Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife is a twist-filled murder mystery that blends classic crime fiction tropes with a modern, interactive narrative structure. With a hefty dose of festive flair, Martin Edwards pays homage to Golden Age detective stories while simultaneously deconstructing them in a clever meta-narrative.

Six apparent strangers – all connected to the publishing industry to some degree and all in the doldrums career-wise – are unexpectedly invited by the secretive Midwinter Trust to spend the Christmas period in Midwinter, a remote Yorkshire village with a checkered history.

The trustees intend their guests to spend the holiday playing a bespoke murder mystery game, with the eventual winner reaping a life-changing reward. Specially designed to suit those with a literary bent and to accomplish the Midwinter Trust’s unspoken purpose, the game concerns the murder of fictional crime writer Kristy Winkelman.

However, what begins as an innocent contest quickly spirals into a more sinister puzzle. As a snow storm traps the guests in the isolated village and the game becomes increasingly convoluted, it emerges that there’s more at stake than just a prize. The line between fiction and reality blurs, and the guests find themselves entangled in a real-life murder.

The Midwinter setting plays a crucial role in fostering the atmosphere of Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife. Martin Edwards conjures a vivid picture of a snow-bound village – beautiful, cold and quietly menacing. The wintry landscape also enhances the sense of claustrophobia and isolation. As the snow intensifies, so does the tension.

What’s more, the almost inevitable fact that guests and organisers alike become trapped in the cut-off village over Christmas provides the closed circle of suspects so beloved of Golden Age crime authors. There’s no escape from the unknown killer and no way to call for help, which deepens the immersive quality of the story.

And that’s just one example of Edwards’ tributes to classic crime fiction. His near-encyclopaedic knowledge of the genre means that the book is packed with Easter eggs and subtle send-ups, which are fun to spot and enhance the depth of the narrative, and they also often serve as valuable clues to solving the mysteries, both real and fictional.

In particular, many of the clues concerning Kristy Winkelman’s murder centre on the non-stellar literary career of guest Harry Crystal. Harry decided to title all his books similarly to those of Agatha Christie (Why Didn’t They Ask Evelyn?, Elephants Can Forget), hoping that readers would accidently pick up his novels rather than hers.

This wheeze actually worked for a while, granting Harry temporary bestseller status before a caustic critic – who happens to be another guest at Midwinter – derailed his career. Such aspects bring humour and levity to the story, as do Edwards’ playful jibes about the publishing industry as a whole.

Harry was clearly prominent in the mind of Midwinter Trust employee Bernadette Corrigan when she designed the murder mystery game being played, and he’s also prominent in the novel’s narrative. Amusingly, the extent to which he really is a luckless duffer, rather than pretending to be so in an effort to win the prize, is never clear.

Rather than being told in a conventional linear fashion, Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife unfolds through a variety of media: journal entries, text messages, podcast transcripts, maps, letters and internal memos. The epistolary approach adds realism and allows events to be narrated from multiple perspectives, including that of Harry. It also reinforces the novel’s interactive aspects. By interspersing the chapters with ‘Bonus Puzzle Content’, Edwards invites readers to play a role in the investigation, encouraging them to analyse the evidence and draw their own conclusions before the final denouement.

The book even includes a ‘Cluefinder’ appendix at the end, a literary device that was popular in vintage detective fiction, particularly the puzzle mysteries of the 1930s and 1940s. This not only pays tribute to that era but also underscores Edwards’ commitment to fair play. The clues are all there – it’s just a matter of spotting them.

Edwards’ affection for the crime genre is clear throughout Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife. His characters are as familiar as they are mysterious, each seemingly drawn from crime fiction archetypes but with enough complexity to avoid cliché. Their interactions are laced with suspicion, rivalry and hidden motives, making it difficult to know who to trust.

The role of the Midwinter Trust, the organisation behind the game, adds another layer of intrigue. The trustees’ motives are shadowy, and it soon emerges that not everyone involved is who they claim to be. A strong sense of paranoia creeps in as the characters begin to question not just each other but the game itself. Who is pulling the strings? And why?

Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife is a celebration of crime fiction. It’s a novel that understands and appreciates the joy of a mystery – of suspects and secrets, of red herrings and hidden truths. It’s also a reminder that the genre is still capable of innovation. By mixing tradition with modern insight, Edwards presents a puzzle that’s as thoughtful as it is fun.

For more metafictional storytelling, see the Hawthorne novels by Anthony Horowitz.

Head of Zeus
Print/Kindle
£5.99

CFL Rating: 5 Stars