Wow! What a fun and enjoyable read! I absolutely LOVED Kristen Perrin's novel, How To Solve Your Own Murder.

Here's why:

1. Book's cover. I LOVE IT! The colors, the font and the images - they are perfect! It screams English village, estate, murder, and mystery. I would buy the book based on the cover.

2. Book's summary. Frances goes to a fair with her besties and finds out she will be murdered thanks to a fortune teller. Talk about a misfortune. She's sixteen at the time. Fast forward sixty years and she is murdered. Her great-niece, Annie, decides to make it her mission to find out who killed her. The only thing is, her investigation may just lead to her own murder. Yikes!

3. Cozy murder mysteries are where it's at! I think that is why I enjoyed this story so much. I loved the atmosphere of the small village, Frances' journals (she spent her life trying to figure out who wanted to kill her), odd characters which made for a great list of suspects, and that is just a few of the pros about this book. Did I mention the writing - top notch! I found myself easily transported to the village of Castle Knoll and joining alongside Annie's investigation - such a treat!

4. Characters. LOVED them!!

5. Overall, this book was a gem. It was so much fun trying to figure out whodunit. I loved how quickly you get caught up in the story. It was just a really great book. And I would happily recommend it to anyone and everyone looking for their next read - you will LOVE this book to bits!





Thank you to Dutton Books and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book!

This was such a fun whodunnit read with a great starting premise. The only weird part is that the strong predictions that ignite the entire mystery and storyline fizzles out, and by the end of the book, there is barely any mention of it. Yet that doesn't diminish the energy as you read through the mysteries and events, figuring out the puzzle with the main character Annie Adams.

The author does well to allow us to get to know Frances, even though it is only through journal entries. Honestly I frown at that most of the times, but this has been done well. And I enjoy the development of Annie's character as she becomes smarter and stronger. A few minor characters were somewhat confusing, but it is set up enough to make this a fun read rather than being annoyed by extra unnecessary characters. All in all, this was great!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this book! All opinions are my own.

DNF at 40%/chapter 17. The premise of this book initially intrigued me as I enjoy a good mystery, but this one fell flat for me and moved too slowly. The dual POV/past diary entries were interesting at first because I was able to get some background information about Great Aunt Frances when she was younger. However, I felt there should have been more of a connection between the past and present by the time I was nearly halfway through the book.

I don’t mind a larger cast of characters, especially when everyone is suspicious, but there were far too many side characters and family connections to try to keep track of while reading that many of them didn’t have enough development to really stand out. Additionally, and perhaps most importantly, Annie, didn’t have a strong enough presence as a main character. She was a bit too mousy and over-explained what she was thinking instead of simply leading the reader through clues and suspicious behavior.

This could be a good book for someone who doesn’t mind taking their time on a stroll through the English countryside, but this one wasn’t as engaging for me as it could have been.

For fans of cozy-esque and classic murder mysteries, make this your next read. A morbid prophecy and a whodunnit to solve are woven together in this mystery from Kristen Perrin, the first book in the Castle Knoll Files series. Join Annie Adams as she solves the murder of her great-aunt Frances through twists, turns, and a diary full of clues.

Thank you, NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for this ARC!

This was such a fun murder mystery!! I loved all of the characters in this one - especially the late Great Aunt Frances. When Frances’ great-niece, Annie, comes back to Castle Knoll to learn about her potential future inheritance - things get sped up when Frances is found dead in her study.

I would consider this a “cozy” mystery, based on the fact that it takes place in a small village where everyone knows everyone. I loved learning everyone’s secrets alongside Annie, and this one definitely kept me guessing. This is to be the first in a series and I am greatly looking forward to the next book!

Check this one out if you like cozy mysteries, small towns, and family secrets!!

HAPPY PUBLICATION DAY!! 3/26
THE GAME IS AFOOT! This quirky puzzle was just the mystery I needed. The title and cover reeled me in right away and I took the bait.

