The Christmas Murder Game – ARC Book Review

Follow the clues. Find the fortune. Solve the Mystery. This Christmas is to die for. Let the game begin…

‘Endgame has kept our secrets for half a century, now it’s time for it, and its secrets, to have a new owner.’

When Lily returns home to her aunt’s manor house, she discovers that in order to inherit, she and her estranged cousins must stay together over the Christmas week and take part in a family tradition: the annual treasure hunt.

But as they are drawn deeper into the game, the clues seem to point not to the deeds to the manor house, but to the key to a twenty-year-old mystery: what really happened to Lily’s mother?

As a snowstorm cuts them off from the village, it becomes apparent that the game has turned deadly and that Lily is fighting for more than just an inheritance: she is now fighting for her life. Does she have what it takes to survive?

12 clues, 12 keys and 12 days of Christmas for the heirs of Endgame House to find their inheritance, but how many will die before Twelfth Night?

This was a locked room mystery filled with twists and turns with a game that you had to win in order to achieve the goal. This was the first time I am reading a book written by this author.

Lily goes back to the Endgame mansion where many years ago, her mother, Mariana was reportedly committed suicide though Lily’s aunt, Liliana through a crack of codes and poems tells it otherwise. The cousins of the Armitage family meet during the Christmas and their one goal is to win the game. In order to win the game, one must crack the secret meanings behind the poems and find the key. And whoever finds the key will become the owner of the Endgame Mansion.

I actually did like the plot and the premise of the story sounds promising and interesting. The clues and the meanings behind the poems written by the aunt sounds fascinating. The house itself is nestled in Yorkshire where there is severe snowstorm causing the others to be actually locked into the house. The writing was intriguing and interesting and I also do like the setting of the story. This book also a sort of Agatha Christie vibe in it as well. However, the lower rating is due to the fact that it was predictable which did spoilt the story in my opinion.

If you are into locked room mystery with an Agatha Christie vibe, then this book is one for you–worth three stars!

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.