Book Review - Alexandra Benedict's The Christmas Jigsaw Murders
The Christmas Jigsaw Murders by Alexandra Benedict
Published by: Poisoned Pen Press
Publication Date: October 8th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 288 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
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Edie hates Christmas. With good reason. Christmas is when everyone she loves leaves her. On Christmas Day 1946 her mother died giving birth to her brother Anthony. On Christmas Eve 1988 Anthony died in a car crash after Edie and her partner Sky had a knock-down, drag-out fight, and he took to the icy roads to come get her. Two years later on Christmas Eve 1990 Anthony's son Duncan, daughter-in-law Melissa, and the older of their two children, William, died in another car crash, leaving Edie with nine-month-old great-nephew Sean to raise. She has so many dead bodies in her past, not all of them buried, that it's led her to build boundaries around her that puzzles others but has kept her safe. Cats, puzzles, and tea, they are Edie's triumvirate of solace as she casts her gimlet gaze on her neighbors putting up their holiday decorations. At least the curtains can shut out the world, like she shut Sky's memory up in the dining room. She hasn't opened that door in over twenty years. Not since Sky left. But the world seems determined to draw her out this holiday season when she finds a hand-delivered present on her doorstep on the first of December. Inside are six jigsaw pieces that form a part of a crime scene with an ominous message: 'Four, maybe more, people will be dead by midnight on Christmas Eve, unless you can put all the pieces together and stop me.' Signed Rest In Pieces. Edie is a puzzle setter, in fact she's developed quite a reputation, being dubbed the Pensioner Puzzler, and jigsaws are fascinating to her because it requires a mind that can hold the whole picture as well as the pieces. So a fan or anyone who read about her could have sent this, but it feels portentous. Which makes her call Sean, who's grown up to be a copper. She loves Sean, really she does, he's her person, she has room for no one else, not his husband Liam, or the rigmarole of their adoption saga. Sean doesn't think much of the puzzle and humors Edie's desire to be a recliner detective right up until a dead body is found with a jigsaw piece in their hand. And Sean shuts Edie out. But Rest in Pieces is still targeting Edie. And the subsequent pieces show that Sean might be in danger. They are both trying to protect the other and this puts them both in serious danger. It's time for Edie to exorcise her past and catch a killer or her person will be next.
Imagine, if you will, Ednia Monsoon, from the cult classic Absolutely Fabulous, with her Vivienne Westwood and Lacroix, aging and spending her golden years setting puzzles and being angry at the world and you've got The Christmas Jigsaw Murders. I kid you not. I mean, there's no way Edie is anyone other than Eddie! "It's Lacroix sweetie!" And that is just one of the reasons I love this book. Alexandra Benedict has had this interesting juxtaposition with her holiday oeuvre. People think they're going to be cozy, the covers give off that vibe, and then they're basically a trauma dump. And it's not like The Christmas Jigsaw Murders is without it's trauma. I mean, just look to Edie's backstory that's nothing but bodies. But here it's handled more deftly. There's almost a comedic slant. There's a high body count, but, like Midsomer Murders, it's done more tongue-in-cheek. When Edie's backstory is told it's almost humorous, the "but wait there's more" of it all. And the trauma is more removed, family members are just being killed off by automobiles in droves where previously it was all rape and pregnancy PTSD. The later you can't make light of but the former? Oh yes! And Alexandra Benedict goes there. In fact, when I saw that this book was getting a sequel, The Christmas Cracker Killer, out this November, I was really excited. Because the balance of dark to light is perfect in this book, she has nailed the perfect Christmas mystery here. Her crown as the 'Queen of the Christmas Mystery' has, in my mind, finally been earned. I enjoyed her first two tales, I loved this one and can't wait for the next. But there was also a depth here. It's not just all flash clothes, there's Edie learning to not wallow in her trauma. She starts to open up, and the doors to the dining room are just the first step. The thing is, if you aren't replacing bad memories with good memories then all you will have are the bad ones on a loop. Christmas will always be THAT Christmas of loss, that one in 1946 or 1988 or 1990 unless you rewrite it. Don't deny Sean Christmas, lean into it, make it special for him and it will be the happy memories you remember more than the sad ones. The sadness and the trauma never leaves, but they can coexist with happiness. Yes, it might occasionally veer into being wistful, but that's better than wallowing any day. As Ebenezer Scrooge showed us in a book Edie doesn't much like, put a little love in your heart!
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