The Christmas Jigsaw Murders was a mystery novel filled with enigma, puzzles, and of course, grumpy women in their eighties. Put those elements together, and you automatically get a book that is hard to put down. The characters and their backstories carried the plot line, for better or worse. The story quickly became less about the mystery and much more about the development of the main character, Edie, and her journey in overcoming the difficulties in her past. While this was an enjoyable aspect of the story, it did deter from the mystery, which was presented as the main subject. The main issue that arises because of this is that Edie’s past didn’t flow well with her present and her goals of keeping her family safe. It made the plot line feel disjointed.
A great deal of time was put into Edie’s life, and the mystery was just thrown in there for dramatic effect. Ultimately, the mystery didn’t end up having the emotional effect that it was meant to have accordingly, because it was set aside for the characters. By the time the mystery reached its conclusion, it was hard to care about what was happening. Outside of Edie, none of the characters had enough emotional development for me to care where their story ended.
The tension kept this story going and made it hard to put down. Everytime I thought I would stop caring about the story, just enough would happen to make me wonder if the story would pick up. Unfortunately, that never ended up happening.
2.5/5 stars
Thank you to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for my honest review.
The Novel Llama 