Frances Adams has been trying to avoid/prepare for her own murder since she was a teen. She's gathered dirt on everyone she's ever known in her small country village in an effort to solve a crime before it's been committed. For sixty years no one believed Frances, now it seems she was right all along, when she's found murdered in her own home.
Enter her great-niece Annie Adams, a writer and determined woman. Once Annie finds out her Aunt Frances was murdered she becomes determined to solve the crime. Unfortunately, the sleepy village is hiding its share of secrets and the locals all seem to have motive...

I loved this mystery novel! Once I started I could not stop reading. The pacing was perfect and hooked me in right away, The view points switch each chapter or so, from Frances's files and diary of the past to Annie's perspective in the present. The twists were great and Annie was a lot of fun to follow through her investigation. There were several funny moments and the descriptions of each scene felt lush and real. The book wrapped up rather well, with just enough room for a possible sequel. I do hope to read more from Kristen Perrin as How to Solve Your Own Murder was a wild ride and just the mystery novel I wanted.

How To Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin
Rating: 4 stars
Pub date: 3/26

The story begins in 1965 when a fortune teller tells Frances Adams that she’s going to be murdered. This chilling prophecy haunts her and she spends the next 60 years compiling information on everyone she meets to figure out who her murderer could be. When Frances really is murdered in her home, her great-niece, Annie, finds herself embroiled in a web of secrets and lies as she tries to unravel the mystery surrounding Frances's death. With a fortune at stake, Annie dives headfirst into France’s world, racing against time to uncover the truth.

This cozy mystery is clever and has quite a few twists I didn’t see coming. With her determination and wit, Annie makes for a compelling MC, while Frances's intriguing journals offer glimpses into the past. The past chapters were my favorite, where we find out more about Frances and who could have wanted her dead.

This is a must-read for fans of classic mysteries and anyone looking for a “whodunit” with a modern twist. Perrin's storytelling prowess shines through in this gripping tale of secrets and betrayal.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Dutton for my advanced copy.

DNF @ 23%

Unfortunately this book just wasn't for me, I had a really hard time connecting with any of the characters and just wasn't invested in the mystery presented.

How to Solve Your Own Murder is a highly satisfying cozy mystery that will hopefully be the first in a long series. Frances Adams entire life has been dedicated to solving her own murder—which was foretold by a fortuneteller when she was 17 years old. She was told that after a series of events had come to pass, she would be killed. And she was.

Her great-niece Annie had only heard about crazy aunt Frances. But when Frances summoned Annie to her home to discuss changing her will, Annie headed off to meet her great aunt at last. Unfortunately she arrived just in time to discover her aunt’s body. Regretting that she had not gotten to meet Frances in life, Annie is determined to find out who killed Frances. And she would use the clues Frances left in her murder room to do it. Annie has another incentive. To ensure that her murderer would be caught, Frances’ will specifies that her vast estate would go to whichever of her potential heirs was able to solve the murder—Annie or her late husband’s nephew, Saxon. And, they are given just one week to solve the crime.

This book was such a fun read. The premise is original, the story moves along at a great pace, the characters are enjoyable, and the ending is satisfying. This is the kind of book you want to take to read on the beach. However, it is also the kind of book that makes you forget about time, so wear plenty of sunscreen!

A really fun murder mystery with essentially two plot lines and two murders to solve at once. The characters were good although keeping all the family connections straight was a little tough. The plot kept me guessing until the end! My only complaint was that the romantic tension between Annie and the detective didn’t get resolved but I suppose that’s what sequels are for.

Really cute cozy mystery. It wasn’t really my cup of tea, I prefer a little more on the edge of your seat reading, but super fun for what it was! Definitely will be recommending it to people who prefer these types of books :)

A compelling dual timeline murder mystery with interesting characters full of family secrets. I really enjoyed this first in a new cozy mystery series set in England as the heir to an inheritance finds herself solving her great aunt's murder while also falling into the sights of her killer too. Good on audio and perfect for fans of books like The Thursday murder club. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review. I'm interested to see what happens in the next book!

