12 Ways To Kill Your Family At Christmas by Natasha Bache

 

Olivia Weiss just has to get through one more Christmas holiday with her husband's obnoxious, but wealthy, family. Her dream of relocating to Australia is only weeks away - until family members start turning up dead.

With the tag line "Perfect for fans of The White Lotus, Knives Out and anyone who's ever wanted to strangle someone over Christmas lunch," I jumped at the chance to read 12 Ways To Kill Your Family At Christmas by Natasha Bache. This really is a cross between a murder mystery and an old-fashioned British comedy.

Olivia has married into a wealthy family, one who are filled with Christmas traditions. Olivia is hoping that this will be the final time she has to suffer them, along with her husband and teenage children, as the family is moving to Australia. She knows that the family looks down on her; she's spent the past eighteen years biting her tongue whenever they've had a dig at her, she only has to get through two more weeks of their constant sneering.

The setting has all the hallmarks of a traditional murder mystery: a large collection of nasty characters, a sprawling mansion, an inheritance, and a relative about to be released from prison. When one accidental death is quickly followed by another, I'd have been hightailing it out of the area, but a storm results in them being snowed in. As the body count continues to mount, it's obvious someone has murder on their mind, and the list of suspects is diminishing.

Eccentricity rules within the family; there is no likeable character among them. However, I did find Uncle Fergus hilarious; loud, crude, and drunk by breakfast time. With such an unpleasant group of people, you really don't have any sympathy for their demise; the big question is, who will be next? As the group is whittled down, I began to hazard a guess as to who the murderer might be, only for that person to become a victim! I was without a clue until the big reveal in this fun, festive read.

12 Ways To Kill Your Family At Christmas by Natasha Bache will be published on 9th October 2025 in paperback, ebook and audio format. My thanks to NetGalley and One More Chapter for a review copy.

Author Details

Natasha Bache studied English Literature and Philosophy at Keele University. After completing a Masters degree at Warwick University, she became an Editor at HarperCollins Publishers where she worked with estates such as Agatha Christie and J.R.R. Tolkien.

In 2015, she co-founded a design agency with her husband called Books Covered, where they specialise in designing market-leading book covers for both traditional and self-published authors.

Natasha lives in Shropshire with her husband and two children.