This is the first entry in a new cozy mystery series set in an English village. When Annie learns that she will be the heir to her great aunt Frances’ estate, she travels from London to meet Frances. Arriving in the lawyer’s office, she meets other possible heirs. At the estate, they discover Frances’s body and Annie hears that Frances has been obsessed with thoughts of her own murder for over 50 years. As teenagers, Frances, Emily and Rose visit a fortune-teller who predicted the murder, but it is Emily who disappears. Are the 2 events related?

“You can play without a plan, but you’ll probably lose.”

What a fun and interesting concept for a book. I was hooked by the title and then definitely hooked within the first few chapters.

This book kept me captivated in all the right ways - interesting characters and twists and turns ending with a murdered I wasn’t expecting!

I definitely recommend this book if you want to have a Clue-type experience.

How to Solve Your Own Murder is a perfect book for fans of cozy mysteries and games like Clue.

Frances is told her fortune - and when she learns that she will eventually be murdered, she spends the rest of her life trying to solve who does it. When she is found dead by her recently summoned grand-niece, Annie, everyone in town realizes they were wrong for doubting Frances’s concern. With strict instructions in the will, Annie must solve who murdered Frances before her window to keep her inheritance closes. Oh, and did I mention, Annie will also have to solve the long cold case of Frances’s missing friend Emily too?

This was such a fun book! I really loved the flashbacks to Frances’s childhood and how we got to see a glimpse of the young woman who orchestrated this whole game. I thought the premise of this book was so unique, and the way the mystery unfolded left me completely clueless to the killer. It was so fun to get to the reveal and realize I was completely wrong - which is a testament to the author’s ability to weave such a tricky tale.

Mystery isn't usually my jam, but the adorable cover drew me in. "How to Solve Your Own Murder" is such an entertaining romp. I love the classic murder mystery in a big mansion paired with a bunch of small-town gossip. Great setting and cast of characters. The story is fairly light and moves well. Interspersed diary chapters add fantastic tension and foreboding.

I'll be keeping an eye on this author!

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

A definite crowd pleaser and a wonderful debut. Very Agatha Christie-esque while still being its own book. A fast-paced murder mystery, whodunit. Will surely be enjoyed by many different readers. Will be a fun addition to our collection.

Annie Adams is summoned to meet with her great aunt Frances—truly a meeting, for they have never been acquainted—after learning Frances has revised her will to make her the sole beneficiary. Upon arrival, Annie is stunned to find her great aunt has just been murdered. Frances, however, had been preparing for that eventuality her entire life after having her fortune read as a teenager and being told she would be murdered. She’s obsessively lived her life along the guidelines of the fortune, attempting to circumnavigate fate. Frances, wily woman that she is, is bound and determined to have her murder solved, and has laid her will out in such a way that she will have justice or ruin the entire town around her should the case fail to be solved. Annie, young and in-between jobs at the moment but with a dream to write murder mysteries, seems a perfect person for Frances to have suddenly pinned her hopes.

There is a dual timeline in the form of a journal Frances kept starting in 1965 as well as the present day murder setting. I enjoyed the jaunt to the past, because it helped to flesh out the characters who were in the present and gave motivation and inclination so that each could have had reason to do harm. It also underlined how volatile Frances’s group was—typical teenagers, right?—and shows how the catalyst for murder had been sown decades earlier.

As for the murder itself, this book allows for lots of possible suspects and doesn’t immediately make the murderer known. Actually, I was vacillating back and forth, which is always fun for mysteries. I enjoy when I can piece clues together and puzzle along with the detective. The only downside is I felt that the book lost a bit of steam in the last maybe forty pages or so where it seemed to begin to be a bit convoluted in nature. It didn’t have the same oomph! and breathless urgency as the chapters leading up to it.

At any rate, it’s exciting to see that this looks to be one in a series—I am ever in the quest for new mystery series to which I would like to attach myself. I’d be happy to pick up the next instalment!

I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Frances Adams, at the age of 16, has her fortune told - and she believes it. She spends the rest of her life treating everyone as a murder suspect and collecting huge folders of information about each and every person in her community. She has murder evidence boards in her library, and a secret room where some of the information is housed. Her great-niece is summoned to Castle Knoll by her aunt's solicitors where they will go to Gravesend Manor for the reading of the will, although Great-Aunt Frances is still very much alive. When Annie arrives, she discovers there are numerous people who have been summoned. By the time the group arrives at Gravesend, Frances is dead. At first her death is presumed to be by natural causes, then determined to be murder. At the reading of the will, the group members are given one week to solve the murder, or the estate will go to charity.

