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Murder at the Christmas Emporium - Andreina Cordani ***

Monday, December 1, 2025 6:22

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By Brian Clegg

It’s that time again when it’s somehow seasonal to mix Christmas and murder – and few do it more dramatically than Andreina Cordani in this far-fetched but entertaining Christmas horror.

The setting is Verity’s Emporium – architecturally a smaller version of London’s Liberty’s, though hidden away in a Rowling-style back alley. Specialising in handmade toys, this is a Christmas shopping magnet, and a small group of individuals are invited along for a VIP night – only to find themselves drugged and locked in overnight as one by one they are picked off.

I’m not a huge fan of non-linear narratives, and Cordani does a lot of leaping about, combining a main storyline of that fateful night with chapters that take each of the main characters into their past, gradually uncovering why they were invited and who is responsible for their fate.

Cordani just stays on the real world side of fantasy (some of the automata in the shop are distinctly beyond practical reality), but there is certainly a magic feel to the setting as the guests slide gradually into a horrific situation.

There are several twists along the way, both involving the reason the guests have been chosen, and who is behind it all. But the reason I can’t give it more than three stars is in part it’s a bit too grim for a Christmas-set mystery – we generally want cosy mysteries for Christmas – in part because there’s rather too much soul searching from the characters, suggesting a depth that the storyline doesn’t support, and finally because the ending is not one many readers are likely to want. I did enjoy the book as a whole, and in parts it’s definitely a page-turner, but I found it too depressing for a Christmas read.

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Now Appearing is the blog of science writer Brian Clegg (www.brianclegg.net), author of Inflight Science, Before the Big Bang and The God Effect.

Source: http://brianclegg.blogspot.com/2025/12/murder-at-christmas-emporium-andreina.html

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