A murder mystery society at university resulted in one student disappearing. Now twelve years on, the remaining members are invited to return for one last murder mystery over the Christmas holidays. Can they find out what happened to Karl and can they survive when a real killer attacks…?
The 12 Days of Murder is a mix of psychological and crime thriller, a real murder mystery within a murder mystery game. There are two timelines as we see scenes from the past that resulted in Karl’s disappearance as well as the developing real life murder mystery in the present day.
I admit that I found it a little hard to get into this book. The characters seemed to have no redeeming features so were difficult to like at first and the dual timeline slowed down the pace of developments. However, by a quarter of the way through I had warmed to Charley and a third of the way through I was hooked as the murders start!
Charley has always been on the edge of the group and was further rejected when she was accused of theft. I felt sorry for her as she deals with the cruelty of the others. All of the characters have unpleasant secrets and act suspiciously in the past and present plus there is uncertainty as to whether Karl vanished of his own volition or was killed by a so-called friend.
The group is cut off from the outside world by being at a remote location in Scotland and having no phone connection. There is a claustrophobic atmosphere at times which is intensified by the sinister deaths that then start to occur. The murders are clever and match the Christmas theme for the murder mystery party. I was kept guessing until the end although I did note a couple of relevant clues.
The 12 Days of Murder is an entertaining and intriguing murder mystery and I liked the Christmas theme.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Looking for a good mystery this Christmas, Andreina Cordani’s Twelve Days of Murder is the book for you!
Twelve years ago, eight friends ran an exclusive group at university: The Masquerade Murder Society.
The mysteries they solved may have been grisly, but they were always fictional – until their final Christmas Masquerade, when one of the group disappeared, never to be seen again.
Twelve years later, the remaining members of the group receive an invitation to a reunion masquerade, to be held in a beautiful and remote hunting lodge in Scotland. When they arrive they are each assigned a new identity themed around the Twelve Days of Christmas – they become Lady Partridge or Mr Gold; Lord Leapworth or Doctor Swan. The game begins, and it feels just like old times.
Until the next morning, when Lady Partridge is found hanging from a pear tree.
It quickly becomes clear that in this game, the murder will be all too real, and the story is bringing long-hidden secrets to the surface. If they hope to win the game and survive the festive season then they will need to face the truth about their history together, who they have become – and what really happened on that fateful night twelve years before.
