure hunt party at the house of Graham Coombe, the celebrated publisher. Despite a handful of misgivings, the inspector joins a guestlist of novelists and thriller writers disguised on the night under literary pseudonyms. The fun comes to an abrupt end, however, when 'Samuel Pepys' is found dead in the telephone room in bizarre circumstances. Amidst the confusion of too many fake names, clues, ciphers and convoluted alibis, Macdonald and his allies in the CID must unravel a truly tangled case, which returns to print for the first time since its publication in 1937.


My Review:
These Names Make Clues is a mystery originally published in 1937 and set in England. The detective was likable. The first part was about the clue party, but then the author focused on the investigation by the detective and, independently, by several of the characters. The detective quickly figured out how the murder was done (as did I), but it was difficult to track down who cleaned up the crime scene--in the dark--right after the murder. Then another murder occurred. It appeared that the first victim killed the man, yet the timing wasn't right.

You couldn't trust what the suspects said even when the detective wasn't around. I guessed whodunit near the beginning, but as one of two strong suspects. I didn't stray from those two, but a number of suspects acted very suspiciously and made me wonder if I was correct. Whodunit and how were also guessable for the second death, though there were plenty of misleading clues. The reader got more clues than the detective, and we don't learn how he figured out whodunit until he arrived to confront the killer.

There was a fair amount of bad language. There was no sex. Overall, I'd recommend this interesting mystery.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.