This was an adventure from beginning to end! For the fans of the movie Knives Out, The Inheritance Games series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, and A Good Girls Guide to Murder by Holly Black. This murder mystery centered around two main characters in different timelines follows Frances as a fortune of a certain murder told to her at a carnival begins to ruin her life, and Annie, Frances’ Great Niece, as she gets called on to solve said murder.

I was so excited about this premise and it gave me everything I wanted and more! I loved following Annie as she found different clues that would help her in her discovery, made even better by being able to learn these things right along side her in the “past” timeline chapters. I grew to love Annie and Frances and loved being able to explore Castle Knoll and the Gravesdown Estate with them both in their respective timelines.

If you love a good murder mystery, I cannot recommend this one enough!

We have our fmc, Annie, who suddenly has the possibility of acquiring a lot of wealth upon the death of a mysterious great aunt. She goes to a cozy English countryside village to visit this aunt only to find out that she's dead. Oops! The rest of the book follows Annie who is trying to find out what happened to her great aunt, and in the meantime she stumbles across some of the aunt's diaries and we get to learn a lot of JUICY history! And will Annie acquire any wealth at all? 👀

On to the review!
It's been a LOOONG time since I flew through a book, so that should say a lot about this! I've also been craving a cozy mystery for the longest time and this was a bundle of cozies (despite the murderous behavior lol).

To be honest, there's nothing I disliked about this book, I LOVED everythinggg. So, I'm going to list out and explain all of my loves:
- Annie is so lovable and quirky and hilarious, not to mention her cutesy, modest fashion sense🥹.
- The other characters are just as intriguing with their own drama going on on the side. One of my absolute favorite things about the characters was the diversity represented. The author includes poc characters who appear as a normal fabric of society, and they're not "othered". We don't go into depth with racial/ethnic history, but rather the characters are stated to be of ethnic backgrounds, and they are essential to the story, plot, and the environment of the village. This doesn't work for all books, but it worked for this one and I liked that the author found a balance.
- The mention of Afghanistan as a beautiful place, with no mention of war or western veterans. YES AND THANK YOU 👏👏👏
- There's sort of a double mystery going on, between Annie's and the great aunt's pov. Along with all the tea we learn from the great aunt's past - at some point I was sooo invested in all of that drama more than the murder lol
- Such smooth beautiful writing giving both of our fmcs very distinct characteristics and personalities, I was so invested like I said!

- THE COZINESS, I can't even begin to describe it, ---> which is why you all need to go read this book asap!!!

How To Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin--This was a fun cozy mystery set in an English village. Annie has arrived in Castle Knoll for a meeting about her great aunt Frances' will. Unfortunately Frances is found dead before the meeting occurs. Annie is drawn into figuring out who killed Frances and discovering if it was related to a fortune teller's prediction to teenaged Frances that one day she would be murdered. The story is unfolds from 2 POVs--from Annie and from a diary Frances kept as a teen. The book has the feel of an Agatha Christie mystery or an episode of Midsomer Murders. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance digital copy. The book releases on March 26.

"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 to your murder."

This is the fortune young teenage Frances Adams receives from a fortune teller at a fair she attends with her best friends, Emily and Rose. Frances spends the rest of her life hyperfixated on the details of this fortune, unraveling their intricate meanings and implications and determine to solve her own murder before it occurs...only to be murdered after all. Now, it is up to Frances' great-niece Annie to solve Frances' murder in just one week - a seemingly impossible feat considering Annie never knew Frances, and Frances' neuroticism was not always easy to decipher.

If you know me, you know I'm a sucker for a dual timeline and narrative. I loved reading about young Frances, her friends, and the teenage woes of love and rebellion and adventure she experienced, paralleled with Annie's determination to unravel the truth of what happened to Frances and ensure justice and closure. The dual timelines added depth and intrigue to the plot, as well as context for Frances' actions that otherwise would have been missing if the book only focused on present day.

Perhaps there were too many characters presented in this book - I had trouble keeping track of everyone's history and connection to Frances and often had to pause my reading to refresh my own mental map of who is who. I wasn't invested in any character besides Annie, but at the very least the characters were complex and intriguing.

Thank you Netgalley and Dutton for this ARC!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Loves the characters and twists It would be interesting to see Annie investigate all of the other crimes that Aunt Francis was working on. Such a fun read!!!!

How to Solve Your Own Murder follows Annie, an aspiring murder-mystery author who gets summoned by her Great Aunt Frances to solve her own murder-mystery. From there, the story takes off.

Here's what I loved about this book. I really loved the dual POV of Annie and Frances' diary entries. I love when authors incorporate this into their stories so I found that touch to be enjoyable. I also loved the small town of Castle Knoll and the closeness of the community. Everyone knows everything about everyone and that was evidential in the story.

