I’m haven’t read many classic murder mystery novels, so the format felt a bit old and stuffy at first. Once I realized this was an homage to those writers, I was able to settle into the book. I liked the interactive quality, and was left guessing until the end.

This one is a hard one for me to review. I probably wasnt the best pick for this ARC. Reading is my relaxation time before bed and this book takes more brain power than I am willing I give. It is interactive, nostalgic, and definite creative I will give it that!

This was an ARC from NetGalley! I’ll admit, when I began, I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy the book or not. The premise was great and reminded me of a similar book I really enjoyed last year. It took me a while to get into it and I was a bit confused at the start, but overall I enjoyed it! Not sure the layout of some of the evidence pieces lends itself well on kindle use, perhaps better in print form.

The storyline was interesting and I liked that there were two mysteries on the go. The game element wasn’t as interesting as what was happening within Midwinter but all made sense towards the end. The characters were great and developed well throughout the story particularly Harry & Poppy.

Overall it kept me thinking throughout and I was happy with the end result! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

This book could not align more with my murder mystery interests if it tried, so I feel like my rating is a bit biased. But I think most people would have a fun time with this one. This is a wink and a nod to traditional country house murder mysteries, where a group of crime solvers arrive at a manor in a tiny English countryside town and are asked to solve a fictional crime. A group of staff members from the trust that arranged this murder mystery party are tasked with monitoring the crime solvers and making sure they play fair. Of course, as tends to happen in a murder mystery, bodies drop, a snowstorm cuts everyone off, and the groups of people aren’t really who they say they are. This is as much a game as a novel and there’s a lot of various ephemera to parse through, if the reader is interested in trying to solve the crime. I will say that it would lend itself more easily to a physical reading copy - I was struggling to flip back and forth from section to section on my iPad. But that’s a minor quibble. It’s not surprising that Martin Edwards can craft such a delightful traditional murder mystery, but what a delight this was! If Clue is your favorite game, read this asap.

Miss Winter in the Library With a Knife by Martin Edwards is a delightfully cozy Christmas mystery perfect for curling up with on a snowy night. The story follows six contestants, all somehow tied to the crime writing world. They come together to take part in a murder game held by the Midwinter Trust. Soon, they find themselves truly cut off by a snowstorm as real deaths begin to unfold. Told through multiple points of view, the book offers both a fictional mystery and real ones, which kept me entertained and on my toes. The wintery setting adds to the charm, and I especially appreciated the clue finder at the end, which let me revisit all the hidden breadcrumbs I missed. It's clever, atmospheric, and just the right amount of twisty.

Thank you, NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press, for the advanced reader copy. This is my honest review.

It took me quite awhile to engage with this book. I found the beginning of should I say the set up very slow going. In fact I wasn’t sure I’d finish it. However, I’m not sure what the tipping point was when I became engrossed in the story and the game. All in all a fun read.

This was a bit of a wild ride, in the finest tradition of Agatha Christie and the great British crime writers! It was something of a challenge in the beginning to get to the meat of the story, but once it got going, it was a fun puzzle all the way to the end. every time I decided I knew who the killer was, wham! Either an airtight alibi or they were the next body to fall. Looking back, again in the best tradition of those crime writers, aided by the wonderful clue tracker at the end of the book, I realized the clues I picked up on and the ones I really missed.
I hate to say too much about the plot because I dislike reviews with spoilers, so let me just say this, a group of six diverse individuals whose professional lives are in major disarray receive an invitation to spend several days over Christmas at a "resort" in the far north of England to participate in a murder mystery game. They arrive along with a huge blizzard. Their hosts are a wealthy trust run by a director, co-director who developed the game, the HR manager, and the medical director. Assisting them are the chef and chauffer/general handyman. These 12 find themselves snowed in and cut off from the rest of the world for a couple of deadly days. This fun plot skips along much like Miss Christie's And Then There Were None and in a similar twist has some equally entertaining and intriguing characters. You will also find nods to a number of other crime and mystery classics along the way. Do add this to your must read list. It's a fun ride!
My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest review.

This is the perfect winter cozy mystery to read over winter break or the holidays! Loved the story, characters and everything about it. I plan to buy the physical copy when it comes out and read it again when I'm getting snowed in!

Harry Crystal has published 32 mysteries, but sales are down and his ideas are cliched. When he and 5 others are invited to Midwinter, a planned village, to compete in a puzzle at Christmas, he jumps at the chance. Midwinter is very discreet, and its history is opaque. Soon they are snowed in, and suspicious deaths start.

