What a brilliant read this was.
A good old murder mystery.
An awful family being picked off one by one, who on earth is the murderer?
I continually changed my mind.
The ending was a real WOW moment.
My thanks to netgalley and the publisher for my copy.
One not to be missed.

HOLY SMOKES! What the heck did I just read? This book is every level of crazy in all the right ways! What I loved about this book? Everything it was fantastic! There were many laugh out loud moments throughout!

I want to take this book and scream from the rooftops and make everyone I know read a copy. This book was enthralling, fast-paced and twisty. I read this one into the night, if you want a hair-raising thriller, then look no further.

This book sank its teeth into me and would not let go until I was done. It was one of the most thrilling books I have ever read! A MASSIVE 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 stars!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading 12 Ways to Kill Your Family at Christmas by Natasha Bache.

Olivia (Liv) travels with her husband Miles and her two teenage children Callum and Martha from London to spend the Christmas period with her in-laws in Weiss Manor, a large country house in rural Shropshire. This will be their last Christmas for some time with the in-laws and extended family before they emigrate to Australia.

The Weiss family is incredibly wealthy, and the family are quite awful toward Liv, her children and even Miles - all of whom they feel haven’t succeeded in life. It’s no surprise that they dread spending time with the Weiss Family. Their plan is to keep their heads down and just get through the ordeal.

Their plan however goes out the window when family members start dying. Are they accidents? Was it just old age? As the body count rises, it’s no longer can the deaths be explained away or is something more sinister going on. To top it all off, they get snowed in and emergency services can’t reach them.

It’s a pacy fun festive whodunnit. The story unfolds from the perspective of Olivia (Liv) and also from the unnamed murderer. I loved Liv’s ‘voice’ and her inner thoughts. I’ve had to endure some truly horribly Christmas events at in-laws and I could relate! I was confident I’d guessed the murderer, but when that family member wound up dead I returned to the drawing board. I didn’t guess the murderer and was suitably stunned at the reveal. It’s an absolute page-turner and I can’t wait to read more books by Natasha Bache.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter, for making this e-ARC

This was so good I read it in less than a day! A festive, cosy murder mystery with real Agatha Christie vibes, a definte must read for all cozy murder mystery lovers. The story is incredibly well written, the characters have the perfect amount of depth and personality, it really was an enjoyable read.

📚I was able to read an advanced copy of title thanks to NetGalley, Natasha Bache and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter 📚
📚All reviews and opinions are entirely my own📚

This book is one of the biggest surprises of the year for me. A book I didn’t know about before I was offered this review copy but that has now made its way to my favourites list. The comparison with “Knives Out” is so spot on. I loved that movie and I love this book for almost the same reasons. The tone is similar and it also focuses a lot on the family drama. It’s hilarious too, which I really needed after reading so many dark thrillers lately. Really, the perfect book read at the perfect time. It can be a great Christmas read too, given that’s when the story takes place.

As I said, the book features that soap opera-ish family drama, which I adore. I grew up watching telenovelas and I love messy characters who show no remorse. Those are the most entertaining to read about. Most of their unhinged comments were highlighted on my e-reader.
From the very beginning, we know ten family members will die and that became a game for me. I wrote down the names of all the people staying in the house to keep track of who died. Saying things like “3 down, 7 to go” with a smile on my face, which is something only fans of this genre can understand. I was actually more interested in finding out who the next victim would be than knowing who the murderer was. But that mystery was also good because everyone had a motive to do it. Or two. Or several. Every single character. I didn’t guess who the mastermind (or masterminds) behind the killing spree was, because I never do, but I claimed everyone was a suspect at some point. Still, the person whom I thought was guilty first and who was my biggest suspect for the longest time was innocent. And that’s how mysteries are written. We have to doubt everyone’s actions because what do they hide? Everyone hid things. So messy, so good. And I don’t love guessing the mystery or the twists anyway. It’s more fun when I’m surprised by even the smallest details of the story.

