Despite the title and several very strong hints, I never did figure out how the names made clues. I had to wait for Macdonald to explain in the last few pages!

This 1937 mystery was just the type I adore & my first by Lorac (a female author of whom I was previously unaware - lots of new-to-me books for my TBR!). ( )

somewhat tedious toward the end though Macdonald makes any of her's worth reading ( )

This is a fairly early book in the work of E. C. R. Lorac, and according to Martin Edwards' introduction it has been almost impossible to find copies until this welcome reprint by the British Library. It starts with the inspector going to a party where a treasure hunt has been organised by the hosts, and where all the guests have literary pseudonyms to conceal their real identities. No reader will be surprised to find that one of these guests is murdered, in quite an ingenious manner, so that Macdonald gets started on the investigation very quickly. There seems to have been a gatecrasher at the party, which complicates matters, as does a second crime committed on the same night. Even after the victim's real identity is revealed, there's still a further layer of concealment. Later in the book Macdonald's journalist friend Peter Vernon gets involved, in a pursuit of a suspect which becomes somewhat farcical. One problem with the plot is that the motive depends on information which we only hear about later on; nevertheless, this is a good, solid example of its type of detective story. ( )