Fun mystery but the pacing felt uneven and slow at times and I never felt invested enough for it to be a page turner. I would be interested in reading more Kristen Perrin though, it felt like it had potential!

YESSSS, this book is sooo good. What a fun ride this was. I would recommend it highly. I like this authors concept and character development. The premise is so unique.

I loved it! The plot was solid and I had no idea who dunnit! It was captivating and the characters were intricate

This engaging mystery captures your attention from the very beginning. Annie Adams is a mystery author. She is called upon by her eccentric great-aunt, Frances, who has spent decades fearing for her life due to an unsettling prophecy from a fortuneteller. When Frances is discovered dead, a pressing question arises—was her death due to natural causes or was it murder?

At Castle Knoll, Annie is caught in a web of secrets as she competes with ambitious heirs and a clever detective to uncover the truth. With an old diary and cryptic clues, she navigates a dangerous game where her life is at stake.

This fast-paced, page-turning, who-done-it book is filled with fun twists. Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the ARC. This review and these opinions are my own.

Fun cozy murder mystery set in the English countryside. A fortune told to a teenage Frances drives the life an eccentric woman until her death in her sixties. Her great niece Annie is summoned to the estate to hopefully solve her murder an inherent the estate. I enjoyed this atmospheric mystery and look forward to the next book. Thanks to NetGalley and Dutton for an advanced copy for an honest review.

"How to Solve Your Own Murder" by Kristen Perrin is a captivating debut thriller that skillfully blends elements of classic whodunits with modern storytelling. Published in 2024, this novel follows Annie Adams, an aspiring mystery writer who finds herself embroiled in a real-life murder case when her estranged great-aunt Frances is found dead.

The premise is intriguing: Frances spent her entire life trying to prevent her own murder after receiving a chilling prophecy in 1965. Perrin expertly weaves together past and present, using Frances' journal entries to provide insight into her character and the events that shaped her paranoia.

The novel's strength lies in its atmospheric setting of Castle Knoll, a quaint English village teeming with eccentric characters, each harboring their own secrets. Perrin's vivid descriptions bring the village to life, creating a claustrophobic backdrop for the unfolding mystery.

Annie is a relatable protagonist, whose passion for mystery writing adds an interesting layer to her amateur sleuthing. Her impulsiveness and determination drive the plot forward, though some readers may find her actions occasionally frustrating or unrealistic.

While the novel has been compared to works like "Knives Out" and "The Thursday Murder Club," it carves out its own identity with its exploration of family secrets, inheritance, and the lasting impact of past actions. The plot is well-paced, with enough twists and red herrings to keep readers guessing until the end.

Perrin's writing style is engaging and accessible, making for a quick and absorbing read. However, some readers noted that certain plot elements felt far-fetched, requiring a suspension of disbelief.

In conclusion, "How to Solve Your Own Murder" is an entertaining and promising debut that will appeal to fans of cozy mysteries and psychological thrillers alike. While it may not revolutionize the genre, Perrin's fresh take on classic mystery tropes and her skill in crafting an atmospheric setting make this a worthwhile read.

I throughly enjoyed this book. I love Annie and I thought it was interesting the way the story went back and forth from 1965 to present day. I can't wait to read the next one in the series.

I really enjoyed this “cozy style” mystery set in two timelines (mid-60’s & now) about Annie & her great-aunt Frances who was murdered many, many years after a fortune teller predicted it back when she was in her teens. I enjoyed the village setting, the manor house and secondary characters too and the shorter chapters kept me flipping pages. Will watch for more from this author.

I loved the creative premise of this book. The characters were unique and easy to root for. I also loved how the book jumped back and forth throughout the story!

This felt like like a locked room mystery with plenty of family suspects. For people who enjoyed 'Knives Out' this may be your next read!

I enjoyed this book so much!! I loved the mystery so so much, and the characters were so interesting! I loved the bit of side romance that we seen so much!! Just an all around good mystery! I absolutely recommend this book. Especially if you like Agatha Christie, Nancy Drew, or Truly Devious!

- Anxiety rep
- Hurt / Comfort

3.5 stars rounded up. This is really well written book for a debut author. The premise was very intriguing right from the beginning and sucks you in, as you are wanting to know this payoff. I’m not really sure what is was, but along the way I really just wanted the story to end so I could just get to the ending. Maybe it just drags in the middle? The premise I think just sold me more than a big chunk of the story. The first and last parts of the story were great though. Which led to it scoring half a star more.