Annie Adams is a teen from Chelsea who has just received a jaw-dropping letter from her Great Aunt Frances. She has been chosen to attend a very important meeting involving the possible inheritance of the Gravesdown Estate, in Castle Knolls, where her Aunt lives. How is this possible when she's never even met her Great Aunt Frances? When she arrives at the meeting, Aunt Frances isn't there. Someone has killed her at the Gravesdown Estate. Aunt Frances was obsessed with a fortune telling she received as a child:
"Your future contains dry bones. Your slow demise begins right when you hold the queen in the palm of one hand. Beware the bird, for it will betray you. And from that, there's no coming back. But daughters are the key to justice. Find the right one and keep her close. All signs point toward your murder."
Since the day of the fortune telling, Frances did not stop researching and investigating the path to her own murder. Her friends, family, and all of Castle Knolls thought her to be completely crazy. She foresaw her murder coming, but died not knowing who committed it. Her solicitor reads a letter to Saxon, her nephew, and Annie stating that whomever can solve her murder within 5 days of her death will receive her whole inheritance. If neither of them solves it, the estate will be demolished and turned into businesses. The game is certainly afoot as Annie digs into her Aunt's journal from her teenage years, uncovering secrets of the past while Saxon races to use his upbringing at Gravesdown to his advantage.

I really bought into this whodunnit from the first page. I was fascinated by the switch in Frances's journal entries from the 60's and the present day race to solve the puzzle. I found the concept of this murder mystery to be creative and original; the characters well-developed and quirky; and the process of solving the murder extremely entertaining. I really thought I had this one figured out, but I was completely way off. I do actually wish I had been right. I think it would have made the ending more entertaining. The ending was definitely surprising, yet it was presented in such a strange way. Kristen Perrin definitely left no stone unturned in her writing and everything clicked in place to a big "OOOOOOH, OK".

Huge thanks to Kristen Perrin, Penguin Group Dutton, and NetGalley for this amazing ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“Your future contains dry bones. Your slow demise begins right when you hold the queen in the palm of one hand. Beware the bird, for it will betray you. And from that, there’s no coming back. But daughters are the key to justice, find the right one and keep her close. All signs point toward your murder.”

Frances Adams has lived her life wary of the prophecy given by a fortune teller she met as a sixteen-year-old in 1965. Throughout her life she has tried to collect as much information as she could on friends, family, and almost everyone in her circle, all relevant information documented on private files and the puzzle depicted on her very own murder board, to identify those who could possibly be plotting her murder. Sixty years later, she is found dead in her lavish home in the English countryside and she has left specific instructions on how she wants her murder investigated.

Aspiring mystery writer Annabelle “Annie” Adams is summoned by her estranged Great-Aunt Frances’s solicitors to meet her for the very first time in connection to revisions made in Frances’s will. Unfortunately, Frances is found murdered the day Annie arrives in Castle Knoll. As per Frances’s last wishes, Annie and her relatives are in competition to find Frances’ killer. Whoever can solve the mystery within a stipulated time frame or before the police – will inherit Frances’s estate – not an easy task in itself compounded by the fact that Francis made enough enemies by digging up dirt on everyone she knew. Everyone Annie meets has secrets they want to protect and with a murderer in their midst, Annie needs to work fast before she becomes the killer’s next target.

How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin is a well-crafted, entertaining whodunit. The narrative is presented from the perspective of Annie with Frances’s journal entries from the 1960s in chapters interspersed throughout the narrative. The author deftly weaves past and present events into a fluid, well-paced narrative with more than one intriguing mystery and several suspects in the fold. Even though we don’t get to meet adult Frances we get to know a lot about her from her journal entries from when she was a teenager on the cups of adulthood and details shared by those who knew her during her lifetime. Annie is an endearing protagonist – impulsive yet smart, perceptive and curious - and I enjoyed following her efforts in unraveling the mystery. I loved the atmospheric setting and enjoyed getting to know the characters (even the unlikable ones). Even though the story features a large cast of characters and several sub-plots woven into the narrative, at no point does the plot get overly complicated, ambiguous or convoluted. Though I wasn’t entirely surprised by the final revelation, I enjoyed how we got there and was intrigued by many of the developments along the way.

