for those who enjoy a rather gruesome murder during christmas times, this book is perfect for you!
if you are not into overly brutal, this might be a bit much for you.

all in all a solid crime book and worth a try.

The Christmas card Murders certainly wasn’t my usual Christmas type of read. This gruesome murder, mystery takes place in the lead up to Christmas.

DI Robert Calderwood, on his recent promotion to Chief Inspector, is asked to investigate a recent double murder and on doing some checks finds a similar murder in London. There is an unmistakable connection between the two and he thinks they may be connected to a local fatal hit and run 40 years earlier. Calderwood’s team immediately gets on the case but he feels it will be beneficial to bring local resident Gwilyn Owen to ask questions as he grew up with the victim families.

The character development is good but way too many characters are brought into the story and each one has back-story explained which seemed irrelevant.
The plot was well developed but it was quite obvious we were to feel no sympathy for the victims as they were all slovenly and distasteful people.

The astute reader may pick up on the cleverly dispersed hints throughout the story but I was clueless and certainly didn’t guess the murderer.
The story reads as a stand-alone but I would recommend reading the series from the start to get a solid understanding of the main characters.

Author Anthony Little's book is the first one that I have read by him, but I would happily read others. I felt the story was both well structured, with engrossing characters and some quite gruesome methods of murder. Overall, I thought it kept my interest and was a real page turner.

Not my typical genre of book but i really enjoyed reading it

Thankfully, not a gruesome read. The way that Becky died was sad indeed and it is sadder even that things happen like this in real life. I did not like issues of sexuality coming up due to the fact that it was largely NOT brought up until integral to the plot. I also feel a bit that introducing readers to every staff member, and to a lesser extent villager's, backstory could have been done in some less tedious way. I would love to see what the author does if the story is ever reworked a bit...keep the telling of what happened to Becky at the beginning and how beloved she was...intro character backgrounds in a smoother manner...have very subtle hints to the conclusion. I will be looking forward to seeing how this author's storytelling grows in the future (I have a feeling that will be most delightful).

This is the 4th book in the Beldon Magma series, all set in the village, but the first I had read. It's an interesting mix of British police procedural and village fiction featuring a theatre promotion company! The two stories run independently until they merge, and then the combined teams are hurrying to solve the crime, before anyone else is killed. It's an interesting method of crime solving, and was enough of a page turner to but the rest of the series on my 'to read' list! i did figure out who the suspect was about 65% of the way through the book, but was interested to see how the characters came to the same conclusion, so I kept reading. There was a few unexpected twists at the end that made it quite enjoyable. If you;re looking for something different for the new year, this might be the book for you!

AND right now the Kindle copy of this book is only $3.99!

Beleive its a nice cosy read> enjoyable. easy to read. Great plot really enjoyed it.

This book evolved slowly to a very dramatic conclusion. It was a mystery that kept you reading well into the night. A good mystery without bad language or gratuitous violence, just proves that a good read needs a good storyline, well told which tickles the imagination and the thought processes.

An enthralling story that you don’t want to put down. Cleverly written.

Excellent story line and great main characters. I really enjoyed this book. I would recommend.

This book was short and seemed rushed to me .

I couldn't keep up with the characters it would have been better if the book was longer. A big let down.

The Christmas Card Murders is a solidly written procedural, but it doesn’t have the same tension and excitement as Anthony Litton’s other novels. It is a good, but not exceptional book. The murders are linked to the death of a young mother decades earlier. She was killed in a hit and run at Christmastime and the culprits were never found. While known to the audience, this is not known to Chief Inspector Calderwood and his team who are constantly several steps behind the killer. What they know initially is that people are being killed systematically, the killer leaving a Christmas card nailed to each victim with a successive number of nails. Very little forensic evidence is available so the police flounder. Most of the major discoveries are made by two amateurs who are assisting with local inquiries.

The Christmas Card Murders is a decent procedural, but not one I would go out of my way to find and read. All in all, it was a bit bland.

3 / 5

I received a copy of The Christmas Card Murders from the publisher and Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

--Crittermom

I was in the mood for a darker themed book still involving Christmas that I could finish before the big day, and this one fit the bill perfectly. Fairly short, crisp, and intriguing. I wasn't aware that I was jumping into a series before I started. The characters were hard to keep track of, as there are many. I had to look back quite a bit. I think this one would be best enjoyed read following the three others before it. Because I was a little lost on the characters and their history, I found myself paying more attention to the case. It's a doozy! Bleak and intricate but easy to follow, dark enough to make me stop and think. My detective skills failed me with this one, and the ending left me surprised.

Recently promoted DI Bulmer and CI Calderwood have a brutal new case on their hands: an older partially disabled couple are found killed in their own home. They're found with Christmas cards... nailed to their heads.

After discovering that these aren't the first murders featuring this macabre calling card, they become convinced that they won't be the last, either. Solving this case will involve lots of digging into the past, but most don't want to talk.

While I wished for a clearer background on the characters, the strange case and crazy ending made this book for me. 3.5 rounded up to a 4 here.

I received a copy of this book from Net Galley and Endeavour Press, thank you! My review is honest and unbiased.

4 stars

DI Robert Calderwood’s promotion has been moved forward. He is now a DCI, but his move to London has been cancelled. He will now be based in Estwich. Likewise, DS Bulmer has been promoted to DI. They, along with their other team members, will head up a new squad that will deal with the most serious of crimes.

The first case they are assigned is one of the brutal killings that are taking place. The victims are nailed through the forehead with a Christmas card attached. With little to go on, and no viable leads, Calderwood and Bulmer are in a quandary.

This is an exciting, but somewhat cozy read. It is a true police procedural in which the reader gets to see the investigative process at work. It is both well written and plotted. I’ve read some of Anthony Litton before, but this is my first Calderwood and Bulmer novel. I do believe I will be looking into more of them.

I want to thank NetGalley and Endeavour Press for forwarding to me a copy of this enjoyable book to read.

Sadly I was unable to complete this book, it just want the book for me. I am horrendous with names so I got myself completely lost at the staff xmas party!
I am sure I didn’t get into this book just because of personal tastes so you might end up loving it!
Give it ago at least!

The return of DI Bulmer and CI Robert Calderwood are showcased in this British police procedural. They are newly promoted along with their team members to an organization that will handle the most complex of murders.

Their first case is quite unique. Even being the Christmas season doesn't stop people from doing the most vile things. The fist victims (that they know of) are a partially disabled older couple who are viciously stabbed to death in their own home. The crowning glory (for the killer) is leaving a Christmas card for each victim ... nailed to their heads.

And these are not the last to be killed in this way.

The team works furiously to connect the victims in some way .... without any clues or apparent motives.

This was an engaging story. Although 4th in a series, this made a fine stand alone, although I would recommend starting at the very beginning. It's well-written with solid characters. The small twists and turns lead to an unexpected, surprising ending with only a very small cliff hanger.

Many thanks to the author / Endeavor Press / Netgalley for the advanced digital copy. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Review: THE CHRISTMAS CARD MURDER by Anthony Litton

An engrossing British police procedural wrapped in a quaint village-cosy mystery! Utilizing a scary series of killings which may or may not link to an unsolved fatal accident three decades past, the author also manages contemporary social commentary. I found this mystery a quite intriguing page-turner, with a nearly unstoppable killer, gory murders, and that perfect English village background, with family heritage dating back to pre-Norman conquest, the communities, tiny as they are, a microcosm of human joys and failings.