Families can have interesting holiday traditions, some may be deadly. Over a decade ago Lily discovered her mother's body at the family manor during the 12 days of Christmas celebrations. She left and swore she would not return. But her the aunt who stepped up and raised her has requested she return for one more Christmas. There will be games and a daily treasure hunt for a key. At the end of the twelve days one person will hold the winning key and inherit the family manor. Lily doesn't want the house and would skip the festivities except her aunt assures her the secret to her mother's death will also be reveled. Lily attends, the family becomes snowbound and the bodies start piling up - very Agatha Christie like. For people who are really into puzzles and such there are puzzles within the book.
This is a review of a copy proved by NetGalley.

"I would kill for this place." For most people this would be said in jest. However, in The Christmas Murder Game this is all too real.
I enjoyed this book and finished it quickly. I enjoy challenges and was able to find all of the titles in the book. Not really good at anagrams but did try. I was able to figure out the villains well before the end. The book was a little slow and confusing at times but this did not detract much from the reading.

The idea was good, the execution not so.

I thought this was an Agatha Christie-esque looked room murder mystery story where the reader could engage with the riddles and try to solve them with the characters, yet the clues in sonnet form only made sense to a few of the characters.

Speaking of the characters, none of them stuck out. They were all very flat characters, even the MC. When the murders start, they seem to brush those off as if dead relatives happen every day in their lives, and kept on looking for clues.

The writing was strange, from typos to the casual use of "obvs" in the prose and weird metaphors to hide Christmas related anagrams. I admit, I started skimming the text at about 30%, when I was certain I knew the culprit.

The book could have benefited from a lot more editing.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc of "The Christmas Murder Game" by Alexandra Benedict.

Lily is visiting her ancestral home for the first time since her mother was murdered when she was a child. Her aunt and adopted mother has invited her back from beyond the grave for one last mystery game to be played over Christmas. With all of her cousins, friendly and not so, joining her this will be a Christmas full of secrets, mysteries, and even more than Lily could possibly imagine.

This thriller was one of the best ones I have read in quite some time. It was well paced, held lots of drama and suspects, and even as those suspects dwindled I only had hints of who the actual murderer was until the big reveal. The raveling together, in verse no less, of two mysteries, secrets, and a murder suspect was done so well and while I didn't spend the time working out each of the clues myself someone who would like to do so would have a lot of fun searching out the secrets hidden within this book.

5 stars, thoroughly enjoyable and scary enough I didn't want to put it down.

Unfortunately this book did not capture my interest. The idea was okay, but the writing didn't grab me at all. I wish I had liked the book more, but it was very difficult to finish for me because of the writing style.

R E V I E W

The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Start date: September 6, 2022
Finish date: September 10, 2022
Pub date: October 4, 2022

▫️locked door mystery 🗝
▫️word puzzles & anagrams 🧩
▫️lovable (and love-to-hate) characters🧍🏻‍♀️🧍🏻‍♂️
▫️family drama 🏡

Thank you Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for a digital copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a neat book! I’m not really sure what I was expecting but this surprised me. It was exciting, clever, and very Agatha Christie style in my opinion. Not only did it include puzzles for the characters to solve, each “day” included a hidden anagram for the reader.

If you like locked-door mysteries, word puzzles, decades-old murder mysteries AND current murder mysteries, pick this one up this holiday season. Pub day is coming soon, October 4, 2022.

