Alexandra Benedict

Eighteen passengers. Seven stops. One killer.In the early hours of Christmas Eve, the sleeper train to the Highlands is derailed, along with the festive plans of its travellers. With the train stuck in snow in the middle of nowhere, a killer stalks its carriages, picking off passengers one by one. Those who sleep on the sleeper train may never wake again.Can former Met detective Roz Parker find the killer before they kill again?All aboard for . . . Murder on the Christmas Express

HIS CHRISTMAS, A KILLER TAKES FAMILY GAMES TO A MURDEROUS NEW LEVEL. On 1st of December, renowned puzzle setter, loner and Christmas sceptic Carla Murphy finds a hand-delivered present on her doorstep. Unwrapping it, she finds a jigsaw box with a question mark on the lid, and, inside, six jigsaw pieces. When fitted together, the pieces show part of a crime scene – blood-spattered black and white tiles and part of an outlined body. On the back of the pieces is a message: ‘His death takes place on the solstice, unless you can put together the pieces,’ along with a clue to the location of more pieces. When the police say there isn’t anything to investigate, Carla teams up with her Christmas-loving nephew, PC Simon Reynard, to solve the clues, find the jigsaw pieces and prevent the murder. Each set of jigsaw pieces leads to the next, but the more Carla finds, the more she discovers that the mystery is far more connected to her past than it first appeared, and to a Christmas mystery she’s being trying to forget for a very long time. Only by fitting all the pieces together will Carla find the peace and goodwill she’s secretly always been looking for.

Twelve clues. Twelve keys. Twelve days of Christmas. But how many will die before Twelfth Night? The annual Christmas Game is afoot at Endgame House, the Armitages' grand family home. This year's prize is to die for--deeds to the house itself--but Lily Armitage has no intention of returning. She hasn't been back to Endgame since her mother died, twenty-one years ago, and she has no intention of claiming the house that haunts her dreams. Until, that is, she receives a letter from her aunt promising that the game's riddles will give her the keys not only to Endgame, but to its darkest secrets, including the identity of her mother's murderer. Now, Lily must compete with her estranged cousins for the twelve days of Christmas. The snow is thick, the phone lines are down, and no one is getting in or out. Lily will have to keep her wits about her, because not everyone is playing fair, and there's no telling how many will die before the winner is declared. Including additional scavenger hunts for the reader, this clever murder mystery is the perfect gift for fans of classic mysteries, festive Christmas books, and armchair detective work.