ARC Review: The Christmas Jigsaw Murders by Alexandra Benedict

Name: The Christmas Jigsaw Murders
Series: Stand-Alone
Author: Alexandra Benedict
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Format: Kindle (Thanks to the Publisher & NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my review)
Genres: Adult, Crime, Mystery, Thriller, Christmas
Noted Tropes: Red Herring
Steam or Spice: None

Rating:

Synopsis: Goodreads
Rest. In. Pieces.

On 1st of December, renowned puzzle setter, loner, and Christmas curmudgeon Edie O’Sullivan finds a hand-delivered present on her doorstep. Unwrapping it, she finds a jigsaw box and, inside, six jigsaw pieces. When fitted together, the pieces show part of a crime scene – blood-spattered black and white tiles and part of an outlined body. Included in the parcel is a ‘Four, maybe more, people will be dead by midnight on Christmas Eve, unless you can put all the pieces together and stop me.’ It’s signed, Rest In Pieces.

Edie contacts her nephew, DI Sean Brand-O’Sullivan, and together they work to solve the clues. But when a man is found near death with a jigsaw piece in his hand, Sean fears that Edie might be in danger and shuts her out of the investigation. As the body count rises, however, Edie knows that only she has the knowledge to put together the killer’s murderous puzzle.

Only by fitting all the pieces together will Edie be able to stop a killer – and finally lay her past to rest.

Review:

The Christmas Jigsaw Murders was on my radar after I noticed a friend on Goodreads mark it was ‘want to read’ and that meant it caught my eye. Then I’m scrolling on NetGalley after finally setting up an account there and I see The Christmas Jigsaw Murders available for review. I applied and was approved, and I was so excited to get started!

I knew therefore it was going to be an early read in December – and I loved that this wasn’t going to be a Christmas Spirit building kind of a book. With a title like ‘The Christmas Jigsaw Murders’ I knew what I was getting into! And it made my heart happy to read a Christmas thriller/ murder mystery!

Our FMC, Edie is unlike most FMC’s I read about – no matter the genre… That’s because Edie was an 80-year-old who creates crosswords for newspapers… She was not your typical main character. I loved her bah-humbug nature and her strained relationships with her grand-newphew / adopted-son and neighbour. It was so refreshing to read! Not only that but this author had taken the time to learn about the Crossword hobby and that made Edie feel really alive and invested in her hobby (that or is also incredibly good at Crosswords and wanted an excuse to write about them!).

I really enjoyed the mystery behind who Rest In Pieces was – and I absolutely fell for the red herring of the story!! I liked the idea of this serial killer leaving behind clues for someone she was taunting so specifically, it reminded me of a story arc you’d find in CSI or Criminal Minds! I loved that element.

The only downside for me was that some of the chapters were slow. Even though once you reach the ending and you start putting all the pieces together, it still felt as though some parts of the story were hard to get through. Oh, and one more thing! The chapters weren’t named with whose POV it was, and some chapters switched part way through – this was slightly confusing!

All in all I really enjoyed the mystery and trying to solve it, and despite the bah-humbug nature of Edie I thought she was great. I am certainly not going to recommend The Christmas Jigsaw Murders if you’re looking for a Christmassy book to get you in the spirit, but if you like a thriller / mystery all year round, then why not try one set at Christmas!

Reading With Tyler