Lily is invited to spend 12 days of Christmas at Endgame house, her childhood home, and participate in the treasure hunt there. The winner will inherit the house. Lily wants nothing to do with this house because 20 years ago her mother committed suicide there. But she receives a letter from her late aunt where it says that Lily's mother may have actually been murdered and the treasure hunt will give Lily all the answers. So she very reluctantly decides to go. There she has to stay with her cousins and solve the puzzles, enjoying a Christmas holiday. Only people start to get killed and due to a massive snowstorm no one can leave and get help.
I love stories like these. The vibe, the mystery, just something about it. But this one didn't quite work for me. I think the writing style did not fit the book. I mean, people are dying but it doesn't evoke emotion or scary you. It also didn't help that I figured out who was behind it pretty much from the beginning and was just waiting for Lily to catch up.
The puzzles were not to my taste. I like clues, investigations, but here we have sonet riddles and anagrams. Not something u could follow along with.
Towards the end though is when things become sinister and the writing gets good, and just overall thrilling. I just wish the whole book was like that. But instead it was mostly boring with lots and lots of food descriptions.
Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

"Houses wear history like skin. And this one has layers of epidermis, built up into calluses."

This was such a fun Christmas locked room mystery. It has the same vibes of An English Murder by Cyril Hare - a perfect whodunnit to read with a steaming cup of tea.

After her aunt's death, Lilly receives a letter from her requesting that she join this year's family Christmas game at her aunt's manor house. She and her estranged cousins must stay together over the Christmas week and take part in a family tradition: the annual treasure hunt. The winner will receive the house. As they find clues and pick at old scabs, they realize that the clues seem to point not to the deeds to the manor house, but to the key to a twenty-year-old mystery: what really happened to Lily's mother? When a snow storm traps them inside the house, that's the least of their problems, as someone starts killing them off, one by one.

This book was a little slow to start, but it hooked me once the murders started happening. I loved the dynamics between the cousins - some I adored and some I hated with a fiery passion (and kinda wanted them to be killed off next ngl). The language that Alexandra Benedict uses in this book is beautiful. It felt like I was reading lyrics or staring at a painting. I also immensely enjoyed the descriptions of all the food. Do not read this book on an empty stomach!! I guessed the twist about halfway through, but I still enjoyed the book and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a cozy mystery!

Set in a rambling Yorkshire country house over the twelve days of Christmas with plenty of snow on the ground, this fun locked-room mystery is light and entertaining. The characters are varied, a few likeable and others despicable. Secrets abound and deception is so thick it could be sliced with a knife.

Lily's aunt Liliana dies and has one last request...her relatives must meet at Endgame House to play the game of their lives. There's a house at stake. The characters arrive with angst, distrust and skeletons in their closets. Lily's mother had died in the maze twenty one years earlier so she is not exactly eager to go. She does not wish to win the game as her memories are sad. But they all have their reasons for playing, dubious or sincere. As the bodies start piling up, so do suspicions. Aunt Liliana's clues are whimsical. The past becomes the present.

My favourite aspects of the book are the Yorkshire setting and the interactive anagrams. However, the characters are superficial and unconvincing. I do not mind detestable characters if done well but those in this book are obnoxious and the ending is predictable. My wish would be more red herrings. But as mentioned, it is a light Christmas read.

My sincere thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for the privilege of reading this quirky book.

First off I want to thank @netgalley, @poisonedpenpress & a.kbenedict for my free ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

The beginning of the book is great, you start off with a blueprint of the manor, as well as a family tree which helps to keep characters straight. After there's 2 games you can play while reading the book, makes it even more entertaining. The setting for this one was great, very well detailed, easy to imagine. The writing was engaging, addictive, beautiful.

The author did a great job with the characters, making you hate and love some of them, as for the main character Lily you can't help but adore her. The amount of intelligence that she has, the games that the author made then go through, were so smart, really thought out. I would've never been as smart as Lily to figure everything out. There were some parts where I felt like it dragged and then others that went too fast, but in the end it all tied up great.

You will be wondering all through the book whodunit, just when I thought I'd figured it out, another twist hit me. Overall a great thrilling, Christmas mystery.

If you're a fan of murder mysteries, Christmas settings and games this one is for you !

I am a sucker for a Christmas book and when you add a mystery.. I definitely want to give it a read. I enjoyed the setting of gloomy mansion cut-off in the English countryside with a side of mayhem and mystery. . Without giving away too much, the lack of surprise or concern even that so many members of the family were homicidal seemed strange. While I did enjoy the story as a whole, I thought some of the characters did not ring true. The overall effect of a closed door mystery was successful and the added fun of playing the "game" was a real plus.

