Edie is a pensioner and a cross word puzzle setter .
She’s a loner and loves jigsaws. Edie dislikes Christmas and there are strong reasons why this is the case .
On the run up to Christmas a parcel is left on her doorstep it’s a box containing jigsaw pieces depicting a crime scene and a message stating four people will be dead by Christmas Eve and it’s signed rest in pieces.
Edie embarks on trying to prevent the murders with. her nephew a Detective Inspector in the police force.
This story is cleverly written with more than a nod to A Christmas Carol with added murder mystery.
Excellently written , enjoyable, intriguing and I read it in one sitting .
A must read for Christmas mystery readers .
Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster UK.

A Perfect Pensioner Puzzler Mystery

This was my first delve into the Christmas mystery novels by Alexandra Benedict and I can honestly say it did not disappoint.

I loved the lead character Edie, a creative puzzler, crossword setter and all round cantankerous pensioner.

Edie leads you through this modern murder mystery set in Dorset, trying to piece together a jigsaw puzzle and solving clues along the way.

Alongside the murder mystery trail is a story of secrets, betrayal, loss, love and family.

This novel has a cast of wonderful characters, is witty and clever, but also a little dark in places. It is interwoven with fun anagram puzzles set by the author which was an extra treat!

This is a perfect read for any amateur sleuth and puzzle lover.

I would highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publishers for my ARC.

This book is a cozy murder story that i really enjoyed and it has extra puzzles to tax your brain too!!
So, the story revolves around an eighty year old lady called Edie. Events that happened in her past have turned her into a recluse who doesn’t tolerate people now. She avoids the neighbours, dislikes her adopted son’s husband but she does have one friend who is her next door neighbour. She apparently went round to Edie’s house with food and alcohol when she moved in, as a ploy to make a friend and it worked!.
One morning she receives a strange package that was delivered by an anonymous stranger. Inside are some jigsaw pieces with parts of a murder scene but she doesn’t have all the pieces. She must guess where this is or who it is in order to save their life. She tells Sean, her detective inspector son, then the first victim appears. So it goes on…..
I failed miserably at finding the killer or even solving the puzzles and anagrams!! For reference, the answers are in the back of the book!!!. Yes, I cheated!!!.
Many thanks to Simon and Schuster for the chance to read this arc copy via Netgalley.’
#Netgalley, #simonandschuster, #a.k.benedict.

EXCERPT: Ms O'Sullivan,
You are known for your cross words, but can you set your sights on a murderer? Four, maybe more, people will be dead by midnight on Christmas Eve, unless you can put all the pieces together and stop me. Make sure you do it properly, you never were a good cheater.
Yours,
Rest In Pieces

ABOUT 'THE CHRISTMAS JIGSAW MURDERS': HIS CHRISTMAS, A KILLER TAKES FAMILY GAMES TO A MURDEROUS NEW LEVEL.

On 1st of December, renowned puzzle setter, loner and Christmas sceptic Edie O'Sullivan finds a hand-delivered present on her doorstep. Unwrapping it, she finds a jigsaw box with a question mark on the lid, and, inside, six jigsaw pieces. When fitted together, the pieces show part of a crime scene – blood-spattered black and white tiles and part of an outlined body. On the back of the pieces is a message: ‘His death takes place on the solstice, unless you can put together the pieces,’ along with a clue to the location of more pieces.

When the police say there isn’t anything to investigate, Edie teams up with her Christmas-loving nephew, DI Sean Brand-O'Sullivan, to solve the clues, find the jigsaw pieces and prevent the murder. Each set of jigsaw pieces leads to the next, but the more Edie finds, the more she discovers that the mystery is far more connected to her past than it first appeared, and to a Christmas mystery she’s being trying to forget for a very long time.

Only by fitting all the pieces together will Edie find the peace and goodwill she’s secretly always been looking for.