There are many, many characters, some are important, others are not. It is up to the Annie, and the reader, to sort through all this information. Some people don't want the murder solved. Frances made many enemies in her lifetime, and everyone has secrets to hide. The book is written in alternating chapters, present time and Frances' teen years. The pace of the book was a bit uneven; hopefully subsequent installments will even out.

This book really grips you with the subtle hints thrown in and flashbacks. The pacing is great and doesn’t feel rushed. The ending was the only odd part for me, but I think I was still feeling the solve high. I’m excited to see what comes next for Annie!

How to Solve Your Own Murder is an excellent inter-generational murder mystery that will root itself in your brain and plant itself firmly there. It is such an addictive and cleverly plotted read that builds on an gem of an idea to create a treasure trove of a story.

Recently, I have been craving good mysteries with cosy settings, characters that steal my heart instantly and twists that make me gasp out loud. This book met all of those wishes and so many more in a story that I will recommend to anyone who will listen. In short, this was a wonderful murder mystery, packed to the brim with twists and turns.

With the boom of films like Knives Out, the type of mysteries that dig into wealth and complex familial relationships have become hot property—doubled by the popularity of Saltburn. Perrin taps into that sense of peeking behind the curtain into the lives of the extremely wealthy and that particular sense of class that pervades every aspect of British culture.

As an American expat in the UK, she gets a bird’s eye view of our class system and how it dominates life. This book is great in unpicking that glamorous façade of the upper class to reveal a dark and bloodstained truth lying beneath. In particular, I really enjoyed the throughline of the violence of that money and how it was obtained. There’s a seediness to it all, which contrasts wonderfully with the finery. It all feels entered around appearances and they are often deceiving. Also, it is a form of manipulation— becoming more key as the story progresses. The financial aspects in particular are keenly felt throughout, as the main theme is that of inheritance. This is a double edged sword though, with secrets and lies also becoming part of a legacy that weighs heavily on the shoulders of many characters. At the same time, it is infused with that classic charm of Golden Age British mysteries—it feels like you could be reading a Christie or watching Midsomer Murders from the quietly claustrophobic, picturesque and oddly charming little village. All of this makes for a brilliant, smart and highly entertaining read.

Perrin’s writing was wickedly brilliant, insightful and utterly captivating. I adored the use of timeline weaving in this book as we flip between Annie and Frances—both of whom are encountering their own mysteries and developing dynamics between characters. Their voices are distinctive and yet you can see their similarities shine through. Perrin really digs into the central theme of fate. Frances’ tarot reading defines her entire life and has ramifications that cause ripples that grow into tidal waves. It deftly plays with that eternal question of if you could know your fate, would you choose to do so? At the same time, it also adds a meta gloss to the story, akin to the knowing nods to said classic mysteries referenced earlier in this review.

The reader is keenly aware of Frances’ fate, as is Annie who is reading these diaries in real time. It adds a tragic air of inevitability to proceedings, but you best believe both timelines have plenty of surprises in store. On this note, the twists are very well done and upend the story each time. You feel the walls closing in on you as Annie’s investigation becomes ever more perilous. Because of the unique situation from Frances and a certain gauntlet thrown down early on, Annie is fighting an uphill battle in a town that does not welcome outsiders into its confidences that easily.

How to Solve Your Own Murder is an ingenious, insightful and incisive read. If you’re looking for a good mystery that will keep you hooked until the early hours, look no further.

This was murder mystery with so many twists and turns I could barely keep up. The main character has to respond to the reading of the will of a great aunt she never even met. Then she finds out she may inherit her estate if she solves her murder that was foretold by a fortune teller sixty years earlier. But she has to solve the murder before any other heirs or the police and she only has five days to do it. Fun, fun, fun!


Thank you to NetGalley and Kristin Perrin for allowing me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my review.

