A title that sounds like a Clue card come to life, this novel invites readers into a world of golden-age mystery tropes—only with a modern twist.
Also the way this book is written is amazing, is very cool!

Six down-on-their-luck people with links to the world of crime writing have been invited to play a game this Christmas by the mysterious Midwinter Trust. The challenge seems simple but exciting:

Solve the murder of a fictional crime writer in a remote but wonderfully atmospheric village in north Yorkshire to win a prize that will change your fortunes for good.

I absolutely devoured this book. It is such a unique concept and I absolutely enjoyed it. It is very much like an Agatha Christie book and I am here for it!

Imagine spending Christmas in a remote corner of England, isolated from the rest of the world, snowed in and unable to leave.
That's where 6 people are going to find themselves, invited to play a sort of Cluedo, devised by the team who run the place. It's an all-expenses-paid stay, with a handsome prize up for grabs. Six people who don't necessarily know each other, but who are all connected with the publishing world and have nothing to lose.
But things don't go according to plan, and the first corpse turns up...
The reader is invited to play the game too, through the clues left by the author.
A mystery to be solved, in a Christmas atmosphere that's a little less festive than expected, with clues and puzzles to be solved in dribs and drabs, the reader is plunged into the intrigue.
Scheduled for release in October 2025, to get you in the mood!

To be honest, I'm not 100% sure what I think about the book. On the one hand, I enjoyed the twist at the end and appreciated the puzzle within a mystery. On the other, it felt like too many things were trying to be thrown at the reader at one time without adding to the plot, and that the characters' backstories were really muddled. I feel like I only really understood where about half of them came from. It almost feels like it needs a second read in order to really understand what I just read.

You will love this if you like modern spins on classic golden age mysteries. This has it all—Christmas setting at an isolated, cut off locale, multiple murders, distinctive characters, good writing. Highly enjoyable!

In the interest of full disclosure, I received an ARC of Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife by Martin Edwards from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

This is a very cute, cozy, atmospheric mystery that delivers exactly what it promises: a wintry whodunit full of crime writers, secrets, and snowstorms. The premise is a delightful twist on the classic “murder game gone wrong” trope—a group of six struggling crime-adjacent professionals are invited to a remote English village to play a holiday-themed murder mystery game for a shot at turning their fortunes around. Naturally, the fake murder doesn’t stay fake for long.

The structure is part of the fun: the book is composed of podcast excerpts, text messages, journal entries, and webpage excerpts, giving it a fun, multimedia feel. I read an ebook version, but I bet this conceit, as well as the Cluefinder in the back would work a lot better in a paper copy.

I loved the conceit of a murder-mystery-within-a-murder-mystery, and the cozy, slightly ominous vibe of the snowy Yorkshire setting hit all the right notes for a December cozy mystery read. The writing is smooth, and the book leans into the meta in a way that feels playful without being too on-the-nose. The multiple perspectives help round out the cast, although it's a bit odd that we only get first-person chapters from two contestants (Harry and Poppy) while the rest of the narrative is filtered through the omniscient and occasionally judgmental gaze of the Midwinter Trust staff. I would’ve liked to be more inside the heads of the other players, especially considering how much is at stake for each of them. That said, the pacing keeps you turning the pages. It’s not exactly a nailbiter, but it does keep you guessing in both layers of the mystery. I actually guessed the real-world murderer fairly early on (though not the full motive), but a well-placed red herring threw me off track just enough that the reveal still felt satisfying.

If I had one critique, it’s that some of the characters—especially the Trust staff—felt a bit more like archetypes than people, and a few scenes could have benefitted from more emotional weight. But those are minor quibbles in what is otherwise a fun, festive mystery puzzle box. I give it 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 here.

Things I loved: the dual-layer mystery, the option to “play along,” the snowy, locked-room atmosphere, and the fact that the stakes felt real without veering into overly dark or grim territory. Also, I am always here for a book that respects its readers enough to plant real clues.

Things I didn’t: Honestly, the split POV format didn’t fully work for me—either give us all six players’ inner thoughts, or stick to third-person throughout. I also didn’t love how sad-sack Harry was, tbh I would’ve preferred it if Poppy or Grace were the main POV characters.

Perfect for fans of: Cluedo, Agatha Christie, Masterpiece Theater, murder games, meta-mysteries, snowy English villages, and the kind of Christmas story where someone definitely ends up dead but everyone still gathers for cocoa after.

“Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife” was so fun! I loved how it laid everything out in the beginning so the reader could play along. Did I solve it? Absolutely not. Am I glad I didn’t solve it? Yes. The pacing worked well. The multiple POVs and atmospheric writing make this the perfect winter whodunit!

Thank you to NetGalley & Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Six individuals are invited to spend Christmas in a remote village in England and play a murder mystery game for a chance to win some money and potentially change their lives. All six are in some way, shape, or form involved in the book and/or crime world and all have recently had major career setbacks. It isn't long before the first real dead body pops up, however they all decide to keep playing the game. Will more bodies show up or was the person who died truly just an accident?
This book keeps you guessing and keeps you turning the page. As you're trying to solve the mystery of what's going on in the "real world" you're also trying to solve the murder mystery game. There are plenty of clues for the game and the events happening in real time. I wasn't able to guess the answer to either but I had fun trying!
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

A little different but suspenseful…page turner…realistic characters…mystery…red herrings…quick read. Thanks Netgalley.