The Christmas Jigsaw Murders by Alexandra Benedict

 

Do you enjoy working on jigsaw puzzles?  We were working on them more as a family during COVID times, but not as much now.  My daughter just asked if we could work on one again, so we’ll see if the puzzle table comes out.

Edie O’Sullivan is eighty years old and enjoys her job putting together crossword puzzles for national newspapers.  She loves her great-nephew/adopted son, Detective Inspective (DI) Sean Brand-O’Sullivan.  Sean is having a stressful Christmas season as he and his husband, Liam, work on trying to show that they would be good adoptive parents.  A package with a few puzzle pieces including a picture of Sean’s watch shows up on Edie’s doorstep.  Will she be able to put together the puzzle and solve the clues to stop the murderer from reaching her family?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       This novel had great characters.  I felt like they were all unique personalities and interesting.  Edie is a very grumpy character and seems to not care, but she deeply loves her nephew Sean.  She has put up walls to protect herself from the heartbreaks she has suffered through her life.  I wanted to spend more time with Edie and the characters in this community.

·       I couldn’t put this book down and read it quickly as I wanted to know the answer and if Edie would be able to save her nephew.

·       This novel was a good look into not judging people.  Many people have things going on in their life that you don’t know about.  Give people grace.

·       I enjoyed that signature on the note that came with the puzzle pieces was signed “rest in pieces.”  It made me chuckle every time I read it.

·       I definitely did not guess the ending of this one!  Besides the resolution of the mystery, the ending also had a heartwarming conclusion.

·       The author had a variety of challenges in the book for the reader to complete with answers at the back of the novel.  I was lazy and didn’t do any of the challenges.

·       This author has written other Christmas mysteries that interest me.  I’ll maybe pick some of them up to read next year.

Overall, The Christmas Jigsaw Murders by Alexandra Benedict was a riveting mystery with a great grumpy older main character with a heart of gold.

Book Source:  E-book review copy from NetGalley and I purchased a paperback edition from Amazon.com. Thank-you!  Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.