4.5 stars! This book absolutely hooked me. I was a bit nervous going into it because I was worried that it was going to be too similar to other books I have read in the past, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised. I loved the little excerpts from Frances' diary. I also loved that all the clues I needed to solve the murder were presented to me. That being said, I still was thrown a curveball with that twist. I see that Goodreads has this listed as #1 in the series, but felt this one wrapped up really nicely. I am anxious to see what book 2 is about after enjoying book 1 so much!

Thank you @NetGalley, Dutton, and @penguinbooks for my free copy to read and review! I alternated between listening to the audiobook and reading the arc.

LOVED, LOVED this exciting cozy murder mystery! Fans of Riley Sager and Agatha Christie will really enjoy this read!

1965, teenager Frances Adams is read her fortune that foretells of her future murderous demise. When D-day finally approaches, Frances wills her estate to the heir that solves her death.

In comes Annie Adams, an aspiring mystery novelist, eager to get to know her great-Aunt through her writings and by solving all the mysteries of Frances’ life and death. First mystery being the discovery of a trunk of bones, human bones — decades old. Bones belonging to Frances’ missing childhood friend, Emily.

Annie works to solve both murders before time runs out, all while, trying to remain safe herself. As Annie discovers many truths, the murderer is revealed, one that is truly SHOCKING!

How to solve your own murder is a cozy mystery that has Clue vibes. Great Aunt Frances receives a fortune at 16 about how her life will end. She spends the rest of her life being obsessed with solving her murder, but ultimately dies before she can solve it. Here her great niece, Annie Adams comes in. Annie becomes obsessed with solving her Great Aunt Frances murder and things become quite dangerous along the way as well as some secrets being revealed.

I really liked the dual timelines and POVs that are narrated by Frances and Annie. The plot twist and the murderers I did not see coming! It was a little slow at first but when the action really started in France’s diary timeline, I became more invested. Keeping up with the suspects that are in both timelines with their family tree became a little confusing. I wish we would have gotten a sneak peek of Frances married life. Overall, I enjoyed reading Frances and Annie’s murder mystery journey.

What would you do if you have been told that you will get murdered?

This is what happen to France when she go to fortune teller at the Country Fair with her two best friend, France believed the fortune teller prediction and become obsessed and paranoid over her upcoming death. No one takes Frances seriously, until nearly sixty years later, Frances is found murdered. Annie, France's great niece determined to find her murderer before its too late.

How to Solve Your Murder is a historical, cozy small town mysteries told in dual timeline: Past (1965-1966) and Present in which we get both woman POVs. I like that the past timelines is in a diary format, it helps to get to know her characters and understand the way she is. We also learn more about France's background, how her life after the fortune told, and how the betrayal happens. The present timelines is mostly about Annie trying to figure out the truth behind France death as well as getting to know France's acquaintance.

I have a love-hate relationship with dual timeline. Some make me feel disconnected with the story but this one was well done. I truly enjoyed the true 'whodunnit' of this book, The character doesn't feel one dimensional, it felt real. The betrayal, the rage and hatred. I also enjoy some of the twist at the end. However, some parts are quite dragged and feels too long.

Overall, I would definitely recommend it if you love friendship secrets, family fortune and small town mystery. Giving it 3.8. Thank you Dutton books and Netgalley for gifting me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This one was ok, I found myself extremely engaged at various parts of the book...but also struggled to get through other parts! I'd recommend this one to anyone looking for a historical fiction mystery

I loved the premise and wow, did this open with a bang! The first page completely drew me in and it didn't let up. The comparison to Knives Out is spot on and I'd recommend this one to any fans of cozy mysteries.

Annie Adams is despairing of making a go of her writing career when she gets an unusual summons. Her Great Aunt Frances apparently wants her to come up from London to visit the village of Castle Knoll, where Frances has long made her home. Annie and her mother Laura have always been under the impression that Laura would be the sole beneficiary of wealthy, eccentric Frances’ will, but this summons hints at a recent change of heart on the older woman’s part.

Ever since Frances was seventeen, she’s believed that she would be murdered, after a fortune teller predicted that fate for her at a county fair. Nearly sixty years have passed since then, and Frances has kept her hometown hopping with her paranoia in the interim. Annie, having never met the woman, is unsure of exactly what she’s walking into as she prepares to finally meet her great aunt for the first time. The townsfolk seem to regard Frances as annoying but mostly harmless, which does little to prepare Annie for Frances actually being murdered shortly after Annie arrives in Castle Knoll.

Even worse, Annie is quickly pitted against Frances’ nephew, Saxon Gravesdown, in a race to figure out who killed Frances. According to Frances’ recently updated will, whoever brings the killer to justice first inherits everything. If, however, neither can solve the case within a week, Frances’ sprawling estate – including Annie and Laura’s London home, and the lands Frances administered for the benefit of the villagers – will be sold to property developers instead:

QUOTE
From a certain perspective, if I can’t solve this murder, Saxon is probably the next best choice. Perhaps I can make some kind of deal with him if he wins, and he’ll let us keep our house. I’m still determined to do the best I can, but it’s smart to consider all the possible outcomes. The property development company just sounds like a horrible way for this to end. And there it is–another stroke of Great Aunt Frances’ genius.

The whole town will give us whatever information they can, once they find out what will happen if we fail. Aside from the murderer, of course. But it’s extremely cunning. Great Aunt Frances really has forced everyone who ever doubted her to take her seriously now.
END QUOTE

As Annie investigates, she discovers evidence that inextricably links Frances’ death to the disappearance of the older woman’s best friend almost sixty years before. Emily Sparrow had been beautiful, bright and perhaps not as good a friend to Frances and Rose, the other girl in their tightly knit circle, as she might have been. Much of this was due to the influence of Emily’s mother Fiona, whose abuse of her daughter was an open secret among the girls as they blossomed into young women. As Frances confides in her diary:

QUOTE
<i>But after that, Emily’s games got darker and more intense. Not all at once, but gradually, and in a way that was thrilling at first. Our early teens passed with Emily inventing the best scary stories, and leading Rose and me in summoning ghosts or dabbling in made-up black magic. We spied on people in the village and gossiped together when we uncovered secrets that we knew were half-invented. But we never hurt anyone, and we never hurt ourselves.

“We can’t blame Fiona for everything Emily does,” Rose said. “She’s not here, making Emily’s choices.”

“Maybe not,” I said. “But I sometimes wonder whether Emily toys with us just to feel she has some control over her life, outside of Fiona’s reach. Or perhaps it’s a way of punishing us for knowing too much.”</i>
END QUOTE

Emily disappeared when the girls were eighteen. Many assumed that the headstrong young woman had simply gotten tired of her mother and life in Castle Knoll, and had taken off for more glamorous parts of the world. But Frances had always feared that Emily was dead, and never stopped trying to figure out what had happened to her. Could Frances have finally deduced Emily’s fate, and could that have caused someone to fulfill a prophecy made over a half a century earlier?

Annie must try to find out, navigating the present with its confounding characters, and the past with the help of Frances’ teenage diary. The stakes are high, and are only raised when Annie finds herself in the killer’s crosshairs. Will she be able to secure her family’s future, or will she be the next to die?

I can definitely see the comparisons between How To Solve Your Own Murder and the blockbuster movie Knives Out, as multiple heirs vie to solve a killing in order to inherit vast riches. And while I appreciated the narrative device of having chapters from Frances’ diary interspersed with Annie’s modern-day investigations, I felt oddly disconnected from most of the characters. Still, this was a clever enough puzzle that illustrates how any prophecy can be self-fulfilling given an adequate amount of time. Its bucolic English setting, moving back and forth between centuries, is also a big plus for fans of both the genre and milieu.

A young mystery writer named Annie Adams finds herself in Castle Knoll, a small English village, in a competition to solve her estranged great aunt's murder. The catch? It must be solved within the week. The conflict? There are many people involved in the game with their own stakes, their own schemes, and their own secrets. The intrigue? Frances was told nearly 60 years ago by a fortune teller that she would be murdered, causing her to become reclusive and suspicious of everyone in town for the rest of her life. She had also been trying to solve the disappearance of her friend Emily for years and years. The fun? There's a double murder plot to unravel! One set in the past, in the 1960's; the other set in the present day.

The question is: can Annie solve them both?