MY THOUGHTS: The Christmas Jigsaw Murders is an entertaining Christmas murder-mystery that has the added bonus of challenges for the reader to complete. There are anagrams of Charles Dickens' novel and Christmas story titles scattered throughout. Also, the titles of sixteen Fleetwood Mac songs and, at the beginning of each chapter, a jigsaw piece containing a letter or character which, when rearranged, gives the title of a well-known Christmas song and its singer. Now, I didn't set out to do the challenges (It's a time thing for me) and I completely ignored the anagram challenge; the jigsaw pieces showed up on my ARC but minus the letters/characters; but I did find most of the Fleetwood Mac songs. To be honest, they kind of jumped out at me even though I wasn't consciously looking for them. The answers to the challenge (except for the jigsaw pieces which are a competition) are in the back of the book, along with a recipe for Riga's Christmas Livener (which I think would knock me off my feet!), and Edie's Dorset Apple Cake which I am definitely going try.

I really liked Edie's character, even though she is reclusive, really doesn't like people, and a Christmas Grinch. There's a story behind why she is the way she is which is slowly revealed throughout the narrative. Her nephew, DI Sean Brand-O'Sullivan is the direct opposite of Edie - he loves Christmas with a passion - and is married to Liam, whom Edie doesn't like - well, doesn't like any more than anyone else, and as she doesn't like anyone except Sean, this causes a few problems! She does kind of like Riga, one of her neighbours who is eighty-nine and tends to put Edie in her place when required.

The puzzle Edie is trying to solve is . . . puzzling. With only the enigmatic letter and a few pieces of a jigsaw, Edie doesn't have much to go on. But with each new murder comes another letter - the second warning her NOT to involve the police - and a few more pieces of the jigsaw puzzle.

I have to say that I admire the way Edie's mind works. It's cool and logical, but sometimes she can't see the wood for the trees. There's a particular aspect of one of the clues she receives that appears to threaten her great-nephew Sean, and this upsets her greatly - enough for her to stop passing on the information she receives, and to take Riga into her confidence. Riga is wonderful, smart and sassy, she sees things not immediately obvious to Edie, and doesn't let Edie get away with her bad behaviour.

This is a well written Christmas cracker of a mystery that had me flipping the pages furiously. I would love to read another story featuring these characters. It is full of humor and intrigue. Even the recipe for Edie's Dorset Apple Cake had me chuckling while reading the instructions.

If you have a puzzler - jigsaw, crossword, or whatever - in your family/circle of friends, this will make a great pressie to pop under the tree.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

#TheChristmasJigsawMurders #NetGalley

THE AUTHOR: Alexandra Benedict has been a composer, singer-songwriter, actor, and lecturer in crime fiction, and is now an award-winning writer of novels, short stories and scripts. As AK Benedict, she writes high-concept novels, speculative short stories and scripts.
She lives on the south coast of England with her fiancé, writer Guy Adams, their daughter, and their dog, Dame Margaret Rutherford. She writes in a room filled with teapots and the severed head of a ventriloquist’s dummy.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Simon & Schuster UK via NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of The Christmas Jigsaw Murders by Alexandra Benedict for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

Set in Weymouth a seaside town in Dorset, this book is a killer of a puzzle.

Edie O’Sullivan is the grand age of eighty, still working for a newspaper as their puzzles compiler. Quick witted and sharp as a tack in more ways than one.
When Edie receives a mysterious letter and a couple of jigsaw pieces she thinks that she is expected to solve the jigsaw riddles. There will be murderous consequences.

I was guessing away as to who the person behind the jigsaw riddles could be. Changing my mind quite a few times.
I didn’t like Edie much, but thought her character worked well within the storyline.
A good book that kept my interest throughout.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Publisher for an advanced e-book copy. Opinions about the book are entirely my own.

thank you to netgalley and the publishers for the advanced copy.

Having previously read the Christmas murder games by the same author I thought it highflying unlikely that I wouldn’t enjoy this one and I was wrong. I love a good ‘cosy’ crime at the best of times but there’s something about those set at Christmas. This is the perfect seasonal read, it has everything you’d want from a murder mystery along with a heartwarming happy ending.

I really enjoyed how well everything flowed together and the different characters stories intertwined, having said that I still had no idea how it was all going to resolve at the end which is great and what you want from a food crime.