Here's what I didn't love as much. I was a little overwhelmed with the amount of characters in the story. Trying to keep up with everyone, I felt like I needed to put out my own murder board and red line how each person was connected to the story. I also didn't connect with the characters as much as I wanted to, but then again, I never really do with murder mysteries.

Overall, I decided to give this book three stars, not because it was bad, but simply because it just wasn't for me. I think the writing style was good and the story was enjoyable. If you love murder mystery, I think you'd really like this book. Others have rated it highly, and for good reason. It did leave me guessing all the way to the end and when it was finally solved, I was shocked by who the killer was. Personally, the more murder mystery books I read, the more I realize that they just aren't my favorite genre and that's okay.

This was a really good murder mystery, without any crazy murder. I love the small English town and how everyone's business is known, but not in an annoying snooping way.
Great Aunt Frances seems like an amazing person and I love that we got to know her through her teenage journals, it was the sweetest way for Annie to "meet" her great aunt.
I love the fortune and how much it was used in the story, but in a precise way that didn't leave any loose threads. The murder of Emily was a great companion story to her Aunt's murder and I loved Annie trying to solve them both with the journal. Seriously loved the journal part.
The characters, including all of the side characters were great and I loved than everyone had a part to play and no one felt dumb. The ending was a great twist and I did not expect it! And I liked the hint of a romance, but no actual romance.

a enjoyable murder-mystery that i had fun with

this book follows annie adams, who goes off to the countryside to meet frances, her great-aunt but arrives to find her great aunt dead. annie is determined to investigate and find out who's the murderer, using her great-aunt's clues and notes. i thought this was a quick and enjoyable murder-mystery, with a strong cast of characters and a pleasant setting. i liked the mc; she was definitely a fish out of water in some parts, but she was capable and smart, especially in the scene where she confronts the murderer! i also liked the supporting characters; they were all super unique and interesting, from the inspector/police man to the gardener who actually has a super funny plot point like i did not expect that at all. i liked how we got like chapters from the current time and chapters from the past, detaling frances's prophecy and the events that happen after; it weaves a neat and well-crafted tale. i honestly was shocked at the killer too; it seemed out of nowhere but that's good for a murder mystery.

a breezy enjoyable murder-mystery you can finish in one day. i would give this 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

thanks to netgalley and penguin group dutton for the arc.

For a quick light read that involves a spoonful of suspense with a far bigger serving of suspension of belief concerning its basic premise, Kristen Perrin’s dual timeline mystery may be just the thing. It all centers around a fortune told at a 1965 country fair to a teenage Francis who is there with her two BFF; the psychic foretells her murder with some very specific and rather creepy details, including a future of dry bones, and warnings about betrayals and birds among other things. It ends by stating that the right daughter will be the key to justice. And thus the course of the rest of Francis’s life are determined…by Francis.

And some troubling things do happen: a wooded estate that Francis and her friends can’t help trespassing on and get caught with some very unpredictable consequences, the repeated appearances of an unsettling 10 year old boy, a mysterious disappearance, and some unexpected behavior among friends and lovers that change everything. So Francis spends the next 60 years as the village oddball, trying to decipher the clues, hounding her neighbors, and getting very superstitious about birds, images of a queen, and else anything that strikes her as vaguely ominous according to the dictates of her long-ago fortune. Decades later, her grand niece, Annie, an aspiring mystery writer, is summoned to her great aunt’s lavish estate to discuss changes in Francis’s will. Annie has never met Francis, but just before she can, Francis is found dead in her mansion, and yes, the verdict is murder. Although dead, Francis has a few tricks up her sleeves, the first being the terms of her will, which features a timeline to solve the mystery and several possible and possibly untrustworthy beneficiaries, depending on the outcome. And then the young Francis sparks to life through her diaries, which Annie finds, and the alternating chapters between past and present take over the story line. It works for the most part, though the narrative of the teenage Francis and her circle of friends, relatives and villagers is far more compelling than Annie’s present day rather predictable fledgling detective maneuvers. Yes, Annie’s life is threatened several times, and there are a few brambly twists and the big reveal was just that, which is always satisfying. A few too many characters between the two timelines to fully flesh them out; some needed to be animated a bit more than authorial chess pieces and some time jumps could have used some filling in, but all in all, it succeeds as a frothy, diverting read. Even with her neuroses, I still liked Francis better than Annie though.

Thank you to Penguin Group Dutton for my advance electronic copy via NetGalley. My opinions are my own.

It's 1965 and Frances Adams is at the country fair with her two friends when she is told that she will one day be murdered. As she grows up, Frances becomes more and more obsessed with her murder and trying to prevent it (or, at least, figure out who her murderer will be). Enter Annie Adams, Frances Adams' grand niece, who, in present day, is called to meet with her aunt and arrives on the very day that Frances is found dead. In order to receive her inheritance, Annie must first solve Frances' murder, but as the clock runs out and the deadline approaches, is it possible that Annie's digging may be putting her own life at risk too?

I really loved the forthright and honest voices of both points-of-view: Frances (through her diaries) and Annie (as she investigates). This honesty unearths all kinds of twisty, small-village secrets, deceptions, and toxicity. It's a real "whodunnit," as we meet the cast of characters who knew Frances in her youth and who are still around, doubting her sanity even as she is found murdered. I liked that I hadn't sorted out who the killer was and that none of the characters was as straightforward as I thought they were. It looks like this may be the first in a series, and, if so, I look forward to seeing how Annie grows and evolves over time.

When Frances Adams was seventeen years old, a fortune-teller at a country fair gave her a grim prediction of death. This unhappy fortune changed the course of her whole life and Frances remained obsessed with looking for clues from the fortune to prevent her murder. Decades later, Frances really is murdered. Since she had always expected this, her will sets up a competition between two people, and the one who solves her murder first inherits her estate.

Most of the story is told in the present from the point-of-view of Annie Adams, the great-niece and one of the potential heirs of Frances. Annie finds a journal belonging to Frances, so there are flashbacks to Frances's story, both about her fortune and the disappearance of one of her best friends a year after the fair. Annie discovers some startling facts about Alice and other residents of the town of Castle Knoll, England, and faces grave danger while trying to solve the murder, which is more complicated than it first seems, and get justice for the woman she never met.

The title of this book caught my eye and it's proven true since Frances kept notes on many of the suspects in her eventual death and even had a murder board already set up for her death which she was always convinced was imminent. I really liked the young version of Frances that we get to know through her journal, as well as Annie who is clever and kind. Annie's best friend, Jenny, plays a small role and I would love to learn more about her since she is also a likable character. I was very surprised when the whole story was revealed at the end. It looks like Annie may have more adventures in future books and if so, I will be reading them!

Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton Books for the advance copy of this ebook. My review is voluntary and unbiased.

this was definitely not what I expected It to be but it was a fun adventure. It was a good twist and made me wanting to know the answers as you keep reading

Great-aunt Frances received a frightening prediction at the fortune teller's booth back in 1965 when she and her friends were at the fair. "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 to your murder." Right, then. Anyone for a spot of tiffin?

Determined to outwit fortune, or at least make sure justice is served if it comes true, Frances spends the rest of her life compiling files on everyone she knows, recording secrets and indiscretions. The entire village knows about her obsession and there must be many who resent the carefully maintained dossiers on all their actions. Frances has no daughter of her own, so she names her niece Laura as heir to the estate, then changes her will and lists her great-niece Annie as heir without an explanation.

As Annie's friend Jenny comments, "an estranged aunt in a sleepy countryside village? A mysterious inheritance? Annie, your life is turning into a novel." And that is the story we are presented with - Annie arrives at her great-aunt's house to learn she has indeed been murdered and the filing cabinets are full of names that may have had a motive for the deed. Can Annie survive long enough to figure out who the culprit is and claim her inheritance?

The blurb says this book is a good match for fans of "Knives Out" and <i>The Thursday Murder Club</i>. I think those are good recommendations. Annie and readers must deal with the twists and turns of relationships in a family over generations added to those in a small English village, other claimants who would like to be the heir, always looking over one shoulder for a possible murderer, all while trying to piece together clues from the past and the present.

This book is intriguing and will pull you in as you follow one clue after another. Reaching the end is a relief after all the tension, but then you will be sad that it is over. A bright spot is that the book is listed as Castle Knoll Files #1, so now we just need to wait for the next mystery to present itself.

I read an advance copy, but the book comes out March 26 - so be ready to do some sleuthing.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4. Clever Agatha Christie-esque premise. There is a large cast of characters that were hard to keep track of, partly because there are several family groups with the same last names. The plot got a little muddled just from the sheer number of characters past and present. Annie got a little annoying with her fainting at the sight of blood, syringes, etc. - I did wonder how she managed her monthly period. I would have liked to know what Frances was up to for the past 50 years. There are hints that she meddled in others' lives (like her niece Laura) but there is no follow up on the hints. Also, there are a number of dangling mini-plots that are left, well, dangling. Fans of cozy mysteries will enjoy the setting and the characters.

Sixteen year old Frances visits a fortune teller, and learns of her future demise. Only it takes 60 years for the crime to occur.

Annie learns that she is the sole relative to inherit her great-aunts estate. She comes across old journals detailing the events of Frances friend, Emily's disappearance, and their visit to the fortune teller in the 60's. Emily's vanishing still haunts the small village. Annie slowly unravels the events involving Emily, but also that of her Aunt's demise.

