These Names Make Clues is a metafictional masterpiece from the Golden Age of Crime Fiction, and another title from series favourite E.C.R. Lorac, following on from Two Way Murder (March 2021). Chief Inspector Macdonald is a regular protagonist of Lorac’s, featuring in titles such as Bats in the Belfry, Checkmate to Murder and Murder by Matchlight.

‘Should detectives go to parties? Was it consistent with the dignity of the Yard? The inspector tossed for it—and went.’

Chief Inspector Macdonald has been invited to a treasure hunt party at the house of Graham Coombe, the celebrated publisher of Murder by Mesmerism. Despite a handful of misgivings, the inspector joins a guest list 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 in this metafictional masterpiece, which returns to print for the first time since its publication in 1937.

Publication date: 10/09/21

Author: E.C.R. Lorac

Brand: British Library Publishing

Number of pages: 256 pages

Binding: Paperback

Dimensions: 190 x 130 mm