I was excited to see that Jimmy Fallon was promoting this book as part of his reading club. As a huge Agatha Christie fan, it's always exciting to find a historical cozy set in modern times. The mystery comes from the past, which gave the story a fun old-fashioned vibe. The main character is likable and I hope to see her again in a future book.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

This book really gave The Inheritance Games vibes for adults, which I loved! The idea that a stranger needs to solve a murder in exchange for an inheritance was such an interesting premise, and I feel like this story was 3/4 of the way to where I really wanted it to be.
I really felt like we were set up well for a next book in a way that made a lot of sense, and reading the story was a breeze. It took me a few weeks to get through the first 50%, and then a few days to get through the rest. It was incredibly well balanced between the two timelines, and each one was equally interesting.
I felt like there was enough mystery in Frances diary to give us more in the future, I really enjoyed the 17 year old Frances story line, if I'm being honest I enjoyed it a little more than present day Annie's story line.
I did feel like there was the smallest bit of confusion in the big reveal. I didn't fully understand how all of the pieces came together, and if Frances diaries were lying or if I just didn't understand a piece of it.
Overall, I really enjoyed the book. The characters were well developed, I was for sure rooting for our hero, and I have already thought of which of my friends would enjoy this book!

While Kristen Perrin has written a perfectly good mystery in the vein of so many other Agatha Christie-style whodunnits out there, what I really hoped for and never got was that carrot dangled in front of me by the blurb promising me an “enormously fun mystery”. To be fair, everyone has a different idea of what “fun” means. I think of something that makes me smile/laugh or keeps me on the edge of my seat. This did neither.

Was it well-written? Yes. No complaints there. Did it have a clever, creative premise? Absolutely. Perrin can write, and those wanting a solid enough murder mystery to solve should still find enjoyment in trying to puzzle this one out. Series lovers will especially be happy to know that this is the beginning of a series, so if you do like it, there will be more to come.

Where it fell flat for me was that, as much as the book highlighted Frances in both the current timeline and diary excerpts from the past, I never once felt like I got to know her or any other character mentioned. Even worse, I didn’t connect with the main protagonist Annie or understand, despite the promise of Frances’ inheritance, why she felt so invested in a woman she literally never met. Too many things didn’t have adequate explanations, making the final reveals feel lackluster and less believable than I’d have liked.

Those who enjoy a slightly more serious, dual timeline, Christie-style mystery will likely enjoy this more. I would absolutely give this author another try. She has the writing chops, even if this particular story didn’t wow me!

What if you knew you were going to die, and you spent your lifetime trying to figure out who was going to kill you? That is the broad premise of How to Solve Your Own Murder, a novel that solves two crimes at once-- one in the present day, and one in the past. It is engaging and entertaining, without bogging down in terribly lengthy flashbacks. The red herrings are everywhere, fair warning! I hope this author writes more novels, and soon.

Frances has lived her life in fear of a fortune she received at the county fair when she was 17 that predicted her murder. She also spent a lifetime trying to figure out the disappearance of her friend Emily that happened later that year. Frances changes her will which brings her great niece, Annie, to the small town of Castle Knoll to learn of a possible inheritance. When Annie and the others arrive at Frances’s estate to meet with her they find her dead. What first appears to be natural causes quickly turns to foul play. Frances had planned for this moment and created a game for Annie and Frances nephew, Saxon, to compete in solving her murder and the winner takes all of the inheritance.
This was a very well written murder mystery. It had me guessing the entire time and I was not necessarily shocked by the outcome, but I was pleasantly surprised by the ending. This was such a classic whodunit with an extensive cast of characters, all of whom you could see being the murder at one moment or another. The back and forth of who I thought was guilty was constant from page to page and it kept me guessing and second guessing the whole time. This was an absolute page turner and I felt like it might have been left open to a possible sequel which I would totally read if that happened.

The following review was posted on Goodreads on 04.12.24:

HOW TO SOLVE YOUR OWN MURDER was one of two finalists being considered as the Spring read for Jimmy Fallon's book club. Even though the other contender was chosen instead, hearing him talk about this mystery reminded me how much I wanted to read it! I'm glad I did. It was the perfect book to pull me out of a little reading slump I was experiencing.

