All Olivia wanted was one last miserable Christmas with her husband’s awful family before moving to Australia. She didn’t expect a murder.
Now the snow has cut them off and she’s stuck in a stately country house, with her increasingly deranged relatives and the rising suspicion that someone is picking them off one by one.
As the bodies pile up and the festive façade starts to crack, Olivia must survive the season, or, at the very least, get through lunch without anyone else choking on a sprout.
12 Ways to Kill Your Family at Christmas is a locked-room holiday whodunit murder mystery oozing with dysfunctional family drama and dark humor, all set against the backdrop of a snowed-in country-house setting! The story follows Olivia Weiss, who just wants to survive two weeks over Christmas with her husband Miles’s dreadful wealthy family before they move to Australia. But once they arrive at Weiss Manor, a snowstorm traps them all inside—and that’s when things get deadly. One by one, family members begin turning up dead under increasingly suspicious circumstances. With every body discovered, family resentments surface, and Olivia suspects that someone in the family is a killer!
At the center of this delicious whodunit is Olivia, the story’s narrator. Her inner monologues are filled with sarcasm and satirical humor, which often spill over into her dialogue her frustrating in-law. Her husband, Miles, is a stabilizing force for her and her children—he’s calm and supportive but still gets caught in the crossfire of all his family drama and their feuding over inheritance. Then there’s the rest of the Weiss family members—from the formidable matriarch Jeannie, who insists holiday traditions go on no matter what (even after the bodies begin to pile up!), to a drunken uncle, antagonistic siblings, and entitled cousins. Almost every relationship in the family is laced with greed, resentment, and secrets—and it’s no real surprise to any of them when bodies begin to pile up! Olivia, witness and narrator of it all, while desperately trying to write her next novel, becomes a bit of an amateur sleuth—taking readers with her each step of the way! And as the body count rises, the way each character reacts under pressure will have readers constantly rethinking who they actually like and distrust!
The pacing in this book is really unique—slow to suddenly unstoppable. The first few chapters immediately introduced readers to Olivia, her family, and all of Miles’s relatives at Weiss Manor. It’s a good idea to jot down all the character names and relations right away, as there are quite a few, and it’s easy to get them confused at first! The first murder happens early on, and once the entire family gets wind of it, the momentum accelerates quickly—and bodies soon begin to pile up! The midsection is packed with characters’ suspicion, misdirection, and red herrings. The author even sprinkles in diary-style chapters from the “unnamed killer” that amplify the tension and keep readers second-guessing everything! This isn’t a story that’s easy to predict, and in the end there are only a few left standing—and the one(s) readers expected to be the killer(s) may already be dead! The ending has a lot of fast-paced drama and unexpected twists—and if that’s not enough, there’s an epilogue that wraps up the mystery in an utterly satisfying, mic-drop moment!
Overall, 12 Ways to Kill Your Family at Christmas is a sharply written, twisty holiday mystery that has everything a reader could ask for—witty humor, inheritance family drama, and a whodunit narrative that keeps readers guessing until the end! It’s perfect for readers who love Knives Out-style mysteries, dysfunctional family chaos, and Christmas stories with a sinister vibe. If you’ve been searching for a bingeable Christmas mystery this year—this is the one!
Narrator Performance
The audiobook for 12 Ways to Kill Your Family At Christmas is read by a cast of incredibly talented narrators: Lucy Price-Lewis, Kristin Atherton, and Joe Jameson!
Lucy Price-Lewis voices protagonist Olivia using a witty, sarcastic voice that sometimes has undertones of weary resignation, perfectly capturing a wry, intelligent woman who’s exasperated by being caught in her in-laws’ toxic family chaos. As the story unfolds, Olivia becomes more suspicious and emotional as the bodies pile up and she keeps secrets about her writing from her husband, and Price-Lewis subtly shifts her performance to add tension, exhaustion, and determination to Olivia’s tone. This makes Olivia even more compelling, and listeners will feel her internal arc from resigned wife-in-law to a woman driven to unmask a killer—and it’s a performance that will keep listeners captivated from beginning to end!
Kristin Atherton narrates the diary-style chapters of the “unknown killer.” She uses an androgynous, calculating-sounding voice that makes the killer feel disturbingly intimate. The deliberate, almost clinically calm pacing she uses feels like someone confessing their darkest thoughts—and listeners are eavesdropping in! Her chapters break up the tension from Olivia’s perspective but simultaneously leave listeners second-guessing everything even more—exactly as the author intended!
