The Christmas Jigsaw Murders
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
A puzzling new Christmas mystery from USA Today bestselling author Alexandra Benedict!
Rest. In. Pieces.
On 1st of December, renowned puzzle setter, loner, and Christmas curmudgeon 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.
Edie contacts her nephew, DI Sean Brand-O’Sullivan, and together they work to solve the clues. But when a man is found near death with a jigsaw piece in his hand, Sean fears that Edie might be in danger and shuts her out of the investigation. As the body count rises, however, Edie knows that only she has the knowledge to put together the killer’s murderous puzzle.
Only by fitting all the pieces together will Edie be able to stop a killer – and finally lay her past to rest.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Benedict stumbles with her disappointing third yuletide whodunit (after Murder on the Christmas Express). Octogenarian Edie O'Sullivan, known as the "Pension Puzzler" for her work making crosswords for British newspapers, has hated the holidays ever since her mother died giving birth to her younger brother on Christmas Day in 1946. Now, she receives an anonymous package on December 1 with a half-assembled jigsaw puzzle and a note threatening to kill four people by Christmas Eve unless Edie finishes it ("You are known for your crosswords, but can you set your sights on a murderer?"). She takes the evidence to her grand-nephew, Sean, a detective inspector Edie raised after the death of his parents. He warns Edie to stay out of the official inquiry, but after one of her neighbors is nearly bludgeoned to death and left with a jigsaw piece in his hand, she can't help putting her puzzle-solving skills to the test. Benedict squanders the intriguing setup with an overreliance on boilerplate mystery beats. Readers seeking a sturdier execution of a similar concept should check out Nero Blanc's Crossword Mystery series.
