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A review by allisonwonderlandreads
The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The Christmas Murder Game is a holiday family murder fest. An estranged and embattled group of cousins play a game of riddles stipulated in their aunt's will. The prize? The family manor, which is now a hotel. The cost? Maybe everything.
Our protagonist is Lily. She found her mother dead in the manor's extensive maze as a child and has no wish to return to the place she once called home. But the memories that haunt her have nothing on the letter her aunt left behind. Her mom's death was a murder, and if she plays the game, all will be revealed. Lily has no intention of playing for the house's sake, but for the knowledge of what happened to her mom? She's in. Unfortunately, she has a secret that could put her in danger as cousins start dropping like flies. Snowed in by an epic blizzard and left without technology per the rules of the game, there's no one to call for help.
The cleverest part of the book is a game within a game-- searching for anagrams from the 12 days of Christmas on each of the twelve days in the game. Each creative turn of phrase made me suspicious until I checked that the letters didn't match up. I had this constant second task running in the back of my mind trying to find each anagram. So busy with my own little puzzle, I wasn't at all bothered to leave Lily to the more complicated sonnet clues on her daily agenda. I experienced intense satisfaction at solving them only matched by my stress level when it had been a while since I spotted one. I did reach a level of fatigue where after solving the first eight, I decided to just focus on the story for the last four days and let the puzzles go. The multitasking felt like it was taking away from my investment in the plot, even though I was following it just fine.
A cool part of the book is that Lily's bi, and her hints of a romantic subplot are sapphic. It comes up a few times, including a moment of biphobia from the most outwardly cruel of the cousins that's shut down by the others. A cousin Rachel is there with her wife, Holly, so Lily isn't alone in a sea of straight people, thank goodness.
As a mystery, I found the story a bit disappointing. I had a pretty good handle on the murders early on despite my level of anagram distraction. Then you reach a point where so few are left alive that it becomes frustrating when Lily can't piece it together despite her famed cleverness. The mystery of Lily's mother was more of an unknown to me, but the eventual resolution seemed anticlimactic compared to the weight it had on Lily and the game.
This is a murder mystery with some fun elements for the reader, but the execution of the story wasn't what I hoped for. Thanks to Poisoned Pen for my copy to read and review!
Our protagonist is Lily. She found her mother dead in the manor's extensive maze as a child and has no wish to return to the place she once called home. But the memories that haunt her have nothing on the letter her aunt left behind. Her mom's death was a murder, and if she plays the game, all will be revealed. Lily has no intention of playing for the house's sake, but for the knowledge of what happened to her mom? She's in. Unfortunately, she has a secret that could put her in danger as cousins start dropping like flies. Snowed in by an epic blizzard and left without technology per the rules of the game, there's no one to call for help.
The cleverest part of the book is a game within a game-- searching for anagrams from the 12 days of Christmas on each of the twelve days in the game. Each creative turn of phrase made me suspicious until I checked that the letters didn't match up. I had this constant second task running in the back of my mind trying to find each anagram. So busy with my own little puzzle, I wasn't at all bothered to leave Lily to the more complicated sonnet clues on her daily agenda. I experienced intense satisfaction at solving them only matched by my stress level when it had been a while since I spotted one. I did reach a level of fatigue where after solving the first eight, I decided to just focus on the story for the last four days and let the puzzles go. The multitasking felt like it was taking away from my investment in the plot, even though I was following it just fine.
A cool part of the book is that Lily's bi, and her hints of a romantic subplot are sapphic. It comes up a few times, including a moment of biphobia from the most outwardly cruel of the cousins that's shut down by the others. A cousin Rachel is there with her wife, Holly, so Lily isn't alone in a sea of straight people, thank goodness.
As a mystery, I found the story a bit disappointing. I had a pretty good handle on the murders early on despite my level of anagram distraction. Then you reach a point where so few are left alive that it becomes frustrating when Lily can't piece it together despite her famed cleverness. The mystery of Lily's mother was more of an unknown to me, but the eventual resolution seemed anticlimactic compared to the weight it had on Lily and the game.
This is a murder mystery with some fun elements for the reader, but the execution of the story wasn't what I hoped for. Thanks to Poisoned Pen for my copy to read and review!