One of the things I liked the most was the contrast in the characters, the story is host to a number of colourful personalities that work well against each other and have you rooting for certain individuals.

The added additions of puzzles for readers within the book was a great touch, having said that I was too engrossed in the story that I missed pretty much every one of the puzzles planted in the book, never the less something fun to think about.

Over all I think this was the perfect Christmas read, not too heavy but a good story with a nice ending, I’m sure to have a look at the rest of this authors catalogue.

'No one was dead, not to begin with.'

Alexandra Benedict has returned with the third of her now traditional Christmas murder mysteries (Does three years running constitute a tradition? I'd argue it does.) and this time it's inspired by that most Christmassy of Dickens's tales A Christmas Carol.

When Edie O'Sullivan finds a present on her doorstep just before Christmas containing a jigsaw box, six puzzle pieces and a cryptic note from someone dubbing themselves Rest In Pieces warning that 'Four, maybe more, people will be dead by midnight on Christmas Eve, unless you can put all the pieces together and stop me.' she's initially reluctant to play the killer's game.

Not being able to resist a challenge for long Edie calls on her great nephew/adopted son DI Sean Brand-O'Sullivan and they, with more than a little help from her ninety year old neighbour and best friend Riga, attempt to solve the clues. A task that will test all her puzzling wiles and uncover secrets thought long buried.

The Christmas Jigsaw Murders is arguably more ambitious than Benedict's previous books. In those the killer's games took place in a contained environment, but this time their murderous playground is the town of Swanage. This allows for a greater number of settings, a much wider field of suspects/victims and more than a few red herrings.

Edie herself sits at the more unusual end of the sleuthing scale: an eighty-something, crossword compiling, Jigsaw loving, Christmas hating punk. Interesting in a book set at Christmas, but not surprising considering what's happened to her in Christmases past.

It's clear Alexandra Benedict is, herself, a lover of puzzles. Included here, as in her previous Christmas offerings, are several puzzles. This time round hidden within are the titles of Fleetwood Mac songs, anagrams of Dickens's titles and other Dickensian references.

I'm not really a fan of Dickens, but I spotted more than a few of the latter. Maybe you'll do better, maybe you won't. Why don't you give it a read and find out.

This is a good mystery centred around solving a puzzle in the lead up to Christmas. Edie is left a parcel which contains some jigsaw pieces that partially show a crime scene. The message says that people will die unless she solves it.
Her son is a Detective so she asks for his help and together they try and solve the clues.
When people start to be murdered Sean tries to get Edie to stop trying to solve this as he’s worried about her, but she’s determined solve this.
This is a good mystery.
Thanks to Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Oh wow! I absolutely loved this story, fast paced, plenty to keep the pages turning, I couldn't put it down, I aspire to be more Edie and I really hope we meet her again along with Sean and Liam and their soon to be young family, superb!

I really enjoyed this book, it hooked me right from the start. The main characters are fascinating: I hope I have the best traits of Edie and Riga when I’m in my eighties! The story is craftily plotted and well paced. The book also has depth and characterisation lacking in some detective novels. I enjoy crosswords and anagrams but didn’t have the skills to solve the problems set within this book, though they will be an added bonus for some readers. Overall, this is a great read and would make a great Christmas present.

I really enjoyed THE CHRISTMAS MURDER GAME so I was looking forward to this one.

I didn't enjoy this one as much but I did stop and start quite a lot whilst reading it so I didn't find it as gripping as I thought I would.

I loved Edie and her keen interest in puzzles being used for the murder mystery element made this an interesting storyline.

I liked that the author included puzzles within the book for readers to have a go at.

Overall, it was an enjoyable book and I am looking forward to reading MURDER ON THE CHRISTMAS EXPRESS!