Joe Jameson narrates Miles (Olivia’s husband) towards the end of the story using a very expressive voice that conveys the character as multi-layered and highly intelligent. Jameson’s impressive acting skills and theatrical background are on full display during confrontational scenes—and listeners will be hanging on to every word of all the delicious family drama! It’s a performance that matches and complements the other narrators, solidifying the audiobook as a resounding five-star listen!
Together, the narrators elevate the story with their captivating character portrayals, expert pacing, and shifting perspectives that are easy and engaging to follow—making the whole audiobook immersive and a satisfying wild ride! This audiobook is perfect for listeners who enjoy multi-cast narration with convincing character portrayals, unreliable narrators, whodunnit mysteries, and stories that keep you hooked (and guessing) until the very end!
Narrator Performance
The audiobook for 12 Ways to Kill Your Family At Christmas is read by a cast of incredibly talented narrators: Lucy Price-Lewis, Kristin Atherton, and Joe Jameson!
Lucy Price-Lewis voices protagonist Olivia using a witty, sarcastic voice that sometimes has undertones of weary resignation, perfectly capturing a wry, intelligent woman who’s exasperated by being caught in her in-laws’ toxic family chaos. As the story unfolds, Olivia becomes more suspicious and emotional as the bodies pile up and she keeps secrets about her writing from her husband, and Price-Lewis subtly shifts her performance to add tension, exhaustion, and determination to Olivia’s tone. This makes Olivia even more compelling, and listeners will feel her internal arc from resigned wife-in-law to a woman driven to unmask a killer—and it’s a performance that will keep listeners captivated from beginning to end!
Kristin Atherton narrates the diary-style chapters of the “unknown killer.” She uses an androgynous, calculating-sounding voice that makes the killer feel disturbingly intimate. The deliberate, almost clinically calm pacing she uses feels like someone confessing their darkest thoughts—and listeners are eavesdropping in! Her chapters break up the tension from Olivia’s perspective but simultaneously leave listeners second-guessing everything even more—exactly as the author intended!
Joe Jameson narrates Miles (Olivia’s husband) towards the end of the story using a very expressive voice that conveys the character as multi-layered and highly intelligent. Jameson’s impressive acting skills and theatrical background are on full display during confrontational scenes—and listeners will be hanging on to every word of all the delicious family drama! It’s a performance that matches and complements the other narrators, solidifying the audiobook as a resounding five-star listen!
Together, the narrators elevate the story with their captivating character portrayals, expert pacing, and shifting perspectives that are easy and engaging to follow—making the whole audiobook immersive and a satisfying wild ride! This audiobook is perfect for listeners who enjoy multi-cast narration with convincing character portrayals, unreliable narrators, whodunnit mysteries, and stories that keep you hooked (and guessing) until the very end!
The audiobook for 12 Ways to Kill Your Family At Christmas is read by a cast of incredibly talented narrators: Lucy Price-Lewis, Kristin Atherton, and Joe Jameson!
Lucy Price-Lewis voices protagonist Olivia using a witty, sarcastic voice that sometimes has undertones of weary resignation, perfectly capturing a wry, intelligent woman who’s exasperated by being caught in her in-laws’ toxic family chaos. As the story unfolds, Olivia becomes more suspicious and emotional as the bodies pile up and she keeps secrets about her writing from her husband, and Price-Lewis subtly shifts her performance to add tension, exhaustion, and determination to Olivia’s tone. This makes Olivia even more compelling, and listeners will feel her internal arc from resigned wife-in-law to a woman driven to unmask a killer—and it’s a performance that will keep listeners captivated from beginning to end!
Kristin Atherton narrates the diary-style chapters of the “unknown killer.” She uses an androgynous, calculating-sounding voice that makes the killer feel disturbingly intimate. The deliberate, almost clinically calm pacing she uses feels like someone confessing their darkest thoughts—and listeners are eavesdropping in! Her chapters break up the tension from Olivia’s perspective but simultaneously leave listeners second-guessing everything even more—exactly as the author intended!
Joe Jameson narrates Miles (Olivia’s husband) towards the end of the story using a very expressive voice that conveys the character as multi-layered and highly intelligent. Jameson’s impressive acting skills and theatrical background are on full display during confrontational scenes—and listeners will be hanging on to every word of all the delicious family drama! It’s a performance that matches and complements the other narrators, solidifying the audiobook as a resounding five-star listen!
Together, the narrators elevate the story with their captivating character portrayals, expert pacing, and shifting perspectives that are easy and engaging to follow—making the whole audiobook immersive and a satisfying wild ride! This audiobook is perfect for listeners who enjoy multi-cast narration with convincing character portrayals, unreliable narrators, whodunnit mysteries, and stories that keep you hooked (and guessing) until the very end!
