The Christmas Guest by Peter Swanson
"Since I have no family of my own, I am yearly asked by friends and colleagues to their homes for the Christmas holidays. I always say no, pleading my case that I am perfectly content to be alone for a week. And mostly I am." - from The Christmas Guest by Peter Swanson Looking for a fun, murderous little Christmas tale? Well, The Christmas Guest might just be for you. A quick, short read (around a 100-page novella), The Christmas Guest is meant to be devoured in one sitting (per the author, no less) and it's an easy accomplishment, not just from its brevity but also from the highly enjoyable and twisty story. We start in present day New York and through diary entries, flash back to the Cotswold countryside in England in 1989 where American college student Ashley Smith is spending Christmas week with her classmate Emma Chandler and Emma's family. There is definitely a bit of a slow burn as Ashley chronicles arriving at the Chandlers' St...
