Book Synopsis:
THIS CHRISTMAS, A KILLER TAKES FAMILY GAMES TO A MURDEROUS NEW LEVEL.
On 19th of December, renowned puzzle setter, loner and Christmas sceptic Edie O’Sullivan finds a hand-delivered present on her doorstep. Unwrapping it, she finds a jigsaw box and, inside, six jigsaw pieces. When fitted together, the pieces show part of a crime scene – blood-spattered black and white tiles and part of an outlined body. Included in the parcel is a message: ‘Four, maybe more, people will be dead by midnight on Christmas Eve, unless you can put all the pieces together and stop me.’ It’s signed, Rest In Pieces.
Edie contacts her nephew, DI Sean Brand-O’Sullivan, and together they work to solve the clues. But when a man is found near death with a jigsaw piece in his hand, Sean fears that Edie might be in danger and shuts her out of the investigation. As the body count rises, however, Edie knows that only she has the knowledge to put together the killer’s murderous puzzle.
Only by fitting all the pieces together will Edie be able to stop a killer – and finally lay her past to rest.
My Review:
The Christmas Jigsaw Murders is an intriguing, gripping read that is perfect for curling up with this Christmas.
Firstly I absolutely loved Edie and enjoyed following her throughout the book. She’s such a confident, vivacious lady who doesn’t care about other people’s opinions of her. I loved that she was still so able at eighty and the descriptions of her fabulous clothes made me smile. It was great to see how many people look up to her for setting the crosswords and some of her meetings with her fans made me laugh out loud.
The mystery surrounding the jigsaw murders was very interesting and I enjoyed trying to solve the mystery alongside the characters. The reader is thrown immediately into the story and things soon become very murky indeed as more people are drawn into the mystery as suspects. I think I suspected everyone at some point and it was very interesting to see how they were all connected. It soon becomes obvious that the mystery is connected to things on Edie’s past and I loved trying to figure out what the connection was.
Overall I really enjoyed this book and I look forward to reading more books from this author in the future. I thought the book had a great pace to it and there always seemed to be something happening to keep my interest. The story follows both Edie and the police as they try to solve the mystery with both taking different approaches which was very amusing at times. There were lots of twists that kept me guessing, including a big one towards the end which took me completely by surprise.
If you are looking for a festive murder mystery then I highly recommend this one.
About The Author:
Alexandra Benedict has been a composer, singer-songwriter, actor, and lecturer in crime fiction, and is now an award-winning writer of novels, short stories and scripts. As AK Benedict, she writes high-concept novels, speculative short stories and scripts. Her first novel, the critically-acclaimed THE BEAUTY OF MURDER, was nominated for the eDunnit Award; her short stories have featured in many anthologies; and her audio drama has been shortlisted for multiple awards including the BBC Audio Drama Award 2020, and, twice, for the Scribe Award, winning it in 2019. As Alexandra Benedict, she writes contemporary tributes and takes on Golden Age crime fiction. THE CHRISTMAS MURDER GAME was an Amazon Fiction Bestseller and was long-listed for the CWA Gold Dagger Award. Her latest novel, MURDER ON THE CHRISTMAS EXPRESS, arrives on November 10th. She lives on the south coast of England with her fiancé, writer Guy Adams, their daughter, and their dog, Dame Margaret Rutherford.
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