This book had an incredibly interesting and unique premise. I was immediately captivated by the village setting and characters. I read this in just a few days because I really wanted to see where the story went. Overall a really great read and I look forward to the sequel!

Definitely a cozy mystery for fans of Agatha Christie and Knives Out! There’s just something so nice about who-dunnit that takes place in the English countryside.

Annie's eccentric Great Aunt Frances believed a fortune she received at 16 that foretold her murder. Her changed will means that Annie is her new heir. Annie goes to Castle Knoll, a tiny town where Frances grew up, and she discovers Frances murdered. She needs to solve the murder to hold onto her inheritance, but more secrets are revealed.

I love mysteries with small towns and eccentric characters. I love the relationships between the characters for both good and ill. I highly recommend this novel to those who love a good murder mystery, and those who like intrigue.

Meh. Nothing terrible, but nothing that gripped my interest. The main character did not have much development, though I was surprised by the twist in the end between the 2 crimes. I did predict the identity of Emily's baby though.

An interesting mystery. The first half had me very interested and reading closely. However, as the story went on something lost my interest. It might have just been a case of right book wrong time, but I found the finality of the book to be mediocre and this will unfortunately probably be a forgettable title for me.

This was okay. There were a ton of characters to keep up with, so that was a challenge at times. It also fell flat at some points. Overall, a decent mystery, but I didn’t love it!

A teenager in 1965 gets her fortune read, predicting her own murder. Now, sixty years later it’s come true - and it’s up to her grandniece to solve it before the time limit established in the will runs out.

An interesting plot for a murder mystery to be sure. Once the plot actually kicked off I found the characters to be fun and just enjoyed the ride. We meet Frances through her journal entries, convinced of her own impending murder. She has spent decades of her life attempting to solve the riddle given to her by the fortune teller, and generally causing a nuisance to all around her by seeing death around every corner. When her grandniece unexpectedly gets a call that she’s to be the inheritor to Frances’ will - a woman she’s never met - she’s confused. She’s even more confused when they arrive to find Frances dead, and the will stating that she’s to solve the murder within a week or that all her assets will be sold off. With the timeline ticking down and only her great aunt’s journal from when she was 17 to go off of, she has to try to solve a decades old murder in the making.

Told between two timelines - Frances’ journal and current-day Annie attempting to solve the case - this book presents an interesting premise. I did have fun reading this, and I believe any fan of cozy mysteries will have fun with this book. There were a few aspects I found difficult to get into that I tended to gloss over during my reading - the almost no investigation of Frances’ death, the handling of evidence, and in all honesty - how the mystery was solved at the end. However, I had a fun ride on this adventure and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a relatively low-stakes murder mystery in the drowsy English countryside.

(Also, not related because these are young men/teenagers in the 1960s, but why was literally every single male love interest to Frances the worst? I hated them both? They both slept with the same woman, and then blamed that woman for being the reason they did - plus with a small uncomfortable level of slut-shaming/purity culture leveled at both her and Frances, where Frances is seen as the “morally” better choice because she was a virgin. I understand that this was most likely included to fit the era of the journal entries, but I didn’t like the almost implication that the girl who slept with both of these men were the sole aggressor - as if Frances’ boyfriend couldn’t have simply. Not had sex with her and didn’t cheat.)

A huge thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Penguin Group Dutton for providing this e-ARC.

HOW TO SOLVE YOUR MURDER is a cozy mystery lover’s dream. From the setting of Castle Knoll to the discovery of the body in the opening chapters to the characters, Perrin crafted a wonderfully charming and addictive crime for the reader to get lost in.

As the first book in the Castle Knoll Files series, I figured there would be more set-up than a true investigation into Frances Adams’s death. Luckily for me, I was dead wrong. The journey to find out who the murderer is very much the center of the narrative. The author expertly weaves together a mystery filled with an inheritance game and past glimpses at Frances and her friends’ lives told through her journal. All of this allows Annie to dive further into what happened to Frances and even her friend Emily. However, I hope many of the characters we met along the way will show up again in future novels. With a diverse cast of friends, family, quirky locals, and, of course, schemers, they would be too good not to pop up again.

Honestly, from beginning to end, I loved this book. Annie was a perfect amateur sleuth. The way her mind worked and put the pieces of the puzzle together was engaging and entertaining. This is a must-read. I cannot wait to dive into the next book.