Same as with “Knives Out”, there is classism in this story. The Weisses are a rich family that cares more about the family name than the people in the family. Reputation over people and that bites them in their not so classy behinds. And so they make sure to let Olivia, our first person POV, know what they think about her working-class background. It’s obviously not nice to read some of the things they say but it’s the context of who they are as people. They are also homophobic but using some expressions I had never heard about so points for originality? They really made it easy not to feel bad about them being killed…
Through Olivia, we get some meta commentary about the book industry too, which I enjoyed. I don’t know if it’s fully meta and the author also had to deal with trolls writing hate comments about her books but we all know these people exist so…I’m happy with any kind of content that shames people like that. One can write negative reviews while still being respectful. The fact that it played a big part in the story too made it also useful to develop the plot. Very smart use of that little storyline.
Through two characters, we also get some commentary about how social media will take a tragedy and just turn something awful into something viral. How that’s not treated like it’s real people suffering but just as something to chat about on TikTok. As a fan of social commentary, I approve of these additions.

The way the story is told just makes the reader feel so invested in what’s happening. I found it so easy to imagine these scenes in my head and I didn’t want the movie that was playing in my head to end. I’m currently imagining what happens after and how the surviving characters go on with their lives.
But also…this book is so funny. I laughed out loud multiple times and I really needed that. The humour worked for me 100% but that’s obviously subjective so not everyone has to like the jokes. Some are a bit darker but in a very British way and that’s my kind of humour. The darkest joke was the one that made me laugh the hardest, to be honest.

In stories like this one, sometimes the characters feel a bit cartoonish. Like they are very stereotypical and it makes sense and it works. If it’s well done, obviously. With this book, we did have the stereotypical characters one would expect for this type of book but…they also felt like real people. So not cartoonish. And that made them way more interesting to follow.

I want to say more positives and spend longer gushing about the book but I’ll have plenty of time to do that in the future. I’m already pestering my friends so they read it and will do the same again once the book is out. What a great surprise this book was!

“12 Ways to Kill Your Family at Christmas” by Natasha Bache is a sharp, and darkly humorous holiday read. Lots festive mayhem, and a perfect mix of satire and suspense. Bache cleverly skewers family dysfunction and seasonal pressure in a way that’s both wildly entertaining and relatable.
I enjoyed the characters and all their flaws, a fun festive mystery experience!

4 - 5 stars

To Olivia‘s relief, this will be the last Christmas she and her children Martha and Callum, will have to endure of her husband Miles utterly ghastly family before they emigrate to Australia. That’s probably to get away from that lot especially Miles’s mother Jeannie and who can blame them? However, now she’s stuck in the country mansion, it’s snowing heavily and as if that’s not bad enough, someone is picking the family off one by one. Who will be next, I wonder? So, welcome to Weiss Manor to festivities to end all festivities, to a toxic gathering and a puzzle. Who will be the last man/woman standing and who may additionally lay claim to the multimillion fortune of the Weiss family?

Well, this is one of the most entertaining and fun festive novels I’ve read, albeit in sunny July. The time of year actually doesn’t matter because this fast paced, twisty read can easily be consumed at any time. Initially, there seems to be a lot of characters but as they’re all varying shades of mad, inebriated, self-centred, egotistical, greedy or just plain nasty I don’t have any trouble distinguishing them. The prize goes to Jeannie for being the most manipulative and bat **** crazy of the lot. I wish I could say they don’t deserve it as they drop like flies in the run-up to Christmas. With one or two (ok, most of them) I feel like cheering 😂

The plot is rip roaringly (like the fires to keep out the cold) chilling (like the weather), bonkers (take your pick), barking mad (all except Liv’s family), tense and suspenseful (look over your shoulder, you might be next), competitive (who can stay alive to get the dosh), dramatic (again, several candidates for that award) and clever (not you Fergus, Miles‘s uncle). It’s engrossing, amusing and well written with witty chapter headings. I have two candidates for the perpetrator and yay, I got one right!! Well played Natasha Bache – this is huge fun.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to HarperCollins, One More Chapter for the much appreciated early copy in return for an honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5 stars!

