It’s time to pick up the pencils and start solving, because we’ve moved on from mystery novels to Advent calendars. While I’m sure these have been around for a while, my first experience with one was last year. Then, I read Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret straight through, as I hadn’t planned the daily solving into my writing calendar. This year, however, I’ve been solving along with two mystery advent calendars, and I’m ready to share my experience.

The first of the advent calendars is Joel Jessup’s Murder by Christmas. I hadn’t heard of Jessup before, and a quick look at his profile shows that his oeuvre is heavily themed around puzzle books. So I was excited to give Murder by Christmas a try and see how tackling it felt this holiday season.

I can now say I’ve spent enough time with three mystery advent calendars to have a sense of the space. These books tend to differ across three dimensions: puzzle variety and effectiveness; festive spirit; and story cohesion. This year’s selection offers a good mix, so I’ll be sharing my thoughts on each with you.

(I also want to note that—since I’ve been playing along daily—I’ve yet to finish either of this year’s Advent calendars. I’ll check back in on Thursday with any final thoughts once I’ve completed the final puzzles and read the endings.)

Puzzles, puzzles everywhere

Murder by Christmas has a large and varied set of puzzles. These mostly fall into six categories: spot-the-difference / abnormality; following a timeline; following a map; Rube Goldberg machines; character matching (i.e., which character is most likely to do X); and visual “codes.” There are a few outside these categories, including a light set of riddles. But by and large, these are the types of puzzles you’ll be solving over the 25 days of December.

Your enjoyment of these puzzles will depend both on their construction and your patience with each variety. I quite enjoyed the spot-the-difference puzzles and found they worked well with my brain, as did the visual codes. Conversely, I found the Rube Goldberg machine puzzles (Advent has trapped someone in an infernal contraption, described via diagram; you must describe the steps to release them) much more difficult. This is partially due to my own limited spatial reasoning—but also because Jessup seemed to assume certain actions or consequences at times that I simply didn’t. Regardless, I generally enjoyed the variety of puzzles, and Jessup distributes them evenly so that each day feels like a fresh puzzle-solving experience.

Solutions are presented in the back of the book. While you don’t have to check them, Jessup suggests that you do in order to solve the final puzzle more effectively. I’m not yet there, so I can’t say whether that’s needed. However, I’ve been checking my solutions and do wish they’d splurged to have each solution start on a new page—or even a new spread. The current format makes it too easy to “read ahead” accidentally and spoil the puzzles of the next two or three days.

Christmas crime, extra tinsel

Where Jessup’s puzzles shine is the festive layer. Murder by Christmas takes place in Candlestow, a town that has made itself into something of a Christmas tourist trap. The titular murders are announced daily via email, each with a Christmassy image, which retired Dr. Harker traces back to some village denizen. When Dr. Harker or the police chief find the resident, they’re typically stuck in some kind of darkly festive bind. This might be of their own making (e.g., a robbery involving festive masks) or a trap set by “Advent” with a cruel holiday twist (e.g., traps laid along a caroling route). Either way, each day Jessup treats solvers to a holiday-spiced puzzle.

Is that festive element sometimes a bit goofy or over the top? Sure. But if you’re reading Murder by Christmas, you’re not here for realistic holiday crime scenarios. Jessup commits fully to the Christmas-crime bit, with a serial criminal who has somehow found a Christmas link to 20+ village residents and is more than happy to act on them. And that means we get to play along and see just how many creative ways Jessup can devise a Christmas- or winter-themed crime, trap, or puzzle.

If this were an A.K. Benedict book, I’d be talking about tension and thriller vibes. But there’s something about solving these goofy, crime-themed puzzles that makes me more willing to treat them as festive fun. Breaking them into short bursts helps as well—puzzles run to maybe six pages of text—and every day has a sense of closure. Jessup has also stuck to some basic cozy rules: nobody is dying on the page. Also, every puzzle is solved within a day, which makes it easier to enjoy the Christmas crime without feeling a true sense of terror.

When the Cast List Gets Out of Hand

This does, however, lead to some story challenges. The overarching plot of Murder by Christmas is that protagonist Dr. Harker receives an email every day with a Christmassy image. That image leads her to a village resident who’s being blackmailed by a mysterious criminal and is often also caught in some terrible festive trap. Harker works with the police to solve each day’s puzzle—ideally before it results in death, but sometimes simply to locate the body. In the background, there are additional small-village subplots: a Christmas play creating drama, and ongoing tension with the local “Lady of the Manor.” So far, so cozy mystery…

Except that maintaining this for 25 days means the village cast becomes quite expansive. I read a lot of mysteries, but this is difficult to keep track of, and I’ve completely lost track of who did what, when, and why. I’m sure the final day will feature some kind of revelation involving several characters we’ve already seen—but I’m doubtful I’ll care much about the solution (beyond the cleverness of the puzzle), as I feel little connection to the cast. (Unless there’s a twist ending in which the doctor or police inspector did it, or the original murder victim springs back to life—which would make me feel extremely cheated, so let’s hope not.)

I have a lot of sympathy for Jessup here, as it must be tricky to come up with a framing device that works across 25 days and such a wide variety of puzzles. And I am enjoying myself enough to keep solving each day—just not really for the plot.

Solving Along, Plot Optional

If you’re primarily looking for puzzles with both criminal and festive theming, Murder by Christmas may be a solid choice. The puzzles are varied and engaging, and most of the time the solutions feel fair—if occasionally obscure or prone to leaping a little too far. I’ve enjoyed playing along so far and will be back on the 25th to share my final thoughts on the overall story and puzzle design.

But before then, we’ve got one more Advent calendar to review. See you back here tomorrow—and until then, stay cozy and stay curious!