If this wasn't a lovely read! I wasn't sure what to expect with this book, but it was a nice surprise. Frances is read a fortune at age 17, telling her of her impending murder that will take place 60 years later. She is paranoid & weary of all those around her. She keeps meticulous records & journals to assist in this murder that will take place.

Current day, it is up to Annie, Great Aunt Frances's great niece, to solve her murder in order to receive Frances's inheritance. This story weaves together so nicely and the supporting characters keep you questioning.... who murdered Great Aunt Frances?

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a murder mystery vibe in their next read!

Thanks go to NetGalley & Dutton for the advance copy of this lovely book. Pub date March 26, 2024.

I actually did not finish this book. I felt the writing was good but it just wasn’t what I expected. I think the title is a bit misleading. I am sure it is a great book, as I’ve seen a couple of my friends review it and say they enjoyed it. But it just wasn’t for me. For this reason, I will not be posting any reviews of this book online.

Really enjoyable lighter mystery. The pieces all worked together to lead to the mystery and the side/small mysteries lead into the overall mystery with out sidetracking the reader. The only challenge was keeping track of the family lines and how everyone was connected to each other.

In the 1960s, when Frances was a teenager, a fortune-teller gave her an eerie prophecy, and ever since, she has been obsessed with the idea that she will someday be murdered. In the present day, Annie is summoned to her eccentric great-aunt Frances's estate to discuss her inheritance – something Annie expected to go to her mother – only to find that Frances has suddenly died. Now, Annie, an aspiring mystery writer, is left to solve the murder while competing against other prospective inheritors to see who can piece the puzzle together first.

This was fine but for some reason didn’t hold my attention very well until the middle. Once I was into it, though, I really enjoyed it. It was interesting to switch back and forth between the present and the past via Frances’s diary. It seems like this is going to become a series, and I liked this one enough that I’ll probably seek out the next!

There is a part where a grown man has sexual and romantic relationships with 17-year-old girls, but 17 is above the age of consent in the UK, so I’m not sure if it merits a content warning or not but I thought I’d still mention it here.

CW: domestic violence

This books got me out of my reading slump! I really liked how it was different that other murder mystery's in the sense that they didn't have a "who done it" moment in some parlor and their was a race to solve the murder with a prize in the end. I would love to have known more about the house and the other things the aunt was involved with over the years. Hopefully this becomes a series.

This fresh update to the "solve my murder to gain an inheritance" trope is so well done. The 1960s disappearance of their third has plagued the remaining two members of a BFF trio, with Frances being consumed by her friend's disappearance after a tarot card reader's disastrous fortune. She's been regarded as the village kook ever since.

Annie is en route to meet great-aunt Frances who is, as the title suggests, murdered. Annie uses her murder mystery author skills to solve the mystery, through twists and turns, and the disappearance to boot. As an aficianado, I was surprised at the actual murderer! Here's to waiting eagerly for Kristen Perrin to craft more of these mysteries.

SYNOPSIS: A teenager and her two best friends go to a fortune teller who predicts that Frances will be murdered someday. This begins a lifetime of paranoia and a massive amount of dirt on everyone in the rural English countryside town she lives in. No one takes the prediction seriously and after sixty years (and many major life events) Annie Adams receives the news that her great aunt Frances is changing her will to include her in it. She must leave right away to hear how things will change, but when she gets to the town of Castle Knoll, she finds Frances murdered in her mansion. Now Annie, with the help of her great-aunt’s personal journal, is left to solve the mystery in a hurry all the while becoming suspicious of almost every person in the little town.

MY THOUGHTS: First of all, THAT TITLE! I was hooked based on the title and the description of this book. Unfortunately, it fell short for me. When you read the blurb on the back of the book, you hope that it doesn’t take much to get past the main plot, but I think this book was probably a hundred pages too long. The pace was slow and I wished that it was just done better. It wasn’t that the writing was bad–I actually quite liked it. Although we find the body fairly quickly, it takes a third of the book to get moving…slowly. The last 15-20% of the book was much more entertaining, and I really did want to know what happened. The ending was difficult to guess because there was a whole town–and I mean like 10-15 characters–that could have been involved in this murder. The cast of characters was hard to keep track of, but in the end if you like a good Agatha Christie novel or a riveting game of Clue, this one might be for you!

I loved this story and I can't wait to read more in the series. I enjoyed the back and forth between timelines as the main character searches for clues regarding not just one, but two murders. I'm interested to see where the series goes!

~Thanks to Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of How to Solve Your Own Murder in exchange for an honest review. ~

A funky laid out cozy mystery!