I will start by saying that this is not my usual genre of book but the description was interesting and I want to try and read more cozy crime, this was a fantastic place for me to start. I read this on a trip to Sydney and didn’t even care that my flight was delayed because I couldn’t put it down!

I couldn’t predict anything in this book, the entire Weiss family was so dreadful that I could see any of them being the next murder victim or the murderer. There were so many twists in the story and the deaths themselves were outrageously entertaining, I don’t think my jaw has ever dropped at the inventive use of a snowman before.

The Christmas setting added a claustrophobic and cozy vibe. I loved every minute of this book, now I just need to find some other books like it.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and One More Chapter for the opportunity to read this ARC.

What a hoot! This book was so much fun. The main character Olivia’s thoughts were laugh out loud funny.
Olivia, her husband Miles and their two children are off to spend a horrible two weeks leading up to Christmas with Mile’s ultra rich, ultra controlling, ultra nasty family. And the family does not disappoint. They are all those things and more. The nastiest and most controlling is Mile’s mother, who lords over her husband, sons, in laws, and nieces and nephews. It’s a horrible Christmas until one by one the family is being killed. Not knowing who is next, Olivia and her family are on guard, and Olivia can’t help but feel a little glad by events.
Holiday season got you down, read this , and you’ll feel much better. A must read mystery
My only compliant is the pacing was perfect, the details fun until the reveal of the murderer at the end. but then the book ends too abruptly without any of the details like we’ve read in the rest of the book. Almost as if an editor said, okay that’s enough, end it. Too abrupt.

Thank you Netgalley, HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter | One More Chapter and Natasha Bache for the eArc of 12 Ways to Kill Your Family at Christmas.

Too early for a Christmas book? Never! 12 Ways to Kill Your Family at Christmas is a dark humoured, twisty murder mystery that keeps you guessing. As each family member meets their demise. You will be chopping and changing your mind on the whodunit.
I loved both Natasha's writing style and her character building with largely unlikable characters. which makes for a dark humoured read. Not often do I do quotes for book reviews as Im usually too emersed in the book but the ones Ive chosen are just too good to pass up. I loved the ending, the speculation and how everything worked out.

" Jessica's smile only widened. Sometimes, Clementine, its about who has the sharpest teeth "

"The truth ? And what exactly is that? Because from where I am sitting, all of us are looking like suspicious characters in an episode of Midsumer Murders "

"At this rate, We'd need a group discount on coffins "

" Why does it feel like we are about to take part in Sweeney Todds Great British Bake off "

This is the first book by Natasha's and Im so looking forward to reading more of her books.

4.5 for Storygraph. 5 for Netgalley.

If I had to make a comparison, I'd say this was the book equivalent of Christmas chaos served on a silver platter, and I loved every second of it. It’s sharp, funny, and totally unhinged in the best way. The mix of rich family drama, murder, and a snowed-in mansion made it feel like a perfect mash-up of a holiday special and a dark little whodunnit.

The characters are all delightfully awful, which somehow makes the story even more fun because you never feel too bad when they start dropping like flies. Olivia’s perspective keeps things grounded just enough, but the real joy is in watching all the messy, greedy relatives unravel as the bodies pile up.

It’s witty, twisty, and the kind of book you can inhale in a couple sittings. Definitely a must-read if you like your holiday spirit spiked with murder and mayhem.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

It's absolutely brilliant, I loved it! There can't be many people who relish an extended Christmas break with their in-laws, and that's what's facing Olivia. With only two weeks to get through before they emigrate to Australia, Olivia and her family just want to keep their heads down and breeze through it.

But then the bodies start piling up, and the police are snowed out, so they must all fend for themselves. With a supporting cast of family members you will love to hate, I couldn't wait to race through and find out if any of them would survive!

