Grownup fans of The Westing Game and Agatha Christie lovers won't want to sleep on The Christmas Murder Game. It features mysteries within mysteries and puzzles within puzzles (the acknowledgements section is a word search). I figured out most of the mystery, but still very much enjoyed the ride.

This is book starts out as something every mystery and thriller lover will say, "Oh I've already read this book..." I know I did as the plot is the typical "locked room" affair where travelers are stranded in a snowstorm in the middle of the countryside with no means of contacting the outside world. Sound familiar?

Then they start to die, one by one, and since no one can get in or out of the grounds, obviously one of them is the killer. The prize at stake is Endgame house. A giant creepy house in the English countryside with skeletons in closets and ghosts galore. Endgame house has been passed down through generations of a family akin to the Mansons and the apples do not fall far from the tree.

About halfway through it had become patently obvious whodunit. However, the suspense as to how the Christmas Game would end was palpable and I stayed up far too late finishing the book. Yes, many bits of it were a cliche but that did not stop my enjoyment of the book and kept the pages turning long past when I should be asleep.

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 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 of the puzzles. This review is fair and impartial.

If you love word puzzles, then you are in for such a treat with Alexandra Benedict’s latest novel! On top of being a wonderfully constructed classic manor house mystery, The Christmas Murder Game is filled with challenges for the discerning reader, imbuing the book with loads of extra puzzling fun. I freely admit to spending far too much time on the anagram game, and am looking forward to tackling the included word search next now that I’m done with the novel itself.

But even if you’re not a word puzzle fan as I am, there’s so much to enjoy in this very modern murder mystery. Our heroine Lily Armitage was raised by her Aunt Liliana after the shocking death of her mother, Liliana’s beloved older sister Mariana. Liliana’s clear bias towards clever, retiring Lily was a constant source of conflict with Liliana’s eldest child Sara. While Lily got along just fine with Sara’s younger brother Gray, Sara’s loathing was so poisonous that Lily moved away from her aunt’s family as soon as she could, keeping up regularly only with Liliana herself.

After her aunt dies, Lily receives a strange letter asking her to fulfill Liliana’s dying wish and return to the manor home of her childhood to participate in the extended family’s annual Christmas Game. As a child, the game had meant twelve days of solving puzzles that led to a large cache of presents on the final day. This time, the grand prize is ownership of Endgame House itself.

Lily is reluctant to return to the place where she last saw her mother, but her deceased aunt dangles a tantalizing offer in front of her. Liliana promises that if Lily can solve the puzzles she’s devised, the truth of Mariana’s death will also be revealed:

QUOTE
Liliana was as soft as the Medjool dates she loved at Christmas. Lily loved them too, although she never forgot the stone inside.

That bit of stone inside her aunt is what summoned Lily here. It’s cruel, when she thinks of it, to ask her to return to this house, with its secrets written on walls and she’s the one who has to strip back the wallpaper. If Liliana had wanted to expose the truth, she could have done so at any time. Why wait till now? Why leave it up to Lily?
END QUOTE

These are only a few of the questions that Lily must find the answers to as she readies herself for a difficult reunion with her cousins. In addition to Sara and Gray, the children of her Uncle Edward are also in attendance and vying for the prize. Tom is a counselor and the only single one of his family: his sister Rachel has brought her spouse Holly, as has youngest brother Ronnie with his wife Phillippa. They are all tended to by the housekeeper Mrs Castle, after the rules are explained to them by Liliana’s solicitor – and Lily’s childhood friend – Isabelle Sterling.

Everything looks like it’ll be your average family inheritance drama until the first corpse shows up. The survivors try to go for help but find themselves trapped in the remote manor house by the heavy Yorkshire snowfall. As the twelve days of Christmas progress and more and more bodies pile up, Lily will have to put her formidable brain to solving not only the puzzles Liliana set for them, but also to unmasking whom at Endgame House is ruthlessly killing off the assembled members of the Armitage family.

I absolutely gobbled up this mystery novel, going back for seconds over segments any time I missed the anagrams in them on my first pass. I was totally immersed in both puzzles and plot, and rate them all highly in terms of being tough but not so difficult as to be frustrating. I was also both pleased and touched by the subplot regarding Lily’s bisexuality, especially by the elucidation of her feelings when being slighted on the subject by one of her relatives:

QUOTE
Lily feels sliced like salmon. She opens her mouth to say all those phrases that come late at night but they are stuck, itching at her throat. She never can say anything whenever someone comments or threatens violence in the street when she’s holding hands with or kissing a woman. Or when she’s with a man and assumed to be straight, leaving her privileged and safer, yet erased. Speaking up is beyond her.
END QUOTE

Non-stereotypical bisexuality representation has been a growing and important trend in other genres: it’s nice to see the orientation finally appear in a mystery novel as something more than a plot twist or reason for shame. It adds social depth to an already absorbing mystery and puzzle book that’s the perfect gift for the armchair detective in your life (yourself included!)