The book has a fun Knives Out vibe, although it's not as clever or as quirky. It's a pretty straightforward murder mystery, actually, with the added excitement of a high-stakes competition to figure out who killed the victim, a wealthy old busybody who ticked off plenty of people. Our heroine, Anna, is by far the most likable character in the book. She's smart, down-to-earth, and easygoing while also being in it to win it. The teenagers at the center of the novel (who are elderly in the present timeline) are not a very appealing bunch, even as adults. Their relationships with each other just seem dishonest and toxic. As kids, they're self-centered, immoral, and unkind; as adults, they don't seem much better. Frances is, maybe, the most pathetic of them all since she spends her entire life consumed by warily watching everyone around her, convinced one of them is going to murder her. Even though she's dead before the reader meets her, we get a taste of her through her diaries and, yeah, she's just not all that likable.

As far as plot goes, HOW TO SOLVE YOUR OWN MURDER moves along at a steady pace, with enough twists to keep it interesting. I identified the murder/murderers by the story's midpoint, but I still enjoyed the rest of the read. While it's not a can't-look-away, glued-to-your-seat page turner, I had a hard time putting the book down. I buzzed through it because I wanted to know what was going to happen next.

My only real problem with the novel is that, although it comes to a satisfying conclusion, I feel like there are some big gaps in the story. While maybe they aren't all that important to solving the mystery, I still wanted to know more about Frances' relationship with Rutherford; how Frances and Saxon got along, especially while he was growing up; how Frances and Rose carried on as adults and how the disappearance of Emily affected their trio; and a bunch of other details like that that didn't get enough play in the book. Without some of these details, the tale just feels a bit incomplete to me.

Even though I have a few small beefs with the book, I quite enjoyed HOW TO SOLVE YOUR OWN MURDER. I'm glad it's the start of a series as I'm excited to see what happens next for Anna.

If I could, I would give this book 3 1/2 stars; since I can't, I'm rounding up.

Overall this book was interesting but the twist was lack luster and made me want more. I enjoyed the "Knives Out" theme of the murder of an older relative and everyone has motive to commit the crime but the main character must figure out the who and the why.

I enjoyed Annie's character and journey to solve her great aunt's murder on the day she was supposed to meet her for the first time to go over her will. I am hoping to read more adventures of her.

I really enjoyed Frances's diary but wish there had been more of it. I felt like the conclusion of the murder of her friend was extremely rushed and out of the place. There was also a lot of focus on the fortune she was given as young girl and it felt forced in many cases and not necessary for the story.

🕵‍♀️ HOW TO SOLVE YOUR OWN MURDER by Kristin Perrin 🕵‍♀️

For readers who:
✨️love m*rder mysteries
✨️ enjoy the 'Finlay Donovan' series
✨️ like Agathie Christie
✨️ like dual-timeline novels

SYNOPSIS: In the 1960s, Francis Adams visits a fortune-teller at an English fair who gives her a terrifying vision of her future: she will be m*rdered. Francis spends her entire life trying to solve the mystery of her death before she even dies.
Annie Adams, the great-niece of Francis, arrives at Francis' manor in present-day, only to find she has just died. Annie becomes determined to find out who in the small village would have wanted her gone.

MY THOUGHTS: This one is definitely worth reading if you like mysteries. I picked it up and couldn't put it down. The author, Kristin Perrin, does a great job of keeping the reader guessing while dropping tiny Easter eggs. Francis' character is well developed through diary entries, and Annie is a likeable protagonist. I really enjoyed this one, and I look forward to more from this author!

In Kristen Perrin's How To Solve Your Own Murder, Frances Adams receives a chilling fortune at the Castle Knoll County Fair in 1965, and she spends the remainder of her life convinced that one day it will come true. Sixty years later, it does—Frances is found murdered in her own home.

The protagonist, Annie, has never met her Great Aunt Frances. The plot takes off when she receives a letter telling her to come to Castle Knot to meet Frances. However, during her journey to Castle Knot, her aunt is murdered. Annie must now solve the murder within a week and before anyone else if she wants to receive the hefty inheritance Aunt Frances left to her.

This murder mystery is enjoyable! The plot is fast-paced and set in an interesting environment. There are a lot of surface level characters that are hard to keep track at times, but the pace of the story keeps the reader moving.


Thank you to NetGalley and Quercus Books for the eARC!

I loved this cozyish mystery and will definitely have my eye out for more from this author. The use of multiple timelines and both Frances and Annie to solve Frances’ murder was so clever. I loved the village and manor setting along with multiple characters you want to love but also are suspicious. My only qualm was the over use of “Great Aunt Frances” instead of just saying Frances. Very minor and just a me problem.