The ending is outstanding and a really satisfying end to such an enjoyable read.

This book was EVERYTHING that I never knew I need. It was absolutely fantastic and I couldn't put it down, I raced through it in one sitting and was livid when it ended. Perfectly paced with twists that kept me guessing. Fantastic

Absolutely loved this book, devoured it in one day.

Great characters, all over the top, but that's what I expected and wanted, humourous with great one liners, very British in it's humour but hopefully everyone else will get it!

Buy for every member at Christmas and keep the guessing.......

Highly recommended

Oh, the holidays, the perfect season for parties, gingerbread houses, and murder! Olivia just needs to make it through one more Christmas with her horrible in-laws before her family moves to Australia. But Santa isn't the only one with a naughty list this year, someone is creatively killing off family members one by one. Just when you think surviving your nagging Mother-In-Law and that creepy drunk uncle is the worst of the holidays. And you thought your family get togethers were a nightmare?!

This was wild and twisted and I am absolutely here for it!

OMG This book is brilliantly funny, twisty, dark, and very festive! I had so much fun reading this and I want more!!

I think - I know - that there are probably people out there right now for whom the idea of a 'family christmas; sends a chill through their bones. Making nice with the 'mother-in-law from hell' over a soggy Yorkshire pud (cardinal sin) and trying desperately had not to say something that will lead to the ultimate in familial arguments breaking out and counting down the minutes until you can escape the festive madness. Maybe you are one of the few who actually likes your extended family, and look forward waring matching jim-jams on Christmas Eve and nestling in front of a movie with a glass of hot chocolate or eggnog. In case you are the former though, you can just be thankful that you are not Olivia Weiss and that your mother-in-law is not (hopefully for you) anything like as bad as this stories Matriarch, Jeannie. Because if ever there was a family that truly inspires the urge to murder, then the Weisses, so skilfully brought to life by Natasha Bache, are most certainly it.

I really enjoyed this book. From the very early chapters I was chuckling to myself, partly because it happens to be set in my home county of Shropshire, but also because the entire Weiss family are so delightfully loathsome that seeing them being picked off one by one really tickled me. I should be clear - these are not necessarily what you might deem to be comedic deaths. Despite the sheer number of unique methods of despatch the author - or should I say the killer - employs, they are of a fairly typical variety. A fall, a plausible accident. A tragedy whilst selecting the family Christmas tree - gruesome but also possible misadventure. Face planting in figgy pudding ... Ok. So that one was a little bit funny. It's very clear that spending any extended time in Weiss Manor is not good for your health, but it's only two weeks. How bad could things get?

Pretty bad, if you're Olivia, especially when you get snowed in with no hope of escape. I liked Olivia, which is largely because the action is narrated from her perspective, but also she is a brilliant character. She is kind of the outsider in this madcap bunch, a writer of Romantasy novels who is going through a bit of a difficult patch when it comes to inspiration. She's down to earth, none of the airs and graces - faked - of the rest of the Weiss clan who, with the exception of her long suffering husband, Miles, and their two children, Martha and Cal, are all fairly vile. With the family very much ruled with an iron fist by Miles' mother, Jeannie, it's very easy to see why Olivia is her least favourite daughter-in-law, but it is all the reasons that make her such a wonderfully open and likeable character to journey through this hellish Christmas with. From judgmental Grandmother, Toots, god awful twin nieces Beebee and Ceecee, an insufferable brother in law, Tristan, and his equally snobbish wife, Mimi, and a seemingly freeloading Aunt Clem with lechy Uncle Fergus, it's hard to find a redeemable quality about the rest of the clan, and lord knows I tried.

I love the way in which the author has built up this story. Each day in the house brings a new kind of torture for Olivia and her nearest and dearest, as Jeannie organises specific activities that must be attended, no matter what. Not even a few deaths in the household will prevent her holding her annual neighbourhood get together. This is keeping up appearances supersized. I just admit, that with each day that passed, I found myself trying to guess who might be next and what method the killer may employ this time around. A couple of deaths were perhaps more obvious that others - I cannot for one minute believe no-one would be as suspicious as I was about one particular death, but then perhaps I just read too much crime fiction and had the benefit of knowing that I was expecting a good few more murders to occur. This is not a spoiler, you only have to look at the book's title to work that one out.

