The Christmas Guest: A Novella

Written by Peter Swanson

Narrated by Esther Wane

“Delicious…I defy you to stop reading The Christmas Guest once you begin.” — New York Times Book Review

New York Times bestselling author Peter Swanson pens a spectacularly spine-chilling novella in which an American art student in London is invited to join a classmate for the holidays at Starvewood Hall, her family’s Cotswold manor house. But behind the holly and pine boughs, secrets are about to unravel, revealing this seemingly charming English village’s grim history.

Ashley Smith, an American art student in London for her junior year, was planning on spending Christmas alone, but a last-minute invitation from fellow student Emma Chapman brings her to Starvewood Hall, country residence of the Chapman family. The Cotswold manor house, festooned in pine boughs and crammed with guests for Christmas week, is a dream come true for Ashley. She is mesmerized by the cozy, firelit house, the large family, and the charming village of Clevemoor, but also by Adam Chapman, Emma’s aloof and handsome brother.

But Adam is being investigated by the local police over the recent brutal slaying of a girl from the village, and there is a mysterious stranger who haunts the woodland path between Starvewood Hall and the local pub. Ashley begins to wonder what kind of story she is actually inhabiting. Is she in a grand romance? A gothic tale? Or has she wandered into something far more sinister and terrifying than she’d ever imagined?

Over thirty years later the events of that horrific week are revisited, along with a diary from that time. What began in a small English village in 1989 reaches its ghostly conclusion in modern-day New York, many Christmas seasons later.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Oct 17, 2023
• ISBN: 9780063297470

Peter Swanson

Peter Swanson is the New York Times bestselling author of The Kind Worth Killing, winner of the New England Society Book Award and finalist for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger; Her Every Fear, an NPR book of the year; and Eight Perfect Murders, a New York Times bestseller, among others. His books have been translated into 30 languages, and his stories, poetry, and features have appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, The Atlantic Monthly, Measure, The Guardian, The Strand Magazine, and Yankee Magazine. He lives on the North Shore of Massachusetts, where he is at work on his next novel.

Reviews for The Christmas Guest

[MilahB Speaks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book was quite an enjoyable read for NYE 2023. It had me interested up until the very end. I haven’t read anything from this author before. I know he’s pretty popular so I plan to pick up some of his books in 2024.

[JulieK · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Nice quick read/listen with a twist! Great if you need to cap off your reading challenge for the year.

[Sarah Grace · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a short and twisty holiday mystery. American Ashley is alone in the world, and alone in England. She eagerly accepts an invitation to spend Christmas at English acquaintance, Emma's, country estate. She quickly becomes infatuated with Adam, Emma's twin brother. A magical holiday romance seems to be inevitable. The holiday ends in a tragedy. We see the unfolding of events leading up to the climax, through the reading of Ashley's diary, 30 years later. As old memories are refreshed, the ghosts of that year come to visit.

[Ashley Story · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A fast paced twisty novella — I am a sucker for Christmas settings in mysteries. This one was enjoyable with a little twist I didn’t see coming.