Sarah Dunnakey’s The Twelve Murders of Christmas is a festive murder mystery with a unique twist: it incorporates puzzles for the reader to solve. Despite its unique twist, the plot itself didn’t really me very engaged and the puzzles require a lot of concentration and back and forth to work out.
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Set in Yorkshire, The Twelve Murders of Christmas invites you to unravel the mysterious death of Edward Luddenham, which occurred one Christmas Eve. A year after his death, twelve individuals gather at his manor for the reading of his will, each bringing their own secrets and motivations. These guests are asked to bring a “festive mystery story” to share, but you as the reader are armed with only a pencil, suggesting the importance of solving the puzzles. The unusual structure combines short stories, an overarching narrative, and brainteasers, creating an interactive reading experience.
The Twelve Murders of Christmas plot – 3.75/5
The story begins at Bracestone House, through the eyes of a librarian friend of Edward. The guests have gathered on the anniversary of Edward’s murder, and each of them was present when he was killed. Adding to the intrigue, one of the guests is revealed to be a private detective hired by Edward before his death.
The book contains a series of short stories, linked by an overarching narrative, interspersed with puzzles for you to solve that aren’t necessary to advance the plot but combine to solve the murder in the end.
Due to the book’s length and the back-and-forth nature of the puzzles (having to flip back pages and find content), it felt a little disjointed. If the book featured maybe three or four different stories, then it maybe wouldn’t have felt like such a slog, but due to the length, I ended up not completing some of the puzzles as I simply wanted to finish the book.
The short stories themselves that the characters tell vary in intrigue with some being very interesting indeed and others feeling half-baked.
The Twelve Murders of Christmas characters – 3.75/5
The characters in The Twelve Murders of Christmas are an eclectic group of people connected by their acquaintance with Edward Luddenham. Each character has their own motivations for attending the reading of the will, including curiosity, duty, unrequited love, desperation, and greed.
Their personalities are distinct, especially Dinah, a crochet-loving character who brings a vibrant presence to the story. The suspects each tell a story, contributing to the mystery.
Some of the other characters I found a tad annoying and others I completely forgot were a part of the plot – so similar to their short stories in that aspect – hit or miss.
The Twelve Murders of Christmas final rating – 3.75/5
My biggest issue with The Twelve Murders of Christmas was simply how long it was. I love puzzles and I especially loved the idea of doing puzzles based on the plot you’re reading. However, there were a few too many short stories some of which were incredibly uninteresting so this greatly depreciated my interest fast to the point where I wasn’t solving the puzzles towards the end and was simply listening to the plot. If you’re a real puzzle fan and have the patience to read different short stories to solve them, you may well enjoy this book. However, if you’re a novel lover who fancies the idea of putting in some puzzles like me, I found this quite the slow burn.
Buy a copy of The Twelve Murders of Christmas
This does sound really quite unique, and I like that it is something different to dive into. I think I would find having to go back for info to solve puzzles a bit tricky, but I am game to give it a go, especially for a mysterious death!
Hope you enjoy! 😊