In amongst Olivia's often angst ridden musings about what is going on and how to keep her family safe, we have a few interesting diary entries which, along with the opening chapter of the book, really did keep me on the hook. A number of red herrings deployed along the way really do keep the mystery alive in this one, even if the same can't be said for the family. Surprisingly, in spite of the rapidly depleting pool of suspects, it helped to keep the killer's identity well hidden right to the end too. And it was an ending that really did make me smile. A very fitting solution to this particular mystery and totally not what I was expecting. As to whether Olivia and her family come out of the whole episode unscathed, well you'll have to read to find out. The book will certainly give you perspective if you have any misgivings about your own impending family christmas. Fresh, witty and thoroughly entertaining, I tore through this book and loved every minute of it. Definitely my kind of Christmas.

I started this one a little skeptical—after all, the Goodreads chatter had some readers absolutely roasting it. But to my surprise, I found myself still turning the pages at 2 a.m., utterly hooked, hunched over the pages, half horrified and half gleeful at just how spectacularly messy this family drama gets. There’s a wicked kind of satisfaction in watching a group of people who totally deserve each other fall apart piece by piece (or in this case, body by body). The cover’s chilling rhyme “On the first day of Christmas, my in-laws gave to me, a body in the snow and a motive or three” sets the tone for a wickedly funny, murderous ride. Bache’s humor transforms 12 grim murders into something bizarrely cozy, like laughing through a horror movie. The dysfunctional extended family is a chaotic masterpiece, their venom making every demise a twisted thrill.

At the heart of the mayhem sits Olivia, Miles, Martha, and Callum—a family unit I rooted for from the very first chapter. They’re flawed, quirky, and not above eye-rolling at one another, but their devotion absolutely shines through. You’ll root for them as they navigate a holiday gone homicidally wrong. I was obsessed with guessing the killer, my theories bouncing all over the place, but I did not see that ending coming! The murderer’s reveal is a jaw-dropping masterstroke, blindsiding me in the best way.

What really makes this book sing, though, is Natasha Bache’s narrative style. She manages to take the most dysfunctional family dynamics and weave them with perfectly timed humor. Yes, the story is jet-black dark (we’re talking 12 murders!), but it somehow feels cozy because her wit drops in exactly when it’s needed. Mark October 9, 2025, for a Christmas thriller that’s equal parts hilarious and shocking—add it to your TBR!

This is a great holiday romp of a novel. It could just as effectively be titled How Many Ways to kill Your Family at Christmas. The Weiss family are summoned to the ancestral pile in the outskirts of London every year for two weeks from December 11 through Christmas. The holiday is orchestrated to the minute by Jeannie, the stereotypical matriarch who inspires comic dread in the family.
This year is especially fraught because youngest son Miles, wife Olivia who is also the narrator the story, and their children are moving to Australia immediately after the holiday. And Jeannie is furious at this escape of Miles from her control.
Olivia is that refreshing narrator in today's literary climate, reliable. She provides the reader with descriptions of the family, traditions, and serial murders that are well crafted hilarious spoofs of the snowed in mansion murders genre.
Bache introduces a short insight into the mind and motivation of the killer after each body is discovered. It's a testament to her writing that each murder baffles the police because they can be explained as accidental. Meanwhile Jeannie plows ahead with Weiss traditions, including a hosted cocktail party.
And there the review must end because to continue would be a monumental spoiler. Suffice it to say you will do well to include this as a gift to your friends who love mysteries if they love Knives Out, Clue, and Only Murders in the Building. Give to family members and they may question your motives.
A huge thank you to NetGalley for the ARC. What a fun way to stay up all night.