I heard for fans of Knives Out and requested this on Netgalley, but I didn’t realize we would also be getting excerpts from Frances, our victim, herself, specifically in the form of diary entries that were her way of trying to solve what happened to a childhood friend that disappeared at 17. I really liked the Frances we met in these chapters. She’s not the most outspoken, but she stands up for herself and what she believes is right. Oh and the fact that Frances has two giant murder boards in her house? Kind of just makes me like this kooky old lady even more.

On the opposite side, we have Annie, who is a bit of a Jessica Day sort of protagonist. She’s quirky, having been raised by a single mother who’s a somewhat accomplished artist in London, and recently started trying to turn her passion for writing into a career. Though she’s never actually met Frances, she still feels a connection to the mysterious great-aunt. I quite liked how she starts sleuthing by thinking “Well if I were writing a murder mystery…” Having an investigating character with a phobia of any and all things medical was an interesting choice and the way she put herself in danger for the climax was a bit of a shaking-my-head moment.

This definitely had my intrigue skyrocketing, particularly when we began to see many characters between the two timelines. I actually read this pretty fast, because once the layout had been set, I couldn’t stop myself! I had so many questions and was so curious to figure out how things would intertwine between the two timelines!

Unfortunately, I do think this suffered from too many characters between the two timelines. Though the setup was original, there was a huge cast to keep track of. Even so, I did guess the perpetrator in the current timeline a little too easy, but I was pleasantly surprised at the past one.

This is listed as the start of a new mystery series and I’m honestly not sure how or where the series will progress from this ending? But I am a bit intrigued to find out.

What a wonderful read!! This mystery was cozy, fresh and unique, and also quite riveting! Unlike any mystery I have read before, I loved the idea of solving your own murder. This book made me laugh and smile but also at times question everything that was going on! The main character was likeable and I loved the connection of the murdered being her great aunt because I had a close relationship with my great aunt. I definitely recommend this book to all readers - it is a fast read but amazing quality and I am so glad I picked it up!

Not terribly memorable or unusual, but a solidly plotted dual timeline mystery.

The premise for this one was better in theory than on execution, but it works well enough and the story moves well in both timelines. I liked the characters well enough, though neither of the protagonists strike me as anyone I’ll remember with any specificity a year or so from now.

This book probably needed more atmosphere and sense of place, particularly in the second timeline, and it’s definitely overloaded on dialogue. That does make the book read faster, but it also makes for a book better tailored to a different audience than the type that typically seeks out this type of mystery.

How to Solve Your Own Murder is one of the most unique takes on a classic murder mystery that I have had the privilege of reading. It seamlessly blends two separate points of view that slowly release clues as to why Frances spends her life trying to solve her own prophesied murder and her great niece continuing her work after her death.

The characters are intelligently written and interesting and the plot moved quickly enough that the pages kept turning. I'm usually pretty good at solving mysteries early on, but this one had a surprise twist that I even had not expected, but fit in perfectly with the writing. I was pleasantly surprised to find this was the first in a series and look forward to future installments.

Recommended for fans of unconventional mysteries or those who love a good inheritance
trope.

Thank you to NetGalley, Dutton, and Kristen Perrin for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book gave me Agatha Christie vibes, which I enjoyed. Very much a classic mystery. I struggled to connect with characters at times, but all in all it was am enjoyable read. Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to review this ARC

Thank you NetGalley and Dutton for providing this ebook for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

"How to Solve Your Own Murder" intrigued me with its premise and the initial set up of the mystery, and needing to know what really happened kept me reading.

However, I had a difficult time keeping track of the characters, and even after all the answers were revealed, I struggled to grasp the motivations behind the characters' actions.

While I often enjoy dual-timeline books, in this instance some of the dates in the earlier timeline were confusing or possibly incorrect, and it seemed like the impact of decades passing between the two timelines was not adequately considered in the character development.

Im going to be honest, I can see where this book would be a huge favorite for some people. The idea is so clever.

Frances has been saying since she was a teenager and received bad news from a fortune teller that she was going to die. She basically spends her entire life waiting for that to happen.

Frances’ Great Niece, Annie, is summoned to their small village in order to go over Frances’ update to her Will. While the group is waiting on Frances to show up, they discover that she is dead.

Frances tells the members gathered, through her Will, that they will compete to figure out who murdered her and why.

This book just had too many characters and too much happening for me. I enjoyed it and I know that it will appeal to a large audience. It just was not my favorite. It’s a good read but I had to trudge through it in parts.