Reasons to Read
-A Christmas Game - Lilly’s Aunt Lillana holds a Christmas puzzle game at her huge house every year
I-nherit the house - but this year Lilliana dies right before so the biggest prize is the house itself
-Family Competition - so all the cousins arrive to fight it out to see who will win. This book had some truly extensive and complicated poems but don’t let that scare you off. The only real mystery you need to answer is who is responsible for for all the deadly deeds!

The Christmas Murder Game has a intriguing premise. A family has gathered to play a game. 12 clues, 12 keys, and the winner gets Endgame House itself. Mariana doesn't want Endgame House. It is where her mother died. But when her Aunt Liliana dies, Mariana must take part in the game in order to find out what really happened to her mother years earlier.

This is a locked room mystery, full of clues to be solved, and secrets to be revealed. I enjoyed trying to keep up with the clues. At times I found the story flat and predictable. It took a bit of time for the story to take off and I found the second half of the book picked up. I think that the book would have benefited from more time being given to developing the characters reactions to the killings.

Thank you Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Publishing. I received an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Lily doesn’t want to go back to Endgame House. There are too many bad memories that she doesn’t want to unlock. However, her aunt has other plans in mind, which includes Lily and all her cousins returning to the estate over one last Christmas and New Year’s holidays. To ensure their obedience, Aunt Lilliana has devised a Christmas Game that will be played, in person, over the two weeks they are all present. The winner comes away with the Endgame house, quite a prize as it has been used as a conference center for several decades.
Of course the title is The Christmas Murder Game and there is plenty of it.
I was not able to quickly be drawn into the story, even though it was a locked house murder story.
Eventually I realized even if my theory was incorrect, we would run out of possible victims (a la “And Then There Were None”)
Overall, the book was okay. Not one of the best Christmas books or mystery books I have read in a similar vein.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I was very excited to read a Christmas-themed horror story since I’ve never read one with this type of twist before.
I found the story to be very predictable, but it was fast-paced and engaging. The characters, however, were very one-dimensional and I could never quite relate to any of them. I found the writing style to be very basic and overall felt quite flat. It felt unrealistic and not descriptive enough to fully depict the setting or plot.

I’d recommend this book to anyone looking for a fast-paced mystery, but I wouldn’t suggest it to anyone looking for something with exceptional writing.

If there’s one thing you should know about me it’s that I LOVE the movie Clue (and subsequently Knives Out). I watch it multiple times a year and I’ve collected all the Clue Funko Pops. (Since they’re based on the board game sadly there is no Mr. Body ala Tim Curry). Anyway, that means the description of this book is right up my alley & I rather enjoyed it!

A family member and current owner of Endgame House, a large mansion that has been passed down through the family has passed away, and to take claim as the new owner of Endgame House the invitees must solve clues and satay at the house everyday for the 12 days of Christmas. During the clue solving and time spent at the house, family members are slowly being murdered and no one can call or get out to notify the police.

The main character, Lilly, is excellent at solving the clues and figuring out the anagrams left on the sonnets, and you’re rooting for her the whole time despite her in the beginning not really caring to inherit Endgame House, she just wants answers to her mothers death that apparently was not a suicide as she thought.

The author also leaves anagram puzzles in every chapter for the twelve days of Christmas for the reader which is quite fun!

I really enjoyed this book, my only critique is that I found the guilty person(s) quite obvious and was not shocked when the killer was revealed, yet the ending was still really satisfying!

4 stars

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the E-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this Arc!
This book had great atmosphere, and I loved the premise; it was very original. I will say, it was a little predictable and there were way to many metaphors and the language got a little too flowery for my liking but overall it was a fun holiday read.

