The Best Crime Fiction For Christmas
Murder At Christmas by G.B. Rubin
The Brief: A brilliantly playful, interactive festive mystery that casts the reader as the detective in a twist-filled adventure where every decision shapes the story.
The Suspects: Dr Kim Tenor, a celebrated Scotland Yard pathologist with a talent for solving the cases the police can’t; Johnny MacAlister, nightclub impresario with secrets behind the Silver Star’s glitter; Algy Hurley and his troubled family at snow-draped Hurley Court; and whichever killer is hiding behind the tinsel and candlelight.
The Setup: London, 1932. You are Dr Kim Tenor, balancing notoriety and frustration as the newspapers cheer your brilliance while official detectives grit their teeth. Invited to the dazzling opening of the Silver Star nightclub, you’re asked to investigate a sinister incident backstage. But you have already promised to travel to Hurley Court, where strange rituals and a silver dagger haunt a family Christmas. Return to the nightclub and you’ll be drawn into a breathless spy chase, choose Hurley Court and you’re trapped in a snowbound country-house murder with nowhere to hide. Every turn promises danger and only you can choose the path that leads to the truth.
The Judgement: Festive, ingenious, and utterly immersive, this brings golden-age charm to a thrillingly modern format. G.B. Rubin blends wit, atmosphere, and narrative daring to create a mystery that is as delightful to play as it is to read, and impossible to put down.
The Christmas Cracker Killer by Alexandra Benedict
The Brief: A gloriously twisty festive whodunnit packed with riddles, snowbound tension and razor-sharp misdirection.
The Suspects: Edie O’Sullivan, puzzle-maker-turned-reluctant sleuth; a hotel full of snow-trapped strangers with motives and secrets; a killer who hides clues inside Christmas crackers; and a storm-lashed island with nowhere left to run.
The Setup: Puzzle compiler and reformed Scrooge Edie O’Sullivan is delighted when she unexpectedly wins a luxurious two-day Christmas escape to a remote Scottish island hotel. She imagines fireside reading, bracing coastal walks and a glass of winter whisky by the tree. But the holiday cheer evaporates when a fellow guest dies under suspicious circumstances, and another soon after. Each victim leaves behind a chilling clue hidden inside a Christmas cracker, riddles that only Edie has the skill to unravel. As panic rises and the storm cuts the hotel off from the mainland, Edie races to decode the puzzles before the murderer strikes again.
The Judgement: A gleefully clever thriller that sparkles with atmosphere and crackles with danger. Benedict blends golden-age charm with contemporary psychological tension, delivering a satisfying puzzle-box mystery and a heroine readers will root for. Deliciously dark seasonal escapism.
The Christmas Magpie by Mark Edwards
The Brief: A chilling festive thriller in which Christmas lights hide dark intentions, and a young couple’s first holiday in a new home becomes a nightmare of secrets, strangers and deadly obsession.
The Suspects: Noel and Dani, newly settled in their first house, hoping for a peaceful Christmas; quirky but unsettling neighbours; a nearby women’s prison and its notorious resident; a killer who knows exactly how to turn yuletide cheer into fear.
The Setup: It’s the first Christmas Noel and Dani spend in their new home, set on a street that seems friendly, festive, and welcoming. But anonymous presents begin appearing on their doorstep, unsettling their sense of safety, and someone feels like they’re watching. With the nearby women’s prison housing a notorious killer, the couple start to question if their new community is what they first believed. When a tragedy strikes, they must unravel who’s targeting them before the next deadly gesture arrives.
The Judgement: A compact, atmospheric thriller that flips the cosy Christmas trope into a tense, creeping nightmare. Edwards transforms suburban normality into something disturbingly unfamiliar as warm lights and festive cheer mask paranoia, dread and danger. Perfect for readers who like their seasonal reads with a twist of menace.
The Christmas Tree Killer by Chris Frost
The Brief: A brutal, snow-cloaked thriller where festive cheer turns into a serial killer’s twisted game.
The Suspects: DI Tom Stonem, a detective carrying personal demons and new to the North East; local residents whose pasts and grudges may hide murderous intent; victims who receive ominous, gift-wrapped parcels; and a calculating killer who uses seasonal rituals as a weapon.