I enjoyed the Golden Age feel to this mystery (I chose to read it because I like Martin Edwards’ mid century compilations), and the Cluefinder at the end is a great touch, but I found the plot a little chaotic. There are more plots than are successfully executed.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the arc!

I was so excited to be able to get an advance copy of this book. I love the idea of reading and playing a mystery game at the same time. Sadly, it just didn't work for me. I was reading this on my Kindle, and maybe if it had been a physical book, it would have been easier to maneuver back and forth between the clues. But, with the Kindle, it just is too much trouble. I also found the characters in the story not interesting and didn't connect to them. I am giving it a 2.5 and rounding up because the concept is wonderful, and I hope to see more of this idea in the future.
Thank you to Netgalley and Poison Pen Press for the advance copy.

Thank you Net Galley for allowing me to read this fun book early!

I love a good mystery and puzzle and this was everything I needed! I did get one mystery right and the other one half right but it was just too clever! I loved getting to the end and seeing the clues I missed! It was a little slow in parts but once I got half way through it flew by! The layout was so much fun and such an interesting way to learn the back story of Midwinter.

I downloaded it to my kindle app and for some reason it was missing some of the graphics? I’m not sure if it was just me but just a heads up! can’t wait until this comes out so I can get a physical copy!

I am extremely grateful to the publisher and NetGalley for giving me the privilege of reviewing an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.

This is a delightful read - perfect for fans of Clue, escape rooms, atmospheric reads and classic mystery novels. This is everything I love about an Agatha Christie novel but with even more dry wit, humor, puzzles and twists!

Six unrelated individuals...or ARE they?...receive an invitation to play a murder mystery game at the remote English village of Midwinter. Their challenge is to solve a fictional murder mystery to receive a substantial cash prize. They've barely arrived and received their first clues before being cut off from civilization by an epic snowstorm. No sooner do they set off on their quest to solve the mystery when the bodies begin dropping in real life.

This is a fair-play mystery in the tradition of the Golden Age mystery writing. The reader is invited to particpate as a player and elaborate rules are explictly detailed before the story begins. I absolutely loved the "mystery within a mystery" aspect. The puzzles are challenging but not so obscure as to be unsolveable. One can read this book straight through and skip the puzzles but I savored the chance to play detective alongside the characters. I was easily able to solve the fictional mystery and was quite a ways off on the other but I didn't mind that one bit.

Lovers of mixed-media reads and epistolary stories will enjoy the use of all manner of extras throughout the narrative: maps, blogs, emails and websites all make an appearance. There is a very thorough "Cluefinder" feature at the end of the book. This lays out the entire solution and references page numbers so that you can check yourself at the end and see how close you came and what you missed. But no peeking!

I'm not entirely sure how this one would work on audio but an immersive read with audio and a physical book would be great fun!

Set during the Christmas season, this book would make a great addition to your cozy winter reading. 4 stars

A fun and entertaining Christmas themed mystery/thriller. There isn't much to say about it, other than it's mindless, cozy fun. I loved the Clue vibes and thought the characters were perfectly fine. More to come on TikTok.

If you've ever read a mystery and thought, "I could have solved that," then you need to drop everything and pick up Martin Edwards' Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife. This isn't just a book you read; it's a game you play. It's a classic, snowed-in country house mystery that breaks the fourth wall and invites you to piece together the clues right alongside the characters.

The setup is pure Golden Age brilliance: six people, all of whom have hit a rough patch in their careers (a disgraced author, a "cancelled" influencer, a podcaster who went silent), are invited to an all-expenses-paid Christmas holiday in the remote, mysterious, and very isolated village of Midwinter. The prize for winning the specially designed murder mystery game? A life-changing opportunity offered by the secretive Midwinter Trust. But, of course, things get real, fast.

Just as the game begins, the snowstorm of the century hits, cutting them off from the rest of the world. Then, the guests start dying for real. The line between the game and the deadly reality blurs, and suddenly everyone is a suspect. With a killer on the loose and no way to escape, the remaining players have to figure out who they can trust—if anyone.

What makes this book so incredibly fun is how interactive it is. The story is told through different characters' journal entries, official-looking documents from the Midwinter Trust, and even podcast scripts. Edwards directly challenges you, the reader, to "play along" and "solve the murder first." There are ciphers to decode and a "Cluefinder" at the end to see how you stacked up. It’s like an escape room in book form.

The characters are a fantastic collection of unreliable narrators, each with secrets they're desperate to keep buried. The setting of Midwinter is perfectly creepy—a village with a dark past that's both a "serene retreat" and a claustrophobic prison. You can feel the paranoia creeping in as the body count rises.

