I first found Alexandra Benedict’s The Christmas Murder Game while trying to find Golden Age stories for this series last year. At the time, I was intrigued – puzzle hunt + country house + closed circle mystery + cold case seemed right up my alley. I had to table it, since it wasn’t Golden Age – but we’re back, now, and ready to give it a closer look.

A true Fair Play mystery…

Let’s start with the mystery element. Alexandra Benedict loves a good puzzle and she piles layers and layers of them into one book. First, there’s the mystery itself: Lily Armitrage is here to solve the mystery surrounding her mother’s death. She will do this by participating in a puzzle hunt, orchestrated posthumously by her aunt, in which the remainder of her family competes to win ownership of the family home. As the game goes on, family members start disappearing and dying, upping the stakes. And, in case that’s not enough puzzle for you, Benedict has left in references to other Christmas mysteries, and included anagrams of each of the presents for the 12 days of Christmas.

If that’s starting to feel a bit overwhelming – I found it so, too, while reading it at least. There were so many layers of puzzle that keeping track of them felt almost like a juggling act, a wya of showing off my cleverness rather than sinking into the story itself. Lily is personally sympathetic as a character, but it’s hard to connect with most of the others that we see. And so while the puzzles feel very Fair Play and Technically Great – there was a bit of connection missing.

…but one missing Christmas Heart

Unfortunately, this meant the actual story of The Christmas Murder Game fell a bit flat. Benedict nailed the theming, and many of the moments fit right into a Christmas story. But this is a story about Motherhood and Identity that also covers Loneliness and Family and Death and at the same time tries to create moments of suspense and sympathy. It’s a lot to balance and unfortunately it didn’t work for me.

At the heart of the problem is an expanded cast of unpleasant family members. There’s something about Miserable Christmas Families that leaves me hollow. While they’re mechanically necessary to make some Christmas mysteries happen, they can create tension with the final conclusion. Many describe the story as claustrophobic, and that feels like the right word – hard not to shiver thinking about twelve days shut in with your literally murderous family for an outcome that seemed patently achievable through other methods of communication.

Reader’s notes and rating: 🎁 🎁 🎁 🎀

I should have loved The Christmas Murder Game, and I really wanted to. I love puzzle hunts, I love mysteries, and I often complain that modern mystery novels don’t contain actually well clued puzzles. But I think this one got a bit too far in the opposite direction, more focused on the puzzles and the theme without enough holiday connection. If you know someone who loves dark, well-clued stories (and doesn’t mind a slightly academic / contrived setup) this might be the holiday read for them.

3.5 Christmas presents.

We’ll continue with Alexandra Benedict’s most recent novel tomorrow. Until then – stay cozy, and stay curious!