(I've already written an almost complete review but when I checked to edit today, it was gone and I was pissed. So I'm just going to leave a summarized portion, for now, instead of my usual long review for ARCs. Will edit next time when I'm calm about the lost of my review.)

This looked like the author focused more on developing the clues/annagrams/sonnets (?) rather than character development and story progression. It has an interesting plot, which was what made me sign up for an ARC, but the characters were so flat. There weren't even enough descriptions to imagine them. I just remember one was a redhead and Gray has, guess what, gray eyes. And that's it. I think it was just Ronnie with a good description. One was psycho analyst, one was a bitch, another was a bitch but with a husband, 3 pairs of lesbians, a sister's pet, a wife's follower, and a grieving mc. The.. uh, plottwist was.. yeah a twist. And what a twist it was. <spoiler>Aren't they cousins? What in the name of Alabama is this? Or did I miss something? Maybe one of them was adopted or something, but I checked and yeah, they're cousins...</spoiler> The concept, while not very original, is still interesting enough. If the author put much more into the story itself and the characters, it would've been a lot greater. It was predictable as well, the suspect was so obvious and of course, the MC who didn't want to win, won. The very little romance here didn't appeal to me either.

This was a unique book! I love that it had its own little clues to find within the book and then the answers in the back. It added to the story. The actual mystery was good and interesting, although a little dark for me at times. Overall a good book!

I have some mixed feelings about this book. I was expecting it to be a traditional cozy mystery...but it really wasn't (maybe a modern cozy or just a mystery). I loved the locked room (or in this case snowed in) aspect...but didn't really like the narrative "voice" (third person, present tense, maybe?). I kept thinking I would stop reading or skim to the last chapter...but I ended up reading the entire book. The puzzles and anagrams were interesting...but I didn't solve any of them. The characters were ok...but I really wanted Lily to speak up for herself. Overall, it's not a bad book...it's just not what I was expecting. Although other readers may enjoy it. I do like the cover alot.

Many thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. My thoughts and opinions are my own and without bias or favor or expectation.

I absolutely devoured this book! Though the setting is over Christmas/New Years, the creepiness definitely makes it fit for an October read.

I really appreciate the fact that this book kept me guessing what had actually happened, even wondering if there was some supernatural element to it.

I appreciate the fact that though we follow only one character and see things through her perspective, the author doesn’t rely on her being drunk or unreliable to create confusion and suspense.

Though I had some suspicions over who the killer ended up being, it was one of many theories I had throughout the whole story and I definitely didn’t piece it all together.

Finally, there are small games the reader can play, by looking for anagrams in the story, however I didn’t end up doing this as I feel sometimes it takes away from enjoying the story. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

An unusual mystery book, The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict has twelve anagrams in each chapter to decode, a classic fiction crime title. Lily hasn’t returned to the Endgame mansion she happily grew up in since her mother’s apparent suicide. With her Aunt Lillian’s death, Lilly is instructed to return, along with all her cousins, for twelve days of a Christmas hunt, with the winner inheriting the Endgame property. Lilly has the additional incentive as she will also discover the truth of her mother’s death. So, a classic English murder mystery unfolds in snowy yuletide, with numerous family members and tensions that could end up being deadly. Tensions mount as they are snowed in, cut off from help and the first dead body is found. An enjoyable variation of classic English crime fiction, with a three and a half star rating. With thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and the author, for an uncorrected advanced reader copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own and freely given.

Thanks to NetGalley & Kindle books for this e-arc.*

Neat premise, but shaky and stilted execution. I loved the idea of Lily and her estranged cousins being trapped together in their aunt's manor house for 12 days solving puzzles and collecting keys to see who would come out the winner and inherit everything. That had great promise, but it ended up falling flat. Part of that was because the anagrams were too long and complicated. There wasn't enough time to sit with them and ponder over their possible significance in the narrative. Tension, suspense--they simply weren't there.