Overall, I found this novel to be an enjoyable, cozy mystery and would be eager to explore future books in this series.

Many thanks to Penguin Group Dutton for the digital review copy via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This was such a delightful read! How To Solve Your Own Murder is cozy but snarky, propulsive, small town murder and secrets. I loved how the townspeople were all intertwined making it very difficult to figure out who main suspects could be. We have rich people behaving badly as well, and that's always a treat. There are time jumps but they are not confusing and add to the readability of the book. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this entertaining, compulsively readable book, I think you should read it too!!

Wow! I picked up this book because I was intrigued by the title, and it did not disappoint. I was a bit befuddled by the first two chapters, but by chapter three, I had the writing cadence down and I was enthralled by the characters and plot.

The story is told primarily in one timeline by the main character, Annie Adams, but between each of her present-day chapters, is an entry from her Great Aunt Frances’ diary written in 1965-1966. It becomes a bewitching storytelling technique when the diary entries become clues to solving the diary writer’s murder.

There are a lot of characters in this story, and many of them are featured in the diary as well present day. Add to that mix their offspring and spouses as well as other village dwellers, and there are a lot of characters and potential murders to track. I loved that along with each of Annie’s findings or suppositions, I also pondered the how and why of a character’s potential involvement in not one but two murders!

I loved the characters and story premise and pacing of the plot. I was completely surprised by the big twist at the climax of the story, and the denouement is mostly satisfactory. While reading, I found I was annoyed to have to put the book down, and while I couldn’t wait to get to the big reveal, I hated that my escape to Castle Knoll ended. Bravo author Kristen Perrin on the excellent novel.

HOW TO SOLVE YOUR OWN MURDER by Kristen Perrin is a clever and entertaining double murder mystery set in the small English village of Castle Knoll and told in dual timelines. In 1965, Frances Adams receives a shocking prediction when a fortune-teller at a country fair predicts she will be murdered. She spends the next sixty years obsessing over who might kill her and trying to prevent the act by digging up dirt on every villager. In the present day, Annie Adams has been summoned to her wealthy great-aunt Frances’ estate for a meeting about changes to her will. But by the time the meeting is to take place, Frances is found dead, just as was predicted. Everyone in the village is a suspect and if Annie is to inherit her great-aunt’s fortune, she will have to solve the mystery of the murder before anyone else. But digging into the past might just put Annie in danger of meeting the same fate as her aunt. The story is full of intrigue, small-town secrets and plenty of twists and turns. I enjoyed this fast-paced and suspenseful mystery and look forward to the next book in this Castle Knoll series. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read and review an early copy.

This family-centric mystery had heavy cozy mystery vibes wrapped inside a cacoon of an intriguing case. What happens when you receive bad news and have been focused on it for 60 years? How would it inform your decisions? Your relationships? Who would you choose to keep close and how would you choose them?
In this dual timeline novel we follow Annabelle, the great-granddaughter of Frances, who is known in the village as the silly old woman fraught with superstition, but what happens when she's right? What happens when a cold case is brought back to the forefront and generations-old clues suddenly come to light?
THIS FANTASTIC NOVEL, THATS WHAT!
The characters felt like family, and I was sad when it was over, An absolute must-read!

HOW TO SOLVE YOUR OWN MURDER, Kristen Perrin

In 1965, 17-year-old Frances went to a fair with a fortune teller’s booth, who prophesized that she'd be murdered. She lives the next sixty years expecting her own murder, and no one believes that this will happen until she was found murdered on the day of her will reading. The catch: whoever solves Frances’ murder first inherits the estate and fortune. Now Annie (Frances’ great-niece), Saxon (Frances’ nephew) and Detective Crane rush to put the pieces together, because they have only seven days to figure it out, or it all goes to a developer with plans for a hotel and golf course.

