Book Review: ‘The 12 Days of Murder’ by Andreina Cordani

As the title suggests, The 12 Days of Murder by Andreina Cordani is a murder mystery story with a Christmas twist. Set in the present day, this stand-alone novel is full of twists and turns.

Twelve years prior to the start of the story, a group of eight university friends ran The Masquerade Murder Society where they would attempt to solve fake murders; all while dressed up as characters. After one of their group goes missing, the society disbands. Until now. Reunited in a remote Scottish manor over Christmas for one last hurrah, old accusations and secrets are already threatening to divide the group when the game takes a deadly twist and people start dying.

We primarily experience the story through the eyes of Charley – the only member of the society not from a privileged and wealthy background. At university Charley was frequently bullied and made to feel like an outcast by the rest of the group. She was even blamed for stealing a missing necklace simply because she is poor. Now a struggling actress, she agrees to the reunion after being offered a large sum of money to attend.

Is Charley a good protagonist? Maybe.

By design, she is the character the reader relates to the most thanks to her non-privileged background and she gains our sympathies because of how she is treated by the rest of the society. But that is also the problem. I never found it believable that she would willingly and continually spend time with a group of people who openly disliked her. Charley’s enjoyment of acting and her secret relationship with Karl (who is already in a relationship) didn’t feel like enough motivation to remain with a group of people with such strong prejudices against her. While it’s true that Charley gets the most character development throughout the story – even standing up to the society in the book’s second half – I just wish her motivations had been more believable.

Despite this I did really enjoy the book. There is a lot of build up to establish the characters and their personalities as well as plenty of verbal sparring to keep the story moving along. When the murderer makes their move, the pace of the novel really steps up a gear and there is a continuous sense of urgency to find the killer as anyone could be next. In addition to this main mystery there are also plenty of smaller mysteries to uncover with every character hiding at least one secret from their past. As a reader the fun part is trying to guess the answers. I was able to guess some twists while others took me by surprise.

One component of the novel which I’m sure will divide readers is the story’s unlikeable supporting characters. The Masquerade Murder Society members spend a lot of novel bullying Charley and these scenes can be uncomfortable to read. At first I thought Cordani had made her characters deliberately unlikeable simply so her readers didn’t feel sorry for them once the murders began but, as the novel progressed, I realised that there was a lot more to these characters than I first believed.

Every member off the Masquerade Murder Society is hiding a secret but they are also hiding their own fears and insecurities. Charley’s refusal to run away from their verbal attacks forces the group to unwillingly address ugly truths about themselves. While the novel doesn’t try to excuse their behaviour it does at least provide an explanation for it. The book succeeds in making even the most unlikeable of characters feel human.

Clearly inspired by Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, The 12 Days of Murder is a fun new addition to the murder mystery genre. There is plenty of tension to keep the story entertaining as well as secrets and character motivations to unravel which keep the plot moving at a steady pace. Now that I know the ending, this a book I’d enjoy reading again to see if I can spot any clues I missed the first time.

---

Related Posts:

If you enjoyed this review you may also like these reviews: