The Christmas Clue

Nicola Upson

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Paperback

Forthcoming
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English

Faber & Faber
18 November 2025

Fiction & Literature; Historical mysteries

Christmas Eve, 1943. Anthony and Elva Pratt arrive in a snowy English village to run a murder mystery game - and instead discover a real murder.

The Pratts had planned for festive cheer, despite the wartime shortages: with Elva's map of the hotel and Anthony's prop weapons to use as clues, the guests in their parlour game would move through the rooms to figure out whodunnit.

But when Anthony discovers the cook's sister Miss Silver beaten to death, they instead find themselves investigating a shockingly real crime. The hotel manager Mr Browning is trying to keep the peace but the guests are agitated, Colonel Colman is about to take over the hotel for the war effort - and the mysterious Mrs Threadgold hasn't been seen at all.

In games, there's only one victim - but this is real life. Can the Pratts puzzle out this Christmas mystery before it's too late?

By: Nicola Upson
Imprint: Faber & Faber
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Edition: Main
Dimensions: Height: 198mm, Width: 129mm,
ISBN: 9780571395026
ISBN 10: 0571395023
Pages: 192
Publication Date: 18 November 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Nicola Upson's debut novel, An Expert in Murder, was the first in a series of crime novels whose main character is Josephine Tey, who - along with Agatha Christie - was one of the masters of Britain's Golden Age of crime writing. She was shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger in 2018 for Nine Lessons and longlisted in 2021 for The Dead of Winter. Dear Little Corpses was a Waterstone's Crime Book of the Month.