The story is told from the perspective of Annie in the present day, alternating with entries from Frances’ 1965-1966 journals, skillfully delivering crucial backstories that add to the building tension across the story. The book is filled with mysteries within mysteries, both old and new, a plethora of suspects all with very good motives and things to hide, where tension mounts and danger escalates.

This book is a clever and twist-laden small-town cozy mystery that is fun and entertaining, and worth checking out. Annie and Frances are two compassionate and smart women, and alongside is a cast of characters that are all mostly likable and interesting. I have to admit that I did not know who the murderers (both past and present-day) were until the big reveal.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review!

I had a somewhat difficult time keeping the various characters straight, particularly given the different time frames, but this classic style mystery was still great. I really liked the character of Frances and I'm excited to see where this series goes.

Annie Adams moves back home with her mom in her grand, dilapidated home in central London to pursue her dreams of being a murder mystery author. Shortly after, Annie receives a summons from the estate of her Great Aunt Frances requesting her to come to the reading of her will in Castle Knoll. She has never met her Great Aunt and her mother was previously the beneficiary of the estate up until recently. Annie arrives at the sprawling estate in Castle Knoll, and is immediately thrown into an inheritance competition carefully orchestrated by Frances prior to her death.

Great Aunt Frances received a fortune when she was 17 years old that foretold her death. She has been trying to outwit and outrun death since. The fortune told of her being betrayed by the bird, her bones in a box and her demise beginning when she had the Queen within her palm. Her murder became her obsession and her life revolved around outsmarting her killer before they could act. Unfortunately, Frances was murdered and now it is up to the select few named in her will to solve the puzzle. The prize - her vast estate, including $40 million pounds, and the claim to finding justice for her murder.

This book was so much fun! I truly enjoyed reading this mystery and following the paths of the “players” in the inheritance chase. There are glimpses of Frances as a teenager as Annie reads her diary and this brought an interesting perspective from the past right into the present game. Highly recommend if you enjoy mind games and murder mysteries!

Thank you NetGalley for the privilege of reading the ARC copy of How To Solve Your Own Murder! Grab your copy when it comes out tomorrow, March 26th 🖤

5 Stars
Genre - cozy mystery, historical-ish fiction (one timeline is set in the '60s)
Tone - mad-dash, eccentric, gasp-inducing
Tropes & devices - dual timelines, "stuck together", (view spoiler)
Reps - FMC has panic / anxiety disorder / attacks. A few minor characters are queer.
CW - verbal abuse of a child, domestic violence (slapping), gun violence, murder

Annie arrives at great-aunt Frances's estate the exact day she's murdered, as the fortune she received as a teenager had predicted she would be. The good news is, Frances left Annie with a good head start; a lifetime of snooping, obsessive filing, and deliberate journaling fill her office, and she's tasked Annie and her nephew with solving the mystery of whodunit. Racing the police (including a handsome detective), the crooked nephew, and the killer(s?) on the loose, Annie must solve Frances's murder to inherit the estate, save the town from a developer, and keep her own home. Frances's story is told through interjected sections of her journal, documenting the events that take place from the time she first hears the fortune that will haunt her for the rest of her life.

I so purely enjoyed this book; I couldn't stop turning the pages (cliché, but honest). I spent the first half waiting for Frances to catch on to a major plot point I'd predicted; I spent the second half gasping and literally throwing a hand to my mouth in surprise. I'm not great at seeing a twist, but there were quite a few here (even minor ones) that really threw me and kept me guessing. There was a bit of a romance subplot that wasn't too overpowering to the mystery, and the set up to a series at the ending was well integrated. Similar titles I can think of are The Minuscule Mansion of Myra Malone, which has dual storylines, historical fiction elements, and multigenerational female familial relationships; and The Museum of Ordinary People, which features more family heirlooms and documents, and their twisty secrets.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A small town, an inn and a mysterious murder, make this the perfect cozy mystery. It grabs your attention immediately with an eccentric, wealthy widow obsessed with a fortune teller’s prophecy from decades before.