Bottom line: Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife is a must-read for anyone who loves a good puzzle. If you're a fan of Agatha Christie, locked-room mysteries, and interactive stories that pull you into the action, you will absolutely love this. It’s clever, suspenseful, and a genuinely unique reading experience.

A diabolical mystery within a mystery. Unreliable narrators, treacherous participants and murder. Six people affiliated with the publishing industry are invited to Midwinter Trust village, billed as a therapeutic village, to solve a murder mystery. All have fallen on hard times and believe this is the answer to the stresses. But then murder intrudes. If you love puzzles and ciphers, you will love this book.

Trapped with a murder in a snowy distant village a very English mystery. Characters all over the place each with many secrets. The main character/ narrator of sorts, Harry isn’t the most likable, but entertaining. The structure of the book was interesting, took a bit to get used to it. I did peg the killer early on just didn’t know the why till much later. It’s a long read in many ways but not boring. Grab a cupa and enjoy.

This narrative reminded me of any Agatha Christie movie, or Murder by Death - with Peter Faulk, Maggie Smith, etc.
6 down on their luck people are invited to the MidWinter Trust. No one really knows what that is, but the winner will get cash. It's Christmas time and the snow is piling high - so much that they all might get snowed in - but for what? No one seems to know.

The book is laid out differently - I dunno about anyone else, but my pages were black with white letters. As the story moves along, there would be a chapter on the history of MidWinter, and sometimes words would be underlined - but I was clueless. (Pay attention to this). There are maps and diary entries - all important so pay attention! There are red herrings - but you are forewarned of this.

A mystery in a mystery. It will keep you turning the pages. If you get bogged down at the beginning (because it's a bit of a slow start),, stick with it.

Wit the book in mystery puzzle books, I thought that this was a great take on something old but made it new. This is a great one for those who want something Christmas based but not about Christmas, the clues and characters were great and the setting of the village was so well described. This will make a great gift for a weekend away or those family gatherings where you need to kill some time!

Author Martin Edwards has taken a cozy mystery trope, the murder game weekend, and concocted an enjoyable golden-age fair-play mystery for the modern reader. Six people, all washed out of successful careers in publishing or social media are invited to spend an expense paid Christmas at a remote mountain retreat. No reason is given for why they were chosen but there will be a generous bonus paid for completion and a mysterious grand prize for the winner, though there is a stringent NDA to be signed and adhered to.

The six arrive during a blizzard and meet their fellow players and the six staff who will be shepherding them through the game. Following an explanation of the game rules and a flurry of activity, not all of which is planned, the lights go out, the generator kicks in, and the game’s afoot. As the story continues a body is found. Did he fall or was he pushed? It was the body I expected but why? The bodies continue until it is clear there is a murderer on the prowl. The players gather to try to make sense of everything while still being urged to continue the game.

The story unfolds mostly through the journal entries of Harry Crystal, a prolific writer of schlock mysteries with plots cribbed from classics, and Poppy de Lisle, an improbably named out-of-work publicist. While I wish the characters were more fleshed-out with more to do, the convolutions and twists are well managed. The game clues and puzzles are fair and the reader should be able to solve it. The meat of the main story is hinted at but more slowly revealed in an atmosphere that stops short of becoming oppressive or claustrophobic. Still, the clues are there if you pay attention and if not the Cluefinder at the end will point them out for you. I knew who but had to wait for a motivation clue until the end.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

When a down and out cast of characters are invited to spend an all-expenses-paid Christmas in a private village, they jump at the chance. With the possibility of solving a mystery during a game onsite, thus winning money and a membership in the private Trust that owns the village, each thinks, "Why not? This could be the break I need to get back on my feet." But as snow falls heavily outside and cuts off the village from the outside world, mysteries begin to unfold as to who each person is, why they were invited, and if it's even possible they can solve the mystery game. Plus, just when the basics are laid out, one of the invited is found dead. Will they solve the death, along with the mystery game, in time?

This book is a hard one for me to review because I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, I love the fair play, mystery in a mystery, and varied forms of clues which are included. On the other, even though I read books set and written outside of the U.S. quite often, I had some troubles wading through many "across-the-pond" words and phrases, enough that it tripped me up. I also felt as if the story repeated things many times (dialogue mostly), and as it started so slowly, I almost didn't finish. However, I'm glad I held on, because once the acton picks up and reads more smoothly, I enjoyed the story and the twists and turns it inevitably took, despite not caring for several of the characters.