Ratings11
Average rating3.4
'A perfectly plotted festive mystery' SUSI HOLLIDAY Twelve clues. Twelve keys. Twelve days of Christmas. But who will survive until Twelfth Night? Lily Armitage never intended to return to Endgame House - the grand family home where her mother died twenty-one Christmases ago. Until she receives a letter from her aunt, asking her to return to take part in an annual tradition: the Christmas Game. The challenge? Solve twelve clues, to find twelve keys. The prize? The deeds to the manor house. Lily has no desire to win the house. But her aunt makes one more promise: The clues will also reveal who really killed Lily's mother all those years ago. So, for the twelve days of Christmas, Lily must stay at Endgame House with her estranged cousins and unravel the riddles that hold the key not just to the family home, but to its darkest secrets. However, it soon becomes clear that her cousins all have their own reasons for wanting to win the house - and not all of them are playing fair. As a snowstorm cuts them off from the village, the game turns deadly. Soon Lily realises that she is no longer fighting for an inheritance, but for her life. This Christmas is to die for . . . Let the game begin 'Curl up by the fire (and lock all the doors) for this Christmas cracker of a book' C.S. GREEN 'Utterly original and breathtakingly intriguing . . . A must-read this Christmas' STEPH BROADRIBB 'The perfect updating of the classic Christmas Country House mystery . . . Fabulous festive fun' DEREK FARRELL 'The perfect Christmas read . . . and puzzles galore for both readers and the players of the game' W.C. RYAN The perfect gift for fans of Agatha Christie and classic crime this Christmas.
Reviews with the most likes.
A very good book to read for Christmas. It was clever. The story was pretty well crafted I thought, not so predictable as to be ridiculous. The only things I didn't like were two annoying things the author kept inserting needlessly: the endless talk about corsets, and hitting us over and over and over the head about biphobia etc. The story worked well incorporating same sex romances - it was diminished by the author making these “no one understands people who are bi/lesbian!” comments. Let the story speak for itself!
A hard one to rate, and I'm still wondering how many stars to give it! It was OK, but I found it a little overblown at times. I think my favourite parts were the descriptions of the staying in the country house enjoying the food and drink! Loved the idea of the sonnets, which I thought were well written, and the idea of solving clues, but I thought that more attention could have been paid to character development. Sara was particularly annoying, as there didn't seem to be much motivation for her being so awful (I am not one of those readers who avoid unlikeable characters, but I do want them to be nuanced). Sometimes it was a little hard to keep track of who was who.