Emotional resonance was lacking even though characters continued to be murdered, too. The deaths felt inconsequential because they were glazed over, with little to no reflection or psychological poignancy, so Lily could get back to the treasure hunt and the mystery behind her mom's death. It felt like a mad yet steady rush through the 12 days. No rising action. No increasing or compounding conflict. The killer was also far too easy to deduce. I knew who it was almost straight away.

I had high hopes for this one, but it was just okay.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC in exchange for my review.

I enjoyed this book, especially all the puzzles and anagrams. However, it did get a little darker than I expected. Based on the publisher’s description, I expected a locked room cozy mystery, however to me the book felt more like a Christmas-themed thriller with lots of puzzles. It’s still a good read, just expect multiple dead bodies and some truly awful relatives. And anagrams. Lots and lots of anagrams.

The book itself also contains puzzles for readers to solve as they make their way through the book.

The description of the book sounded like something I'd love, but sadly, that wasn't the case. The characters were one dimensional, and I never felt connected to any of them, so I had a hard time caring about what happened to them. I was not crazy about the narrative being in present tense, but at least it wasn't in first person POV (thankfully!). I liked the incorporation of clues throughout, but there were so many of them that they became a bit of a distraction. The storyline could've benefitted from a tighter edit. The anagrams were a fun concept, but it made for awkward narrative, at times. Sadly, things were a bit predictable, and I figured things out way too soon.

I should probably state that I am not good at spotting or solving anagrams; that, not being a native English speaker, there’s still a lot about the mechanics of this bizarre language that escapes me, including iambic pentameter; and that many of the very English (as in, the country) cultural references around Christmas were invisible to me.

The narrative voice follows Lily exclusively, so we are told what she thinks and what she does, but not necessarily from her point of view, if that makes sense. Reading third person present tense, to me, feels like reading stage instructions for a play. Lily drives, Lily drinks, Lily sleeps, Lily eats, Lily sits, Lily turns.

There is a sense of remove from the character that, again, for me, doesn’t happen with a third person past tense narrator. It’s entirely possible this is just my age and early reading (which was nearly all in omniscient third person past tense narrative voice), that make this narrative voice grate.

There’s also the fact that when the narrative goes into Lily’s past–flashbacks, memories, things she reads–we get plain old third person past tense, and the return to third person present tense can feel jarring, and occasionally disorienting. More so, because while things are going down during these twelve days of Christmas, everything is the result of events more than two decades in the past.

With that said: I started reading this book on Saturday evening, and ended up reading it through until early Sunday morning (why do we readers do this to ourselves? who knows, but it’s such a thing for avid readers!).

There were a lot of subtle clues (in other words, the author didn’t ‘cheat’), about a good many number of the unanswered questions from the past, from quite early on in the novel; I have a few notes as early as 6% in my ARC.

The sense of menace holds together fairly well, and the third person present tense narrative helps along with the claustrophobic feeling the reader is meant to get: we only know what Lily knows, and of that, only what she’s actively thinking of as it happens.

In other words, there aren’t any “as you know, Bob” moments, where things are explained to the reader; relationships and interpersonal dynamics are presented without elaboration, and why they are as they are is occasionally hinted at through “Lily remembers” or “Lily wonders”, or just presented without elaboration.

And because Lily is so secretive, there are also moments where I found myself wondering how reliable a narrator she was; especially given the reference to what she ‘doesn’t remember’ about the past. And yes, she was a child when her mother died/was murdered, but hey, children kill in literature as much as they do in real life.

The story is highly readable–I repeat, I read it in a few hours, overnight (it’s just under 300 pages in print)–but I was, let’s say, underwhelmed by the ending. Given the setup, the Deus Ex Machina was nigh unavoidable, yet I still felt let down.

My other big problem was characterization; even Lily felt flat at times. It may be the remove of third person when narrating exclusively from her point of view, but even as I kept reading, wanting to find out the answers to the mysteries posed, I didn’t quite care about her fate as much as I just wanted answers. As for the other characters, they came across to me as incomplete collections of traits, rather than people.

There are a number of pop culture references that anchor the book firmly to the present (2021-2022), with some references set two decades before, as part of Lily’s memories. I doubt these will age well, even a year from now, but that’s likely my biases speaking.

In sum: I thought there were too many murders; the elaborate structure of the game was for the most part lost on me; the ending was more than a bit too pat, and I still devoured the book in one sitting.

The premise sounds promising and I really want to love this one but the the execution is not what I hoped for.

Let's talk about the good stuff first.
This book has a strong start, the storyline with a mystery about the past keeps me interested in the first few chapters. The riddles and anagrams are also actually pretty fun to solve.

