The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict: Snowed-In Family Thriller Review

Read time: 3 minutes

📱📖 Read on Kindle
📃 279 pages
⏱ 4 hours
🏷️ Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Genre: Thriller

Book Blurb:

Twelve clues. Twelve keys. Twelve days of Christmas.
But how many will die before Twelfth Night?

At the crumbling Endgame House, Lily Armitage returns after twenty-one years for the annual Christmas Game, only this time the prize is the deed to the estate itself. Her estranged cousins are circling like sharks, the snow has cut off all escape, and someone is willing to kill for the inheritance. Armed with riddles that promise to reveal her mother’s murderer, Lily must outwit family members who’ve spent decades perfecting betrayal. A deliciously vicious closed-circle mystery packed with reader scavenger hunts, perfect for anyone who loves festive thrillers with teeth.

Let’s talk about the book:

This one is pure festive chaos wrapped in tinsel and tension. A perfect blend of Knives Out meets Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, Alexandra Benedict crafts a classic closed room mystery with just enough festive sparkle to hide the bloodstains. The Endgame House setting with both goth and glittering vibes, practically hums with menace. Every riddle, every creak in the stairs pulls you deeper into the Armitage family’s dysfunction. Benedict nails the claustrophobic “trapped in a manor with people who know exactly where you sleep” energy, then cranks it up to eleven with blizzards, dead phone lines, broken tree branch blocking the only way in and out of the house grounds, and a prize worth killing for.

The riddles are clever without being obnoxious. Yes, I tried to solve a few because I’m a competitive nerd. The solutions are given at the end of the book, so you can check if you got it right, too. Lily’s grief over her mother threads through the chaos like frost on a windowpane, giving the book emotional weight I wasn’t prepared for. The passive-aggressive toast at the start of the family dinner embodies the “family from hell” troupe. Reading this book right before your own family Christmas dinner is a perfect reminder that maybe trust issues are healthy…

Would I recommend it?

If you want a Holiday Thriller that makes you grateful your own relatives only fight over the last pigs-in-blankets, then this is IT This is a wickedly sharp thriller that is spiked with murder, riddles, and a cozy but deadly mansion full of people who desperately need therapy. Add this to your December TBR, but be warned that family game nights will never feel the same again.

If you like this…

Try these for Christmas!

• Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie
  The OG toxic-family-at-Christmas murder. Tyrannical patriarch, resentful heirs, locked room, throat slit on Christmas Eve. Short, vicious, and Poirot being his smug little Belgian self—perfect if you want classic with the same festive venom.
• The Adventures of Christmas Pudding by Agatha Christie
  A delightful, snow-dusted Poirot mystery filled with holiday charm, clever sleuthing, and Christie’s classic country-house intrigue.
•  Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson
  Pitched as what happens when Knives Out and The Thursday Murder Club kiss under the mistletoe, this one delivers locked-in holiday chaos with a meta, slightly comedic tone. A magician’s benefactor is murdered, the suspects are masters of misdirection, and it leans into the “everyone’s lying, trust no one” energy you loved.
• The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett
  A hilarious and twisty epistolary mystery set during a chaotic village Christmas play. Expect small-town drama, secrets, and classic Hallett cleverness, all wrapped in tinsel.
• Murder on the Christmas Express by Alexandra Benedict
  A tense, atmospheric thriller set aboard a train trapped in a blizzard, where every passenger is a suspect and secrets pile up like snowdrifts.
  ⚠️ Trigger Warning: Contains conversations related to rape and discussions with rape survivors.

Who can you trust this Christmas?

Would you survive a game like this? Or would your cousins out-scheme you before the first glass of mulled wine? Let’s talk messy families and murderous holidays in the comments!

Book Links:

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Indiebookstore.ca link
Bookshop.org link
Goodreads
Follow Alexandra Benedict for her latest news on her author page
Check out more books from Poisoned Pen Press