You’ve got to love a festive, puzzle-based (with a dash of murder mystery thrown in) book title, right? The Christmas Jigsaw Murders had me hooked instantly from the title and, luckily the story was just as good! It kept me entertained, guessing all the way through and satisfied at its conclusion – like any good jigsaw puzzle.
Opening sentence: No one was dead, not to begin with.
Do you like games?
Not many books start with games, but The Christmas Jigsaw Murders lives up to its puzzle theme with author Alexandra Benedict setting challenges for us, the readers, such as spot the Fleetwood Mac song titles throughout and see if you can work out the Charles Dickens anagrams too. This perfectly set the scene for what’s to come in the story…
Set on the English coast, in Weymouth, eighty-year-old Edie O’Sullivan has the fantastic job of creating crosswords for a newspaper. She lives with her three cats (Peggoty, Fezziwig and Mr Bumble), laments her ex-lover, Sky and regularly has boozy catch ups with her rather fabulous neighbour and friend, Riga.
Her adopted son (also nephew), Sean is a DI in the police and when Edie receives some sinister jigsaw pieces in the post, from the perfectly named, Rest In Pieces, they need to join forces to solve a puzzle with potentially fatal consequences.
I’m the Pensioner Puzzler. Of course I’m going to investigate.
Rest in Pieces
On the one hand, Edie is in her element. She loves putting her puzzling mind to work – but on the other, people will literally die if she isn’t quick enough to solve the clues. And just who, exactly, is sending her the jigsaw pieces? They know a lot about Edie’s life and definitely have a grudge against her – but why? Are Edie’s years of being too cantankerous coming back to haunt her?
‘Nothing says Christmas like festive foliage and an outlined corpse.‘ Riga’s tone was as dry as her thyme martinis.
Edie is a classic Christmas novel character. Alexandra Benedict shares her love of Charles Dickens at the beginning of the book, so it’s no surprise to see the similarities between Edie’s story arc and that of Scrooge. But with a far more fabulous wardrobe – Edie wears vintage Vivienne Westwood and I do love her for that.
Ending with the answers to the puzzles set at the beginning and one or two recipes to get us in the Christmas spirit, The Christmas Jigsaw Murders really was a cosy, fun little read! I laughed out loud quite a few times at Edie and Riga’s dry take on things.
The book also had a strong emotional hit as it captured the mixed feelings people can have about this time of year, while layering on the sentimentality that, let’s face it, if you have Christmas in the book title, has to be there. The ending got me welling up and reaching for the mulled wine and mince pies – always a great sign!
- Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC;
- Get your copy of The Christmas Jigsaw Murders here;
- Published by Simon & Schuster November 2023;
- 351 pages;
- My rating:
Books on the 7:47 
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