Welcome to the small rural Cumbrian village of Kirkby Abbey where DI James Walker and wife Annie have recently relocated. Formerly a Met officer, this couple have made the difficult decision to leave their London life behind, following the early release from prison of criminal gang lord Andrew Sullivan who blames James for his incarceration and may have an axe to grind. Swapping city lights for glorious countryside views, James is anticipating a very quiet life compared to the one he’s been used to. As Christmas approaches with his family descending on Kirkby Abbey to help the couple celebrate their new home and the festivities, life is calm, peaceful and maybe a touch boring! In a village as quiet as Kirkby Abbey, the possibility of a serial killer is so outlandish it’s laughable … until the bodies start to pile up, one by one. In the run up to Christmas, James is pushed to find the killer, but must simultaneously deal with personal revelations and the onset of one of the worst snowstorms England has seen in years. Here, another interesting aspect has been added to the crime/mystery genre, which is the tedious investigations and meetings police must have to find the best course of action of finding a murderer/serial killer. Which may sound boring to some, bad when a killer claims to be hunting down twelve victims and a winter storm isolates a tiny village from outside help, pressure builds and nobody is safe, the novel becomes fairly chaotic. Once done, head to the vault above the Fish Pot, enter the numbers you discovered after solving the File Folder Puzzle (428256), and obtain the Case File Folder.

My only peeve is that James called his wife 'hon' nearly every time he spoke to her and that whilst leading the police team in a race against time and the elements, he assured his wife Annie that he would always have time to chat to her during the working day! Using the twelve days of christmas was a creative way to keep the novel at a steady pace and hints at a dramatic ending, the book did not disappoint! At times I was second guessing who the murder might have been as there are plenty of red herrings and clues throughout. James's wife Annie, grew up in Kirkby Abbey and has a secret of her own, unbeknown to her husband. There are twists and turns, murders, infidelity, revenge all the things you would expect from a murder mystery with Christmas thrown in!!

Maybe it’s because I am a complete Christmas Elf myself, but there is something about the atmosphere of an English Christmas that always appeals to me, and to me, Alex Pine captured the atmosphere of an English village at Christmastime beautifully. Granted, the language was sometimes a little bit stilted – I honestly don’t think people speak quite as formally as Pine’s characters do – but the book read easily and I zoomed through it, finding it an easy and engaging read all round.

Really good. Full of suspense with great believable characters. I loved the setting. It was an emotional and compelling read. Thank you to Netgalley and Avon books for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.I had a few suspects lined up as I was going through the story, and one by one they were eliminated until I had absolutely no idea who the killer was. When the killer is revealed at the end of the book, it was interesting to see how the clues had been there but cleverly hidden by the author. I found myself swapping between likely culprits several times throughout the book so the revelation of who did it wasn't too much of a surprise I’m trying to play on a Samsung phone and I want to turn off the sound. It’s there a way to do that? Excellent book thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

The revised version has a different puzzle in chapter 5 (December 22) with the suitcase and the solution doesn’t trigger. Not sure when this was implemented because it was fine before.

Listen Now

This story is twisty and suspenseful, and there’s never a dull moment to be found. There are many suspects to be suspicious of, and I was constantly on the edge of my seat in anticipation, trying to figure out who the actual killer is. There are so many clues to be found throughout the story, but they are cleverly hidden by the author, like a craftily wrapped Christmas present, purposefully wrapped in a way that's meant to deceive. So DI James moves his family from London to the Cumbrian village his wife grew up in, in the anticipation of a safer life. There had been threats – or so he believed – against his family in London and his wife was increasingly nervous living there. Her home village was small – less than 1000 people, and set in a lovely part of the world – Cumbria is great – if you can take the weather – another wet, windy and cold area of the world. Tap the mirror. Time to get dressed! Place all the dresses, shoes, cosmetics, and accessories on the screen. You need to play a Mastermind-like game in which you make an outfit for her and she tells you how many parts she likes, but not which ones. It might be different each game, but I circled the ones that worked for me.

There’s an evidence board with two photos on it, one of the victim’s daughter, Misty, and one of her brother, Antonio. The snow globe is also in the room and you now have access to the lab. Go inside. A sincere thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley for providing me with an ebook copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. The Christmas Killer tells the story of DI James Walker and his wife, who have left the stresses of life in the Metropolitan Police. Threats linked to a previous case of DI Walker's persuades him to move to the sleepy village of Kirkby Abbey in Cumbria, his wife's childhood home. They are soon to discover that Kirkby Abbey has many deep and dark secrets - and there is a killer on the loose who is set on taking the lives of the holders of those secrets. A cat and mouse game is on with DI Walker who is taunted by the killer's use of Christmas cards to hint at what is to come. But when he opens an early Christmas present left on his doorstep, he soon realises it is no gift. Inside is a gruesome surprise, and a promise – twelve days, twelve murders. Not long after, the first body is found, half frozen in the snow. They’re not supposed to. You have to look at the edges of the snowflakes closely—they have script number on them. Ignore the comments from people who won’t bother to actually read.

More in Offers

The case was very complex and constantly had me changing my mind throughout. I did guess the perpetrator very early on, but all the different lines of enquiry and different twists as more secrets were revealed had me keep changing my mind and then returning to my original thoughts.