"12 Ways to Kill Your Family at Christmas" by Natasha Bache

 

"12 Ways to Kill Your Family at Christmas" by Natasha Bache is a wickedly funny and clever murder mystery that entertained me from start to finish.

The book follows Olivia Weiss and is written from her POV. She, her husband Miles, and their two children, Martha and Callum, are invited to spend one last Christmas with her dreadful in-laws before their move to Australia. Since Olivia comes from a working-class family, none of the Weiss clan like her and look down on her—especially her MIL, Jeannie.

The plot thickens as one incident follows another and murder becomes the endgame. As the body count increases, it becomes clear that someone is picking them off one by one. The question is: who will make it to Christmas?

I enjoyed the book immensely. Most of the characters were horrible and nasty—except Olivia's family—so one doesn't mind their deaths too much. The writing is great, and I flew through the pages. As the body count increases, the number of suspects decreases. I thought I had an inkling of who the culprit was, but boy was I wrong.

Chapter headings provided comic relief, as did the murderer’s diary entries scattered throughout the chapters. While we don’t have an in-depth view of every character, there is enough personality to differentiate between them. The tone strikes a satisfying balance between comedic and dark, making the reading experience both intriguing and entertaining.

The book explores extreme family dysfunction, greed, homophobia, troll comments, and social media commentary. I liked the locked-room mystery slash Agatha Christie vibes. The book pays homage to Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, which I loved. Most of us have a relative or two we don't like, but we don't go around and murder them—at least I hope so...

All in all, this was an enjoyable read that kept me turning the pages. The writing is masterful, and the plot is well thought out. Secrets, secret passages, lies, red herrings, and inventive methods of death make this a fun read despite the body count. Some things seemed over the top, but it didn’t ruin the enjoyment.

I deducted one star as I am tired of people getting away with things they did. I would recommend this book to those who like locked-room, snowbound mysteries and don’t mind one murder or two...

* Thank you NetGalley and (publisher) for the opportunity to read this arc.  All opinions are my own.  

* For more info about the book: "12 Ways to Kill Your Family at Christmas" by Natasha Bache