Book Review - 12 Ways to Kill Your Family At Christmas by Natasha Bache

 The Amazon Purchase link below is an Amazon Affiliate link.

Amazon UK

Title: 12 Ways To Kill Your Family At Christmas

Author: Natasha Bache

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: One More Chapter

Publication Date: 9th October 2025

Rating: 5 Stars

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.

Sharp, smart and deliciously twisted, this is Christmas with all the trimmings: cold cuts, warm lies and at least one suspicious pudding.

I've literally just finished reading this and I'm reeling.  I did not expect that outcome for one minute, the author has played a total blinder with this book, where you are left guessing right until the end. 

I kept having different suspects in mind, but then they unfortunately died which led me to then think it must be another person, but then they died. 

For this isn't just a cleverly titled book, with a clear reference to the 12 Days of Christmas, it really is a guide of 12 different ways a large and extended family could die, especially if there is a massive inheritance being screwed around with. 

We know from the prologue that a diary has been found with confessional details, and after each murder we get treated to the relevant bit of the diary, which has been written so well, that it kept pointing me in different directions. 

I can't say many of the characters were overly likeable, but many of them were really enjoyable to dislike! And seeing the descent into suspicion, relative madness, denial and the insistence the appearances must be kept, and having various festive events happening while family members just happen to be dying with alarming regularity is somewhat disturbing and addictive to read. 

This was the first book I have read by this author, but if this the direction her writing is now moving in it will certainly not be the last.  I was hooked from the first to the last page, and I couldn't devour the story quick enough. 

This was brilliant, what an impressive book, and I think I may need to take a few moments to breathe before I consider reading anything else, as this might have fried my head a bit! Superb! 

Thank you One More Chapter and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.