We’re nearing the home stretch, and that takes us towards some of the more unique Christmas stories I’ve read this year. Today we’ll be discussing The Twelve Days of Murder by Andreina Cordani. This mystery / thriller has serious Dark Academia vibes, telling the story of a college murder mystery club that fell apart when one of their members disappeared. Twelve years later, they’re together again for one, final Christmas murder masquerade – that starts to get a bit too real.

A solid Country House crime novel…

Let’s start with the mystery. The Twelve Days of Murder follows two parallel mysteries – the twelve-year-old disappearance, and the current murder spree at the masquerade. Cordani interleaves the two stories, juxtaposing scenes (or murders) from the present with more detailed scenes from the perspectives of specific characters. This creates an interesting causal effect as you get to understand the deep roots of these characters’ tension.

The story tends to flip from present-day thriller to past-tense mystery. The pacing here is excellent as Cordani interleaves bursts of action with moments of reflection. The mystery itself is also well-written, with Cordani putting clear effort into each suspect and their motives. You’ve got all the fun of a closed-circle Country House mystery, with additional moments of action and levity from a murderous college reunion.

…and a luxuriously dark Christmas celebration

But what about the Christmas vibes? I’ve spent a lot of words on how the Christmas Country House murder genre can be so miserable to read, in large part because it requires characters that hate each other. But Cordani’s approach made this setup much more enjoyable.

It starts with the fact that these characters are filthy rich. There’s always fun to be had in seeing how the upper crust live, and The Twelve Days of Murder plays up this opulence. Trees drip with decorations; the murder masquerade is elaborately set up to include period-perfect costuming; every page contains some new insane luxury. You instantly hate the cast members’ nonchalance – even if you also want to be them.

Cordani does a great job toeing the line on the characterization here. Because we’re going to watch them die, we have to dislike these characters – and she makes it easy to do so. But because we need to feel bad about it, we need sympathy for them. And she uses the flashbacks to great effect here, highlighting each character’s pains and insecurities so we can understand their cruelty.

And, of course, both the murder mystery and the murders themselves are themed after the Christmas carol, The Twelve Days of Murder. There’s some irony to the opulence in the song being used as a framing for murder. I’ve said before that I don’t buy simply “Christmas” as an ironic holiday murder theme. But the specificity of this themed heightens it, makes it interesting and twisted in a way that the simple setting of Christmas can’t.

Reader’s notes and rating: 🎁 🎁 🎁 🎁

I picked up The Twelve Days of Murder on almost a whim, and I am now so glad that I did. It combines the best of mystery and thriller with the specificity of a true deranged killer. And because the victims are both hatable and sympathetic, you get to solve the mystery while enjoying the thriller element. A wild ride, that loses points only for a slightly tepid conclusion.

4 presents.

Next on the list: The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman (which may slightly be cheating but I’m clearly allowing it). Until then – stay cozy, and stay curious!