I received this ARC From Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This is a keeper for anyone who loves a great whodunit. I was pulled in right from the beginning to the very end. Benedict really had to you thinking through this story because there were three different sets of clues that she included within this story. First the clues to solve the “Christmas Murder Game” and win the inheritance, the second set of clues to find the Twelve Days of Christmas and finally titles of some of her favorite mysteries. I really enjoyed looking for all of the clues and trying to solve them but I really enjoyed her mystery story. Benedict got you involved and kept you interested throughout this story. Each of her characters added to the mystery and you started cheering for Lily to win the game. Lily who really only came to find out who murdered her mother when she was a young girl. Her Aunt Liliana wrote her a letter to tell her to solve the clues for the “Christmas Game” and they would tell her who murdered her mother. ted in a letter that she knew why and who killed Lily’s mother. So here she is trying to solve the “Christmas Murder Game” with her cousins when Cousin Ronnie’s wife is killed. Lily realizes that one of her cousins has to be the murderer and how far they will go to win the GAME. I did figure out who the murderer was but I was hoping it wasn’t true, so I was still surprised at the end when you realized who did what in this mystery.

4.5⭐️

Holy mindtrip! Wow. So it started with a few slow chapters. I know, I get it. The usual introduction stuff, except we don’t get a whole lot. Until the end of the book!

There were so many secrets and mysteries and half the time I had no idea what was going on (in a good way! Lol) I had my suspicions about who I thought the murderer was and turns out I was right! There were so many things I hadn’t guessed, though, and some questions I still have, so I may need to reread it again at some point haha. Also, the games the author sets up for the reader? Such a neat idea. I didn’t do it while reading a digital copy, but would definitely read again and play along with a physical copy!

I honestly don’t know what else to say without giving anything away. I would read it again, so maybe give it a try?

Thank you to Alexandra Benedict, Poisoned Pen Press, and NetGalley for a gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

3.5/5

The first two thirds of this book just pulled me in...like the game of Clue, Agatha Christies "And Then There Were None" or Ellen Raskin's "The Westing Game".

But the length is considerably longer; leading to character building. Oddly enough, it didn't strike me as essential to the story. In fact it sometimes distracted from the mystery...and the fun of the mystery. I didn't particularly like the main character; as by the 2/3 point she was somewhat irritating...and I felt she was a bit stereotype-trope-y in the wrong way. (This stuff listed in spoilers at end of review- reading these will not really ruin the mystery part)

But the mystery and how it unfolded was fabulous, I loved all the side characters. The pacing could have just been faster, the book shortened and less main character drama...and my star rating would have gone up to 5 stars.

The map and games in the beginning were unnecessary. But the family tree was very useful. Some readers with love "games" that author instigates. But for me personally, I would have to re-read the story to play them truly without ruining the flow of the story. And I would have had to LOVE it to reread it. OR it would have needed to be shorter.

<spoiler>As mentioned above....
The main character got more irritating by the 2/3 point and the remainder of the book. She couldn't make decisions, she didn't know herself etc and so forth. Hadn't identified which type of people she wanted to be with. It seemed once the mystery was solved and people were "out of the way" so-to-speak...she magically found herself. Which was ridiculous. The mystery/characters had nothing to do with her decision making process related to being cis/bi/gay/hetero. Also she called her baby "Bean" CONSTANTLY. So much I wanted to bean her.

Also, I did state above that I felt the main character was a bit of a sterotype-trope. I think the goal was for her to identify and find herself etc. This was entirely separate, parallel storyline. And it never gained any momentum or genuine interest/intrigue/emotion. And I felt is hows those types of characters in a not-so-great light. Makes them look like ...well I can't find myself, so I'm gonna pregnant, then "find myself" ...while of course I was pregnant from someone else and I potentially screwed up their life. It never really said whether she used like donor sperm, but I don't see that as being an option. Because she had such poor self-idenification. I dislike these tropes of people finding themselves and using/abusing other people in the process. </spoiler>

Also - thanks to NetGalley for ARC of this book.