The Christmas Killer by Alex Pine

Twelve Days. Twelve Murders.

This has a unique premise involving "The Twelve Days of Christmas", so I crossed my fingers for an enjoyable thriller, and the first 100 pages had me hooked.

DCI James Walker moves with his wife Annie to a small village in Cumbria. Annie inherited a cottage where she grew up, and they are anxious to leave London when a gang boss James put away is suddenly released from prison.

Someone has left a parcel on their doorstep containing a dead partridge, the card stating "Twelve days. Twelve Murders. Twelve Victims. And they all deserve what's coming to them."

Has the gangster followed them North?

James is getting settled with his new constabulary as they investigate a roster of villagers, including the school headmistress, a shop owner, the cheating pub owner and his jealous wife, the eldercare nurse, even Father Thomas Silver, who is battling illness. After a few more warning cards are received, someone is killed. "Someone who deserved to die." Another body is found at the carol-singing event, another in a break-in. It seemed to me the thriller was cracking on - but - it just fizzled out. There is a lot of interviewing, police plotting, and Annie facing secrets from her past. It had a pacing problem, and it lost its tension.

A quiet English village revealing sordid secrets is a great place for murder, but this was a disappointing slog. 100 pages could have been tightened out of it. If you threaten an oncoming blizzard at the 100 page mark and I'm still waiting at page 300, don't get my hopes up. This meandered until the last chapter confession by the culprit, who was not exactly a surprise.

Danger through the twelve days of Christmas was a missed opportunity, amounting to nothing when it covers just 9 days and 3 murders. The rest was all talk, and difficult to finish the 416 pages.

"And let's not forget we're preparing for the blizzard."

There are three more "Christmas murder in Cumbria" thrillers in the DCI James Walker series: The Killer In The Snow, The Winter Killer, and The Night Before Christmas. If every Christmas there are a series of brutal murders in your small Cumbrian town, it's enough to make you move.

Alex Pine is the pseudonym of a bestselling author who directed a major UK news division.

2020 / Tradeback / 416 pages