By Alexandra Benedict
The Christmas Murder Game isn’t your ordinary cozy.
Alexandra Benedict’s page-turner of a holiday offering brings the snowed-in English country estate plot into the 21st century, much in the same way protagonist Lily Armitage tweaks vintage corset patterns – layering, tightening and loosening threads culminating in a marvelous creation.
Lily hasn’t been back to Endgame, the Armitage family home, since her mother committed suicide at Christmas 21 years earlier. She returns for this year’s annual Christmas celebration and gamefest only because a letter from her late aunt, for whom she is named, explains that with the game’s riddles and keys – one for each of the twelve days of Christmas – she could not only win the estate but also learn who murdered her mother.
This fun yet deadly romp keeps the reader guessing as love, hate, trust and deceit surround the table and lurk in every hallway of this holiday feast as Lily’s cousins and spouses vie for the estate in the deadly Endgame Christmas games.
I ho-ho heartily recommend The Christmas Murder Game for every armchair detective, not only for the fresh Christmas cozy but also the fun anagrams, and title references to the most wonderful of Christmas mysteries.
While I received a free egalley of The Christmas Murder Game from Poisoned Pen Press, an imprint of Sourcebooks, courtesy of NetGalley, I purchased the paperback to add to my Christmas cozy collection and to go back and work on all the puzzles. This review is fair and impartial.
Order online or buy now at your favorite independent bookstore. Mine is Sellers Books and Art in Jim Thorpe, PA.
Lily hasn’t been back to Endgame, the Armitage family home, since her mother committed suicide at Christmas 21 years earlier. She returns for this year’s annual Christmas celebration and gamefest only because a letter from her late aunt, for whom she is named, explains that with the game’s riddles and keys – one for each of the twelve days of Christmas – she could not only win the estate but also learn who murdered her mother.
This fun yet deadly romp keeps the reader guessing as love, hate, trust and deceit surround the table and lurk in every hallway of this holiday feast as Lily’s cousins and spouses vie for the estate in the deadly Endgame Christmas games.
I ho-ho heartily recommend The Christmas Murder Game for every armchair detective, not only for the fresh Christmas cozy but also the fun anagrams, and title references to the most wonderful of Christmas mysteries.
While I received a free egalley of The Christmas Murder Game from Poisoned Pen Press, an imprint of Sourcebooks, courtesy of NetGalley, I purchased the paperback to add to my Christmas cozy collection and to go back and work on all the puzzles. This review is fair and impartial.
Order online or buy now at your favorite independent bookstore. Mine is Sellers Books and Art in Jim Thorpe, PA.
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