The Christmas Killer: The debut thriller in a gripping new British detective crime fiction series: Book 1 (DI James Walker series)

The story starts with Annie Walker who heard her husband car's home. They have a home in Tottenham.. She's freaking because fifty eight years old Andrew Sullivan is free from jail. The one who was behind the bars because of James. She thinks that he will definitely take revenge from them.Sullivan served thirteen months of a life sentence in jail for the murder of a nightclub owner, Brendon Fox. Although he's denying of it.Now one by one the bodies are turning up.Twelve Days, Twelve Bodies. Who's doing it? What's their motive?I adored this thriller. I loved its characters and narration. Give it a go.

It's a nice holiday mystery set in northern England with just enough suspects to keep you guessing who the murderer is.

Deliciously delivered whodunit wrapped in layers of Christmas paper and left under the tree. Kept me constantly alert as to whom the culprit could be as each layer was carefully unfolded and new dark aspects of life in the country were revealed. Brilliant and clever first novel of which we can be sure will turn into a sucessful crime noir series. Great job and I can highly recommend for reading poolside or fireside - keeps you begging for more.

This is the first in the series that introduces us to DI James Walker, and his wife Annie. They have had an awful year, terrorised by a gangster that James convicted. After an attack on their London home, they decide to move to a small Cumbrian village, the picturesque and community-driven Kirkby Abbey. They both breathe a sigh of relief, until a few weeks before Christmas when a parcel arrives that threatens twelve murders in the countdown to Christmas, all people who the killer has branded as deserving of a painful death.First off, I thought this hook was so simple and fantastic. What a way to grotesquely play on a festive tradition and set the pace with the expectation for a body to appear every morning somewhere in the village. It should almost have been comical, swapping murders in for the twelve days of Christmas, but I thought the author pulled it off fantastically. My favourite part of any crime drama is about 60% of the way through, when the true threat has been realised and they are in a race for time to figure out how the victims are linked, and who is behind it all. I am always rubbish at guessing the murderer, and I enjoyed that it took me until about 95% to find out! No spoilers here, but the reveal of the killer tied everything in neatly for me and I thoroughly enjoyed it.The setting worked so well too. I love a snowy village setting in any Christmas book, but rather than being romantic, it was eerie and claustrophobic knowing that the killer was amongst them and moving around unseen, blending in as one of the locals in the snow. The oncoming heavy snowfall meant that the residents are even more exposed, and the time pressure really amps up for James.As the DI, I enjoyed James as the main character. He was firm and fair as a policeman, attentive to Annie and always did the right thing, even if it ended up putting him in harms way. I thought the supporting characters, such as Annie and her Uncle Bill were also really well-written. Sometimes when you’re reading crime books or watching a crime drama, you think ‘I’m not sure if that would happen’, but everything that the characters did in this was satisfyingly believable (to someone who has never been a policewoman!).A really solid, fast-paced, enjoyable police procedural thriller, that wasn’t too scary to read at night! Plus I’ll be thinking twice whenever I hear the Twelve Days of Christmas now…

The Christmas Killer centers around a small village in rural England. The characters are certainly individuals and interesting. The actual killer is a well guarded mystery and not revealed until the very end! A great Book Club read for December.

This was a good well written mystery but it really felt at the end like the Grinch stole Christmas!