However, after a while the plot starts to feel repetitive and it started to lose the suspense element since the main character, Lily can solve the riddles way too easy.
The other characters also feels slightly one dimensional except for Lily.

I guessed the culprit pretty early and it's nice to know that my hunch was right. However, the last couple chapters of this book felt rushed.

Overall, this book is not bad but it's not that great either. It just doesn't meet my high expectation at the beginning.
But, if you love solving riddles with some family drama stories then you're welcome to give this one a go.

Actual rating: 2.5⭐

I received an advanced review copy for free from Netgalley, Poisoned Pen Press and the author, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I chose this book based on the description having never read a story by this author before. It was totally absorbing and left me gripped from the start looking for clues. Really great story that had a very unique feel to it. Totally recommend. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for giving me access to an early copy of this book.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Alexandra Benedict for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for The Christmas Murder Game coming out October 4, 2022. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Lily Armitage returns to Endgame House after receiving a mysterious letter from her aunt. Her aunt wants her to take part in the annual tradition called the Christmas Game. She never intended to return to the grand family home. Her mother died there twenty-one Christmases ago.

All Lily has to do is solve 12 clues to find 12 keys. They can’t leave the house or use their phones to solve the clues. The prize is the deed to the manor house. She doesn’t want the house, but the clues will also reveal who really killed Lily’s mother. Lily just has to outsmart her estranged cousins who have their own reasons for desiring the house. It soon becomes apparent that not everyone is playing fairly.

Trapped in the house during a snowstorm, the game turns deadly when cousins end up dead. Can Lily survive and claim the inheritance or will she be next in the deadly Christmas Game?

Overall, I really loved this story! It felt like the movie Knives Out. It was really fun. I think the murder mystery aspect set during the 12 days of Christmas was fun. I really enjoyed the games within the game. I think that makes it more fun for the readers. I think things got a little muddled towards the end. It had felt like a slow burn and then things progressed a lot quicker, so it felt slightly rushed. I did really like the ending, but there were a couple things that didn’t make sense to me. It felt a little wrapped up too nicely. But I will definitely check out more books by this author.

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys family drama murder mysteries!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

What a great early holiday treat. The Christmas Murder Game is a locked room mystery set at Endgame House during a snowstorm which traps all of the family indoors. Phone lines down, cell phones removed. All of the cousins are gathered for the twelve days of Christmas. If one can solve the puzzle, find the twelve keys and, of course, survive, the winner will get both Endgame House and the surrounding property.
Lily Armitage hasn't set foot in the family home she knew as a child since her mother was found dead in the maze. It was ruled a suicide but Lilly's late aunt leaves her with a further incentive to attend the 'festivities'. Besides the deed to Endgame Lilly is assured that she will learn who killed her mother. Lilly has firmly avoided endgame but this makes her change her mind. For Lilly solving a puzzle plus naming a killer is one thing but it isn't long before she is faced with very fresh killings. Somebody really wants to get the grand prize at any price.
This mystery has it all - great setting, locked room, puzzles on top of puzzles, and family secrets. I won't say anymore for fear of committing spoilers.
My thanks to the publisher Poisoned Pen Press and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

3 stars..... This book feels like it was written by two different authors. The first half of this book was a solid 4 out of 5 stars, but the 2nd half of this book is a measly 2 stars.

The book transitioned from being a serious murdery mystery / thriller novel to a cheesy YA romance book in a blink of an eye.

As far as the mystery murder goes, the location (Endgame Manor) is on point but the characters are are hit or miss. Character development started well, but falls apart as the story goes on.

So many unexplained events / conversations / thoughts are simply glossed over for the sake of convenience and/or moving along the story.

I'll keep looking for the perfect Christmas Murder Mystery.

English manor house murder + Christmas + locked room (well, snowed in) + references to classic mysteries, plus clues in sonnets, plus meta game anagrams... this book hits all of my sweet spots. Kudos to Alexandra Benedict for a great story!

Lily’s aunt has written in her will that Lily and her cousins have to spend Christmas together and take part in a twelve-day-competition. The winner gets to inherit the family manor. The family game gets serious when one of the cousins is murdered…

The idea of the book is fun: the reader gets to read the clues to the game and can try to resolve them. However, for me the plot of the book was too complicated: there’s the Christmas game, Lily’s cousin’s murder and Lily has reason to believe that her mother was murdered as well. And all this is just the beginning…. I would have enjoyed a bit simpler plot more.

Thank you Netgalley for a chance to review this book.