The Christmas Jigsaw Murders
ISBN: 9781398525405
Description
On 19th 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 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. 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.’ It’s signed, Rest In Pieces.
Reviewed on 21st February 2026
I have mixed feelings abuot this jigsaw-based murder mystery. I've read another of Bennett's novels before, and enjoyed that, but this time felt more brutal and the characters, at least initially, less likable.
It's a well constructed mystery, with lots of suspects, lots of clues, and a result that you can just about get to before the characters.
There's a ton of backstory, almost too much, to uncover amongst the characters, and I felt like it was a little overhwleming and distracting, having to deal with some of the characters and their interactions. This is where the unlikable main character was a problem for me, and I think that's one of the two things that stopped me feeling like I wanted to race through, and I almost decided to give up.
The second is the crimes themselves. I don't generally like seeing from the baddie's point of view, and this book does a fair amount of that. Partly that's interesting because it has a different take to many places I've seen it before, but again it made for a second unlikable character.
I probably wouldn't choose to recommend this one, and I'm put off reading more from the author because of it.