I quite enjoyed this author's previous Christmas Murder books - The Christmas Murder Game, and Murder on the Christmas Express - so I was quite excited to get my hands on this, her latest offering.
Now, as with her previous books, as well as the main story being told, at the beginning of the book, the author explains that she has also set out some extra games for the reader to play along the way. Now, this might appeal to some but I find that stuff distracting and competing would just take me out of the story so I passed on that invitation.
So... it is early December and well respected and renowned puzzle/crossword setter Edie O'Sullivan finds a strange package on her doorstep. Inside is a 6 piece jigsaw puzzle and a message from someone informing her that there will be four murders before Christmas unless she can figure it all out and stop them. On looking at the pieces she is shocked to recognise a watch, the same watch that has been handed down in her family, now residing on the wrist of her nephew (slash surrogate son) Sean.
And so begins a convoluted, interconnected tale of murder and intrigue, investigated separately and together by both Edie and Sean. Outside of which, the both also have their own issues to contend with.
On the whole I did enjoy this book. But I do have a major niggle which I will try and explain without giving anything away. OK.. So... the author did this thing that, to me, authors only do for a specific reason which, has a 100% hit rate on giving a major clue about the killer to me as a reader. Every time. Without fail. I lost count of the number of times when an author has employed this tactic and I have narrowed the suspect field down considerably from the off. If you know, you know. If you don't understand this, just pass it on by...
Apart from that, I did enjoy the book. I always seem to get drawn to an amateur armchair detective of the older female persuasion. They do tickle me with the way they do things. Playing the little old lady card and all that. I even enjoyed her forays into anagrams of many things along the way.
And the crime and reasons for which, along with the eventual unmasking of the perpetrator all went swimmingly, even with the aforementioned early narrowing down.
All in all, a good solid read that I do recommend. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

"'We hardly know anything.' Edie didn't want to jump to conclusions this time. Sometimes a jigsaw puzzle looked like it fitted when it didn't. She couldn't waste time forcing things into place.
'I think that's how they want us to stay. Several pieces behind at all times.'
'They're not playing fair,' Edie said. Part of the enigmagologists' code involved being oblique as you like, but always giving enough information to solve a puzzle. But then, how was murder fair?'"

Present day Weymouth, Dorset and octogenarian, crossword compiler and jigsaw dissectologist, Edie receives some shocking post. 'Rest In Pieces' is challenging her to complete the jigsaw or people will die. She involves her great-nephew, DI Sean Brand-O'Sullivan and nonagenarian neighbour, Riga. Will they identify the vengeful puzzler?

Having read and enjoyed the author's earlier festive crime outings, I requested this as soon as I saw it appear on NetGalley and was not disappointed. Reminding me of Janice Hallett's novels, this is funny, clever with wonderfully engaging main and supporting characters. I loved fractious Edie and long-suffering Sean as well as all-knowing school receptionist Sandra and Edie's neighbour and eccentric love interest, Riga. As with her other novels, anagrams and Fleetwood Mac songs are sprinkled throughout. At the end of the book are recipes for Riga's Christmas Livener and Edie's Dorset Apple Cake. Perfect, festive entertainment in witty, cosy crime form!

This appealed to me and loved the mystery and intrigue in trying to solve the jigsaw before more people were killed. The characters were all interwoven in a complex way! A good read and one for a winter evening.

Well, that was interesting. Not sure interesting in a good way though, unfortunately. It’s very odd for a mystery to present itself as a puzzle – it’s in the title for goodness sake – and not actually be a fair play mystery. There are puzzles sprinkled throughout – Charles Dickens anagrams and hidden Fleetwood Mac titles are hidden throughout the text – but the actual whodunnit element isn’t something the reader can engage with.
The idea of using a jigsaw to drop clues to the killer’s plan is a decent one, but it doesn’t really work in a non-visual medium. A second disadvantage is that the clues lead to things that the reader doesn’t know about – for example an anagram leads to a street name that we don’t know anything about.
There are some good points – I thought the relationship between Sean and his husband Liam sidestepped the usual cliches and was done well, and Edie’s eventual redemption with Liam was good to read as well. Also, to be fair, the plot was interesting enough to keep me reading. But those were good flashes in a story that had a villain’s plan that made little sense – was Edie supposed to be a victim or not, for example? – and a protagonist who I found, for the majority of the book, pretty unlikeable.
Oh, and it’s not very Christmassy, either.
I quite enjoyed Alexandra Benedict’s first Christmas mystery, so I recommend taking a look at that.