Thank you to Penguin Randomhouse and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thanks to NetGalley, the Publisher and Author for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

How To Solve Your Own Murder is a fun mystery with an intriguing plot. I usually like dual timeline books and I enjoyed how this one was done with journal entries. I tended to prefer the old journal entries to the present narrative. I actually didn't guess who killed either person, as it is a tightly plotted, satisfying, classically puzzle-y mystery.

How to Solve Your Own Murder is a good fit for readers who enjoy cozy mysteries with a dual timeline, following characters, uncovering family secrets and solving cold cases to bring justice to victims.

How To Solve Your Own Murder was a fun mystery with an intriguing plot. I usually don't like dual timeline books but I liked how this one was done with journal entries. I found myself being more and more drawn towards Francis' POV and wanting to know more about her life. I actually didn't guess who killed either person (Emily or Francis), and I was happy about that. I do see that this says it's book #1, so I hope we get more from Annie and Castle Knoll in the future.

A fun romp with a solid mystery behind it - enjoyable central character surrounded by various people who might conceivably have "done it" - Annie's great-aunt Frances always believed the fortune-teller's promise, that eventually she would be murdered. This comes true within the first pages and Annie becomes the amateur sleutch, fending off suspicious relatives, friends from Frances' past and assorted workers around the estate. Everyone seems to have a motive, some lying in the past, some very much in the present. Like Annie, you never quite know who's an ally and who's untrustworthy. Kept my attention. Well-written, well-paced and a good palate cleanser after one too many spooky thrillers. Will appeal to fans of cozy mysteries with intrepid young female detectives saving the day.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin

Annie is a young aspiring writer who falls into a real life murder mystery that she must solve in a race against time in order to save her childhood home and other familial estates owned by her great-aunt Frances from being sold off. Her eccentric great-aunt was told in her youth by a fortune teller that she would be murdered and it had become her life's obsession to solve it before it comes true. Annie has gone to meet Frances due to a change in her will, but before the will can be discussed by all involved, it is discovered Frances has been murdered. When the will is read, Frances states that whoever solves her murder, between another relative and Annie, will inherit her whole fortune but if neither one can solve it or someone else does before the week is up, the Estate will be sold off. Everyone is a suspect.

I really enjoyed this whodunit mystery novel. The story was told from Annie's view in the present and Frances's view from the past written in her found diary. Annie is a very likable character and I was rooting for her to put the pieces together to solve great-aunt Frances's murder. The writer describes each character and the reasons they could be a suspect which keeps you guessing throughout the story. I would love to see the adventures of Annie continue and if there are more mysteries for her to solve.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the ebook.

For fans of Knives Out and The Thursday Murder Club, an enormously fun mystery about a woman who spends her entire life trying to prevent her foretold murder only to be proven right sixty years later, when she is found dead in her sprawling country estate... Now it's up to her great-niece to catch the killer.

It’s 1965 and teenage Frances Adams is at an English country fair with her two best friends. But Frances’s night takes a hairpin turn when a fortune-teller makes a bone-chilling prediction: One day, Frances will be murdered. Frances spends a lifetime trying to solve a crime that hasn’t happened yet, compiling dirt on every person who crosses her path in an effort to prevent her own demise. For decades, no one takes Frances seriously, until nearly sixty years later, when Frances is found murdered, like she always said she would be.

In the present day, Annie Adams has been summoned to a meeting at the sprawling country estate of her wealthy and reclusive great-aunt Frances. But by the time Annie arrives in the quaint English village of Castle Knoll, Frances is already dead. Annie is determined to catch the killer, but thanks to Frances’s lifelong habit of digging up secrets and lies, it seems every endearing and eccentric villager might just have a motive for her murder. Can Annie safely unravel the dark mystery at the heart of Castle Knoll, or will dredging up the past throw her into the path of a killer?

As Annie gets closer to the truth, and closer to the danger, she starts to fear she might inherit her aunt’s fate instead of her fortune. (GoodReads synopsis)

I actually loved this novel. I related to Annie Adams as soon as I started because I, too, love mysteries and am writing a novel. I do wish, because Frances’ story involved her friends, that Annie’s best friend had been more involved.

The pace was decent. I liked that Frances was still a major part of the story, and not just as a victim. I didn’t quite understand how Annie figured out the solution, but that made the novel better for me. I wanted to take points off because I hate when the protagonist puts themselves in unnecessary danger, but I also understood why Annie did so. I hope this is not a standalone and that Kristen Perrin writes a sequel. I want to know what happens with so many characters but especially Detective Crane and Annie.

Overall, I rate this novel 5 out of 5 stars.