Twelve murderous mysteries to read.

Nineteen perplexing puzzles to solve.

One mystifying murder to crack…

Mastermind Puzzlemaster Sarah Dunnakey cordially invites you to crack the code of who
killed Edward Luddenham.

It’s the first anniversary of the mysterious death of Edward Luddenham, found dead at his
home on the Yorkshire moors one frosty Christmas Eve.

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Now twelve people gather at his manor house for the reading of the Will. Each has their own motivations for coming: curiosity, duty, unrequited love, desperation, greed.

They have been instructed to bring a “festive mystery story” to share.

But all you need is a pencil.

Safe from the biting cold and the relentless snowfall outside, settle in with your favourite
tipple in hand, as the storytelling begins.

Though you’ll need to keep your wits about you – for among the guests is Edward’s killer…

Can you work out the puzzles and unmask the murderer before they strike again?

My Review

If you love murder mysteries and puzzles, then this is for you. You can do it all at once (like I did mostly) or dip in and out. Some of the puzzles are harder than the others, but that probably depends on your strengths and weaknesses. Anything maths related is my least favourite. I’m quite good at anagrams though.

I like the ones where you have to find out who or what is the answer from eg which bear likes her porridge this temperature and eats it out of this bowl, with this added, while another bear likes his so many degrees cooler than the second hottest etc. You get my drift. Good job I’m not setting the questions!!

The book is made up of a series of short stories, each one told by one of the guests (including the dog). There are puzzles at the end of each story – you may have to look back to find the answers (harder on my Kindle than with a physical book), which are just for fun. Then there will be one where the answer will form part of the overall mystery ie who killed Edward Luddenham. Phew! I’m exhausted already! And I have a notebook full of scribbles and working outs.

The stories are all great, each one a mini whodunnit. My favourite is probably Helena’s story, but I really liked the puzzles at the end of the first one.

If you have a friend who likes solving puzzles, The 12 Murders of Christmas would make a perfect stocking filler.

Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours

About the Author

When she’s not writing fiction, Sarah writes and verifies questions and answers for a variety of TV quiz shows including Mastermind, University Challenge and Pointless. She has an honours degree in History and has previously worked as a librarian, an education officer in a Victorian cemetery and an oral history interviewer. Sarah has won or been shortlisted in several short story competitions and her work has been published in anthologies and broadcast on Radio 4. She won a Northern Writer’s Award, from New Writing North for her debut novel The Companion, and the NWA Arvon Award in 2019. She lives in West Yorkshire on the edge of the Pennine Moors.