How to Solve Your Own Murder moves along with a inquisitive cast of characters. Annie slowly learns who to trust, who to be cautious and who to partner to solve two crimes. I enjoyed these characters, and the suspense they built throughout the story. The english manor house also added an element of thrill to past and present telling.

Entertaining story, look forward to the next installment in this series!

Thank you, Dutton.

"My favorite chess saying is very simple: You can play without a plan, but you'll probably lose."

Frances has a problem--when she was 17, a fortune teller predicted that she would be murdered. She doesn't know when, or how, only that there are clues and hints within the prediction that may help her solve her own murder--including keeping the right daughter close, avoiding holding a queen in her hand, and being mindful of a bird that will betray her. From that day forward, she becomes paranoid about stopping her murder before it happens and solving it preemptively.

Annie, Frances' great niece, becomes entwined in the conspiracy years later. Frances decided SHE was the right daughter and set up a competition in her will between her and Saxon, a neighbor, to compete to solve her murder--winner gets her fortune! But things take a turn when Frances actually is murdered, and there actually is a case to solve--two actually. Because what if Frances' death is tied to the disappearance of her friend, Emily Sparrow, back when they were teenagers?

Armed with a diary, a love of mysteries, and a determination to do right by her aunt, Annie must finish solving her aunt's murder before she's next.

This book was a fun cozy mystery, definitely inspired by Agatha Christie. If you like Agatha, The Westing Game/The Inheritance Games, and a classic "whodunnit," this one is going to be for you! Annie and Frances are great "narrators" and I couldn't decide who's POV I liked more. My only complaint is that Annie's motivations seemed insufficient--she's not motivated by the inheritance, and she didn't really know her aunt. Other than getting to keep her childhood home, there doesn't seem to be any REAL motivation tying her to wanting to solve this mystery.

And for those of you who like mystery's but can't stand the graphic nature, you'll love this one! This is VERY PG in terms of the violence and descriptions of events! I highly recommend this one--it was a super nice break between fantasy novels!

I loved the dual storyline and how the journal played into the solving of the murders. I didn't find that the foreshadowing was strong enough for me to really formulate my own theories. Overall, fun cozy read.

This is an interesting plot. Annie’s aunt has spent nearly 60 years waiting on her own murder driven by a fortune teller. Annie is an author who recently left her regular job. She gets an invite from her aunt . She goes out to her estate address her aunt will which she is now the heir of. Annie meets Walter her aunt lawyer. Her aunt eventually does end up lifeless on the floor. The question is is it natural causes or the fortune tellers fortune coming true? I found the twists in this book to be new and interesting. I did decor this book in two days it was so gripping and I just wanted to know what was going to happen.

DNF at 39%.

By this point, I should care about what is happening in the story, but I'm not invested.

Here I go again, reading and reviewing a book that is not fantastical in any way, unless you count the fortune teller who started the whole thing.

Our narrator is Annabelle Adams, great-niece to the extremely wealthy and paranoid Frances Adams. She's called out to a sleepy country village for a meeting about her inheritance. A meeting that is cancelled by the unexpected death of Frances. This book is half Annabelle's point of view, and half journal entries from Frances from that fateful 1965 summer when her death was foretold and the story of what happened leading up to her friend's disappearance.

This is a fun mystery with lots of potential murderers, because who knew that a paranoid and demanding rich white woman wouldn't end up universally beloved? Frances started attempting to solve her own murder decades before it occurred. It's revealed that she kept detailed dossiers of everyone in town, complete with an entire murderboard room full of photos, pushpins, and string. How delightfully tin-foil-hatted. She suspected everyone around her, and so everyone is a suspect.

Despite nearly everyone in the book being completely unaware of their privilege due to their close proximity to wealth, the book drags you along with it through the end. It's completely captivating, even though the book is filled with selfish, oblivious people. Even Annabelle curiously never seems to worry about who is paying her open-ended hotel bill, despite all the talk in the beginning about how her mom is a struggling artist whose home is owned by Frances, and Annabelle herself is attempting a career change into being a mystery author.

It isn't so much the characters that are compelling, but the setup. Was Frances' murder really foretold by prophecy? Did it have anything to do with the disappearance of her childhood friend? What was the role of the wealthy older man who Frances clearly ended up marrying? And what older man hangs about with teenagers, even in 1965? All that is even before you get to Frances' mysterious murder. Was it a self-fulfilling prophecy because Frances was so obsessed with it? Coincidence? Was it over the money or something else? Was it a product of old grudges or new? And what role did the husband's strange nephew play, both in 1965 and now?

All these questions and more are addressed in the book, and while I did eventually suspect the real murderer before the end, the questions of why and especially how were still a bit of a surprise. A completely digestible mystery for a pleasant day's distraction. If you're a murder-mystery fan, I'd recommend it.