The Twelve Days of Murder by Andreina Cordani was published by Zaffre Books on 26 October 2023.
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 until Christmas morning, 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.
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It’s never too early to say I love a good Christmas murder mystery! And this year The Twelve Days of Murder is my first of the season.
The story begins twelve years ago with the missing person’s report for Karl Boniface, a member of The Masquerade Murder Society, then moves right up to date to introduce the remaining members of the Society. The book moves smoothly between the then and the now allowing us to see the events of twelve years ago through multiple characters’ flashbacks. Our narrator for the up to date chapters is Charley, the ‘poor relation’ of the Society and a more sympathetic and relatable character than the other privileged, largely unpleasant members.
The book has everything a good Christmas whodunit needs: an atmospheric setting, plenty of snow, no contact with the outside world, a cast of snarky, bickering, back-stabbers and at least one dead body. The beautiful setting and the brutal weather are described very vividly, bringing them both to life. The cast of characters is well drawn and realistic and I’m glad I don’t know any of them personally! Using the framework of the Twelve Days of Christmas, Andreina Cordani weaves an original, compelling and complex storyline and I definitely wanted to know whodunit.
The resolutions to both the old and the new mysteries are actually quite dark and creepy, each bringing forth disturbing revelations. The ending is satisfactory and fits well. I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Twelve Days of Murder and would recommend this to anyone who likes a Christmassy whodunit. Thank you to the publisher for my copy of the book.
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