The Christmas Guest Book Review

The Christmas Guest

by Peter Swanson

Publisher: William Morrow
Ginasbookreport Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Mystery
Read This If You Love: Eight Perfect Murders / Riley Sager books

“But instead he lifted a finger and swept it across his neck, then pointed at me.”

The Christmas Guest by Peter Swanson is a creepy and dark holiday murder novella. What else could you want for Christmas!?! Ashley is a long way from the US and gets invited to go home for the holidays by her friend Emma. The idealistic setting of an English village at Christmas sounds perfect. Adding to the scene is Emma’s handsome brother Adam. However, this village has a dark history of unsolved murder and killers don’t take a break for the holidays. 

This is a dark murder mystery that is a great and suuuuuuper fast holiday read for mystery fans. (It is NOT for those looking for an uplifting cozy holiday read.) I gobbled this one up in a few hours one evening and couldn’t put it down. Swanson somehow strikes the perfect chord of holiday and mystery. All I needed to add was some hot tea and a snowstorm. It’s also a novella written for readers…lots of references to books and meta winks to the audience about the story being a holiday romance or a holiday mystery. In the author section, he writes about holiday mysteries:

“They make a lot of sense. Friends and family gathered in country houses with snow piling up outside. Lots of drinking and resentment. Perfect recipe for murder.”