Our heroine, Annie Adams is the newly appointed heir of wealthy France’s estate. As a would-be mystery author, Annie seems to be the perfect person to solve the mystery. With only France’s journals and her extensive collection of fact gathering, Annie is time pressed to find the killer.

With a full cast of characters, it gives off a bit of a Clue vibe. The dual narrative and timeline make it interesting, doling out little tidbits of Frances’s life. The character development kept me invested, wanting to find out more. The twists in this plot come together a little too easily in the end, but altogether it was a very enjoyable read.

In 1965 Frances gets her fortune read and is convinced she will be murdered exactly as described. She spends her life paranoid that someone is about to kill her and she creates a murder board with facts and evidence to help someone solve her own murder some day. The day finally comes, 60 years later, as she finalizes her will detailing what will happen to her inheritance and estate. Solving the mystery falls into the hands of her great niece, Annie, but tensions are high as the murderer is still out there...

This reads a lot like an Agatha Christie / whodunit novel. I had a fun time trying to piece all of the clues together. I enjoyed the flashbacks to Frances's journals and present time with Annie. It was interesting to learn how Frances's paranoia built over the years. I'd recommend for anyone that loves cozy mysteries!

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Group Dutton, and the author for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

How to Solve Your Own Murder
by Kristen Perrin
Pub Date: March 26, 2024

The fortune teller tells Frances will be murdered and have dry bones in her future. If only she knew the rest of the story ... it's 60 years later and she shouldn't be freaked out. When she is found dead 60 years later there are so many questions rather than answers. Her niece starts investigating her Aunt Frances death and its clear there is a murder. Her Aunt has a room with murder boards with all f her friends, neighbors and anyone that her grandmother has a relationship with. She didn't just have 1 murder board but 2 murder boards.

I love the pace of this book and the characters were well developed. I really enjoyed reading this book and trying to figure out who was the murderer #1 and murderer #2. This is a great book for a rainy, cold day and I so enjoyed this book and think if you are into Agatha Christie who done it style story, then you will love this book.. The way the current and the past come together and how similar they are.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penquin group, Dutton and Kristen Perrin for providing an ARC in return for my honest opinion.
Keep reading and finsing your next adventure in black and white.

5⭐️

Wow wow wow fantastic debut!!!

Please give me more Rowan Crane and Annabelle. I loved both so much and really enjoyed Detective Crane so much. He was such a loveable character.

This book gave me knives out but also Veronica Speedwell character vibes. There are a lot of characters introduced in the first 25% but honestly once you get into it, it's really easy to follow along. This story is also told in dual timelines thru a journal. There are two mysteries that Annie is trying to solve. Who killed Frances and what happened to her friend Emily.

I absolutely adored this book and I am really hoping that this is an ongoing series. I would read anything in this Castle Knoll setting.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for this advanced reader copy. My review is voluntarily my own.

“Your future contains dry bones. Your slow demise begins right when you hold the Queen in the palm of your hand. Beware the bird, for it will betray you. And, from that, there is no coming back. But daughters are the key to justice, find the right one and keep her close. All signs point toward your murder.”

In 1965 Frances had her fortune read and after that day she was obsessed with figuring out who would be her murderer.

Sixty years later Frances reached out to her great niece, Annie Adams to her solicitor's office. They had never met, but Frances decided to name Annie as the sole benefactor of the estate and assets... BUT! Before the will could be read Frances was murdered!

Because Frances "knew" she was going to be murdered she decided to turn it into a game for everyone.

The story alternates between Annie's perspective and France's diary entries which to me was great! It has a feel of Knives Out, Murder Mystery and Agatha Christie novels. I enjoyed the book, I will be putting a hold at the library for the audio version of it and cannot wait to hear the narrators take on the characters.


Publication date: March 26th 2024!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!