The Christmas Murder Game: Unravel the Puzzles in This Festive Murder Mystery

A locked-room Christmas mystery where riddles reveal deadly family secrets... and the only escape is through the truth.
Fans of Agatha Christie and Lucy Foley will savor its locked-room twists, interactive puzzles, and chilling emotional stakes. Play along, uncover the truth, and beware: at Endgame House, the most dangerous gift is buried in the past.
Lily Armitage never wanted to return to Endgame House. The grand estate holds too many painful memories--including the unsolved murder of her mother, twenty-one Christmases ago.
But when a cryptic invitation arrives, Lily can't ignore it. Her aunt has resurrected the family's infamous holiday tradition: twelve days of riddles, one each day until Twelfth Night. The prize? The keys to Endgame House--and a promise to reveal her mother's killer.
Snowed in with her estranged, scheming cousins and a deadly game underway, Lily must confront the ghosts of her past, decipher riddles that cut to the bone, and survive a chilling race for the truth.
Because at Endgame House, everyone has something to hide. And this Christmas, the truth is worth killing for.
Praise for The Christmas Murder Game:
"Curl up by the fire (and lock all the doors) for this Christmas cracker of a book." --C.S. Green, author of Sleep Tight
"The perfect Christmas read . . . and puzzles galore for both readers and the players of the game." -- W.C. Ryan, author of A House of Ghosts
BUY THE BOOK
These clubs recently read this book...
Community Reviews
☁️☁️☁️
This book can best be summed up as “And The There Were None” + “The Westing Game” + Christmas. All things I like…so the real mystery is why was this story such a disappointment?
As much as I wanted to like Lily—the protagonist, and a master at decoding anagrams—she felt a bit too Bella Swan-esque to really root for (with a dash of Harry Potter, as everyone else seems determined to either kill her or save her). And the lack of reaction from pretty much any character once the first two deaths occurred was also jarring; the cast of Christie’s mystery were strangers, yet they were more concerned by the losses than a house full of family members.
Not sure if I’d recommend this one to someone looking for a *great* read, but it was still fun to get through!
First off, I enjoyed the “game” aspect and the family drama. Experiencing death in your family is hard, but it’s after the death and the reading of the will that can be harder for the surviving family members. I thought that was a realistic idea, having family turn against each other to get what they think is owed to them.
Secondly, I definitely did not guess the killer!
The book felt a little like “And Then There Were None”. We have a locked room scenario where the killer has to be someone on the property since no one is coming and going and the setting is this one place. I was glad that this wasn’t a retelling of that novel and the killer blew my mind!
What I didn’t enjoy about the book was there was so much emphasis on solving the clues and the characters would read the puzzle and immediately get the answer. As the reader along for the ride, it just seemed like the rushed through the game part. So, why even have the game and out in the extra effort of making sonnets, anagrams, etc. if you’re going to have the characters just solve it right away.
I also felt like the ending was SUPER rushed and then just ended kind of abruptly.
Again, why get me so interested in this game and the process and the rules just for it to be brushed over quickly!
Overall, I think it was an entertaining Christmas themed thriller. Would I read it again? No. Would I suggest it? Maybe! If you want a murdery Christmas or family drama or locked room scenario then absolutely! If you want character development, resolution, different POVs or past/present/future insight then no.
See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.