The Twelve Days Of Murder by Andreina Cordani

The Twelve Days Of Murder by Andreina Cordani

First Paragraph:

You Are Invited to a Murder

Charley has been holding the heavy, cream-coloured invitation card for four hours now, running her fingers over the glossy, embossed calligraphy.  The details:  time and place of killing, dress code, RSVP.  The black edges of the invitation are becoming worn away by the constant stroking of her fingertips.

My Thoughts:

I really enjoyed this book!  OK, in the last few days many are sharing their 'Christmas' and 'Holiday' reads and I've been loving hearing about them.  What does Kay end up enjoying?  A 'nice' Christmas murder story.  Ha!  I've shared that my reading has been distracted and up and down.  Well, I did a read/listen of this book, having checked the print copy out from my 'new' library.  And I just couldn't put it down.  It reminded me a bit of some other holiday mysteries and also of the 'group stranded' theme that is very popular these days.  Shades of Agatha Christie, but a bit more gruesome.  Twists and turns galore.  The audio was narrated by Ella Lynch and I'm not sure I've heard her before, but she was great.  Had the various Scottish/British accents down pat.  It was cold and snowy and creepy.  Lots of fun.  This is Andreina Cordani's first adult book - think she has written some YA books in the past.  In any case, I'll be watching for what she writes next.  Did I guess the outcome?  Not exactly.  Now, off to find another good read.

Blurb:

Twelve years ago, eight friends ran an exclusive group at university: the Masquerade Murder Society. The mysteries they solved may have been grisly, and brilliantly staged, but they were always fictional—until their final Christmas Masquerade, when one of the group disappeared, never to be seen again.

Now our privileged young cast of old university friends are summoned to the depths of Scotland for a Christmas-themed masquerade party. But all are hiding something deep below the surface that could make or break their careers.

When they arrive, each is assigned a new identity themed around the Twelve Days of Christmas—they become Lady Partridge or Mr. Gold, Lord Leapworth or Doctor Swan. The game begins, and it feels just like old times—until the next morning, when Lady Partridge is found hanging, dead, from a pear tree.

It quickly becomes clear that in this game the murder will be all too real, and the story is bringing long-hidden secrets to the surface. If the group hopes to win the game and survive until Christmas morning, they will need to face the truth about their history together and who they have become—and what really happened on that fateful night twelve years before.