If you're a fan of cozy mysteries with an Agatha-like pace, then you'll find this one enticing. While the plot did feel overly crowded at times, with the lies and betrayals of less important characters taking up too much space, I enjoyed the small town antics, the inheritance questions, as well as the false leads and numerous suspects. Annie is a likable, enthusiastic character. She may not be the best at following clues or sussing out people, but she makes up for it with her inquisitive charm and her mystery writer turn of mind.

3.5 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley and Dutton for the ARC in exchange for my review.

It was all supposed to be just a bit of fun, when three teenage friends visit Madame Peony Lane at the Castle Knoll Country Fair in 1965. But, when Frances is given this grim prediction, she becomes fixated on its message. For the remainder of her life, she will try to outrun death, and solve her own murder. I preferred Annie’s chapters, BUT, I didn’t find the characters in either timeline to feel authentic which is a problem for me-or in other words, they seemed like “characters” as opposed to people you might actually meet.

Frances, a teenaged girl in the early 1960s has her fortune told at a carnival, and becomes obsessed with it—because it foretold her murder. And so she spends the rest of her long life learning secrets about the people around her, because surely one of them will eventually kill her. Frances even arranged to set up her will so that her large fortune will go to one of two people, either her great niece or her husband's ward—whichever one can solve Frances's murder first.
So when Annie is invited to the reading of her great aunt Frances's will, she is lured into Frances's paranoia and death, but also into a decades old mystery. And the killer would prefer that neither mystery is solved.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I truly enjoyed this mystery book! Will definitely be following this author, as to not miss her next book!

It was interesting to understand the murder victim through her own teenage eyes (diary) and get to know her at the same time as the main character.

The back and forth from present day to the past (diary) was well done, it wasn’t jarring. I enjoyed the true whodunnit of this book, a la Agatha Christie. And the twist of who the killer was, unexpected!

Confession: I almost didn't want to read this because for some reason, I hate the cover. I'm really glad that I didn't give into that impulse, because I had a great time reading. This is a quirky mystery and I loved the writing. Something to be aware of is that we do have a present day narrative interspersed with historical journal entries. It's a big enough portion that if that's not your thing, you probably wouldn't enjoy this one. Such a roller coaster getting to the final outcome

I have been trying to get into murder mysteries lately, but sometimes they can feel very formulaic. That is not the case with How to Solve Your Own Murder!
My favorite part of this book was the dual
POV/timelines. I loved getting to be in young Frances’ head. The second timeline followed Frances’ great niece, Annie Adams, in present day. Annie has just been summoned to meet with her Great Aunt in Castle Knoll so they can discuss her place in Frances’ will. Annie is overall unfamiliar with her Great Aunt, having never met her. Being a currently unemployed, aspiring murder mystery writer, Annie has plenty of time to take the train and meet her Great Aunt.
Sixty years ago, Frances had her fortune told at the Castle Knoll Country Fair. Whether it was an honest to god true fortune or if it was a self-fulfilling prophecy is a mystery that we will
not find the answer to in this book. This fortune changed the direction of Frances’ life. Reading her diary entries gives you the impression that she thought of the fortune always and was worried to the point of paranoia about it coming true.
On the day Annie and Frances are set to meet, Frances finally meets her fate and it seems as if her fortune has been fulfilled. In her will she has left instructions that whosoever solves her murder first is set to inherit the house, or turn it over to property developers.
I found the premise of this book very fun! It felt a little on the nose that Annie was trying her hand at writing murder mystery novels and then found herself immersed in a real life one. There were a lot of characters in this book and some of them could have been fleshed out a little bit more for my liking, but overall I understood everyone’s motives for their actions and their differing personalities helped to tell them apart throughout the story. The pacing of the book was perfect for me, it kept me interested and I never felt like the story was growing dull. I appreciate how much Annie relied on her great aunt’s diary and the other research she had done on the people of Castle Knoll prior to her death.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and it felt well done. I enjoyed Frances’ POV and wish that there had been more of her in the book. Annie’s personality felt a little lacking, but the large cast of characters and the history we learn about them kept me interested.
Give this book a read if you enjoy small town mysteries, dual POVs stretching across different timelines, fast-paced books that last, and twists & turns.
Thank you so much to Dutton books and netgalley for gifting me an eARC in exchange for an honest review!