The Setup: As winter grips the Pennine hills and storms lash remote walking paths, a lone hiker discovers a sealed package under the trees. Inside is not a festive treat, but a severed limb. With more gruesome gifts arriving at woodland homes, DI Stonem is drawn into a chilling hunt across snowbound forests and freezing towns. Each parcel, each tree brings the killer closer, and with time running out before Christmas, no one knows who will be next.
The Judgement: Dark, relentless and atmospheric, this transforms the season’s traditional warmth into a nightmare of dread. Frost combines visceral horror, gritty procedural detail and bleak winter landscapes to deliver a psychological thriller that claws under the skin. Not for the faint-hearted but chillingly compelling for readers who like their festive reads with edge.
A Scrooge Mystery by Andreina Cordani
The Brief: A gleefully inventive festive whodunnit that resurrects Dickens’ most famous miser in a brand-new mystery full of wit, atmosphere and Victorian intrigue.
The Suspects: Ebenezer Scrooge, newly redeemed but still sharp-eyed and sharp-tongued; a cast of grasping businessmen and desperate debtors with secrets to hide; a mysterious death threatening to ruin Christmas; and London itself, fog-steeped, candlelit and thick with danger.
The Setup: One year after the events of A Christmas Carol, Scrooge is determined to live generously and prove that a changed man can change the world. But on Christmas Eve, a prominent financier collapses at a festive gathering, and whispers of foul play spread quickly. When Scrooge is asked to investigate, he finds himself tangled in a web of greed, betrayal, and ghost-shadows of the past. With the city blanketed in snow and time running short, Scrooge must uncover the truth before another life is lost and before the spirit of Christmas is destroyed for good.
The Judgement: Warm, witty and deliciously twisty, A Scrooge Mystery captures the charm and moral heart of Dickens while delivering a gripping puzzle worthy of the golden age of crime. Blending humour, nostalgia and clever plotting, Cordani turns a beloved classic into something fresh, inventive and irresistibly festive. A future Christmas staple.
The Official Poirot Puzzle Book by Laurence King
The Brief: A brilliantly addictive puzzle-led mystery that invites readers to think like Hercule Poirot himself, combining narrative intrigue with 100 fiendish challenges set across the globe.
The Suspects: Detective Guy, tracking a killer across continents; an array of elusive suspects scattered through bustling stations, luxury hotels and shadowy border crossings; and the puzzle-obsessed culprit leaving clues in their wake.
The Setup: Designed as a narrative journey inspired by Agatha Christie’s most celebrated detective, this immersive puzzle book invites readers to travel from France to Istanbul and beyond, solving ciphers, logic problems, crosswords, and map-based riddles to uncover a murderer’s identity and motive. As Detective Guy follows the trail of mysterious puzzle bundles that appear across Europe, each challenge brings readers closer to a final revelation but only if they can keep up. With nods to Poirot’s famous quotes and methods of deduction, readers are encouraged to exercise order, method and patience as they attempt to unravel a deadly game.
The Judgement: A smart, stylish and irresistibly engaging gift for puzzle lovers and Christie fans alike. Blending armchair-detective satisfaction with nostalgic glamour and contemporary puzzle design, this book is both beautifully produced and devilishly clever. A must-have for Christmas stockings and mystery addicts.
Miss Winter In The Library With A Knife by Martin Edwards
The Brief: A gloriously intricate festive puzzle-box mystery, blending golden-age tradition with modern twists, red herrings and riddles galore.
The Suspects: Six down-on-their-luck guests drawn to a remote Yorkshire village for a mysterious Christmas game; the secretive Midwinter Trust, whose motives are far from charitable; a cast of shadowy staff policing the rules; and a killer who sees murder as the quickest path to victory.
The Setup: Six people with ties to the world of crime writing are invited to take part in a high-stakes holiday competition: solve the fictional murder of a crime novelist for a prize that promises to change their lives. Snow begins to fall, cutting the village off from the outside world, and what begins as an elaborate seasonal diversion darkens into real danger. Tricks, traps and psychological games unsettle the group, and when bodies start to fall, it becomes clear that someone is willing to kill to win.
The Judgement: Locked-room tension with a razor-sharp puzzle at its heart. Edwards delivers classic misdirection with contemporary flair, weaving atmosphere, intellect and festive menace into a compulsive Christmas read. A rich celebration of crime fiction and the art of the clue.