This quirky festive mystery is best enjoyed with a glass of mulled wine and a roaring fire. Edie O'Sullivan is an octogenarian crossword compiler who is no fan of Christmas. However, on the 1st of December she finds a gift on her doorstep. Inside she finds a jigsaw box containing six pieces which she realises are showing parts of a crime scene. Included in the parcel is a message: ‘Four, maybe more, people will be dead by midnight on Christmas Eve, unless you can put all the pieces together and stop me.’ t’s signed, Rest In Pieces. Edie's nephew is DI Sean Brand-O'Sullivan and she ropes him in to help solve the mystery. However, as the first victim is found near death it becomes clear that this is a police matter and Edie should leave the investigation to Sean. But as the story progresses it is clear that only Edie has the knowledge to solve the clues that keep arriving as the body count grows.

This is an engaging festive murder mystery which owes much to the golden age of crime stories of the 1920's but with a modern twist. The list of possible suspects is long, the weather suitable wintery and Edie is no little old lady sitting quietly in the corner. Like Miss Marple before her, Edie is sharp and quick witted with a penchant for solving clues. And, if you like puzzling then the author has included a number of puzzles for you to solve as you read this book. Many thanks to the publisher for an arc.

Once again, Alexandra Benedict offers a entertaining twisted festive murder mystery in the style of the classic golden age of crime, giving the reader the challenging possibility of getting involved too! Edie O' Sullivan might be an elderly woman in her 80s but she is as bright as a button, obsessed with puzzles and cryptic crosswords in which she excels, even dipping her toes into compiling crosswords too. However, when it comes to Christmas, she does not want to know, it is not for her, wanting it all to over as soon as possible, the roots of which all lie in her past, a personal history which comes to be slowly revealed in this compelling mystery.

It is December, Edie is a loner, reclusive, who receives a strange parcel which just might provide her with her greatest challenge, to identify a killer. In the parcel is a chilling message and part of a jigsaw puzzle she is expected to solve, to which there is a horrifying urgency, if she fails, four murders will occur by Christmas Eve. She lets a relative know what has happened, a young police officer, DI Sean Brand-O'Sullivan, who unlike her, adores the Christmas season. The two of them are great characters with a fabulous relationship, working together to get to bottom of who is behind this in a narrative that concludes with a thrilling finale.

This is appealing Christmas crime that will appeal to fans of the author and those looking for engaging seasonal intrigue in which they can take part. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

Coherent Christmas crime thriller;
This was my first book by Alexandra Benedict, who has now published a real series of Christmas crime novels. There is a brief reference to what happened in the previous book, but as far as I can tell there are no connections and no details, so no prior knowledge is necessary. The characters in this crime novel were very likeable to me; they seemed very British and edgy to me. The Christmas flair is conveyed well, and Christmas fans and Christmas skeptics alike are taken into account. Overall, the case is a bit exaggerated, but unusual and logical in itself. The description of the various pieces of the jigsaw puzzle sometimes confused me and quickly caused me to lose track. But I thought it was nice that the author included additional puzzle games in the book for puzzle lovers. The writing style is very pleasant and it was exciting too. So I read the book in one day. Since I was always entertained, I will buy more books by the author. An atmospheric read, not just at Christmas time.

Alexandra Benedict’s Christmas mysteries are now an annual staple. Her love of detective stories, and the solving of puzzles, shines through, and I love the additional anagrams, and literary and musical clues, that are hidden within the text as a Christmas bonus.

The Christmas Jigsaw Murders is another entertaining mystery, with a festive host of red herrings to set you off on the wrong track. Credulity may be stretched a little (I feel the lead investigating officer would be off the case quickly, and arguably more resources might be made available…) but I really don’t care as it’s a cracking read, with sympathetic characters that you can get behind (or not - fittingly enough there are some villains to boo as well).


More please next year!

Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for a review.

Edie O'Sullivan, crossword compiler and jigsaw puzzle lover is being sent some strange and deadly puzzles. Will she solve it beofre more people die?

Best read to find out! Really enjoyed this, great book!