The Christmas Clue - Nicola Upson

December is exhausting, work is crazy right now and any writing time has been exclusively reserved for Christmas cards - all the ones to post go tomorrow. This is a job that I mostly love and slightly hate - it's taken 2 nights (around 60 cards, and I realise how seldom I write by hand these days - how it aches!) but I love getting cards and I won't give up on sending them however much stamps cost.

                                                  

Meanwhile, I'm deep in seasonal reading - ghost stories (the mildly weird sort, not all out terrifying) and classic crime are my escape of choice at this time of the year, and as it was a big book for work I gave 'The Christmas Clue a go. It's not normally something I'd have picked up, with the exception of Martin Edwards books, because he really nails the style, cosy crime set in the past normally disappointsor annoys me. I liked the Christmas Clue though for a few reasons.

The first is that it's short - three and a bit hours of reading maybe - which makes it an excellent Christmas book to escape into between bouts of sociability, or just when you have a few lazy hours to fill. Short books are underrated; I find a good novella a real treat. 

The second thing is that using Anthony and Elva Pratt - the real life couple who invented Cluedo as sleuths, and setting the book up as an homage to the game is a really fun approach. I saw another game Anthony and Elva had invented -Toteopoly a racing game in a charity shop recently. Sadly it was £80 and looked like there might be bits missing. Otherwise I'd have had that - we had an old racing game called Mineroo or Little Rosy when I was a kid that was much loved even if half the lead horses had lost a leg. 

I've never actually played Cluedo, but this book really makes me want to, for the purposes of the book it cleverly plays into layers of nostalgia without feeling manipulative about it. War-time setting, white Christmas, murder mystery, board game - check all the boxes. 

And the third thing I liked - some decent twists and a suddenly much darker than expected turn towards the end so it kept me guessing. There's a lot to like here, and this is the ideal stocking filler if you're looking for some last-minute inspiration.