DNF 21% - I will be giving this an average 3 star rating on Netgalley as I don’t think it’s right to 1 or 2 star a book I wasn’t able to finish.

I think it’s time to bite the bullet, I came to this on multiple occasions and attempts and just couldn’t get into it. I’m not sure if it’s me as people seem to be really enjoying this and I can’t quite pinpoint the problem I had.

Sometimes you come to a book and it’s just not the right time. Perhaps I was excited by the many Knives Out comparisons and it wasn’t doing that. I just never connected and felt pulled in and usually I’m very easy to grasp but it didn’t happen. The writing felt incredibly passive and I just wasn’t getting anything out of it. I felt myself consistently wandering off and having to reread and then upon rereading, it felt like nothing was happening.

Oh well. You win some and lose some.

DNF at 27%

Kristen Perrin's How to Solve Your Own Murder has all of the ingredients that makes a good murder mystery for me: a quaint English town with secrets hidden beneath the surface, a huge cast of suspicious characters, and an inventive take on the investigative process. Despite having all of the ingredients, something in the execution left me unsatisfied.

Maybe it is the fact that our investigator Annie Adams felt super one-dimensional, maybe it was the fact that neither of the two timelines really appealed, or maybe it was the fact that this felt like a paint-by-numbers meta mystery with none of the wit and sparkle that really takes a book like this to the next level. If it had just been one of these things, I probably could have slogged through. All three, however, meant that it was time to DNF.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton for an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review!

Dollycas's Thoughts

Three teenage girls walk into Madame Peony Lane's tent at the Castle Knoll Country Fair in 1965. Two don't take her seriously, but one does. Frances Adams listens carefully to every word the "psychic" says and takes them to heart.

“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.”

She spends the rest of her life trying to stave off death and trying to solve her own murder before it even happens.

Still alive and kicking almost 60 years later Frances has decided to change her will and requests her great-niece, Annie Adams come to her estate immediately. Sadly by the time Annie arrives in the small English village of Castle Knoll and her home, she finds Frances dead. Using all the information Frances has gathered over the years Annie plans to do whatever she can to find the killer and get justice for her aunt. But she has just met all the people in Frances's life, could one of them be the killer? In her quest to find the truth, she puts herself in grave danger. Will she join her aunt in the afterlife? or will she solve the murder mystery and receive her aunt's riches?

____

This story is told from Annie's point of view and Frances's journals. I found Annie to be likable and engaging. She really knows nothing about her Great Aunt Frances but she gets to know her by reading her journals.

Readers and Annie are introduced to several people when she arrives in Castle Knoll. Her aunt's lawyer and old friend, Walter Gordon and his determined son Oliver,  Frances' late husband's nephew, Saxon, along with his over-the-top wife Elva, she really grated on Annie's nerves and mine. After Frances's death, we meet Detective Crane. He seems very capable of solving the murder but a twist in Frances's will Saxon and Annie are in a race with him to catch the killer.

From Frances's journals, we meet her group of friends. Rose, Emily, and Frances were best friends, a young Walter Gordon, John Oxley, Teddy Crane, Saxon, and his Uncle Ford. The relationships between all of these characters are very complicated.

The idea of solving Frances's murder drew me right in. Frances had a room full of clues, files, and even murder boards with post-its, and strings galore. The journals added even more details. Annie didn't know any of the people so it was hard to know who to trust especially when many had motive to kill her great-aunt. She had to deal with secrets, lies, betrayals, and threats. With Frances's set timeline, the story has a very brisk pace. I admired the way Annie, the budding mystery writer, investigated the crime, but she does find herself in some precarious situations. The stress, tension, and danger build nicely to a dramatic reveal. The author did a brilliant job plotting out this story. I was gobsmacked reading the final chapters.

I found it very easy to escape into this story. I enjoyed going back and forth in time to see the characters and how they had developed from then to now. The English village settings of Castle Knoll and Gravestown Hall were perfect.

How to Solve Your Own Murder was an intriguing and original whodunit full of twists and turns that kept me guessing to the final pages. Annie Adams is now not only a budding mystery author but a budding amateur sleuth.  I can't wait to see what Kristen Perrin has planned for her next.

Thank you for the ARC! This was an enjoyable murder mystery. Nicely written. Both the flashbacks for Emily and the current investigation in to the great aunt’s murder kept me engaged.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started reading this book. Was it a victim who leaves a note telling everyone who to suspect if they are murdered? Was it someone who knew they were going to be murdered and wanted to stop it before it happened? My interest was piqued!

How to Solve Your Own Murder starts in the past when, as a teen, Francis receives a foreboding future from a fortune teller. ( That’s a tongue-twister!)

From there is skips to the present as Francis’ great-niece, Annie, is summoned to her aunts house for a meeting about her future inheritance. Why would Francis want her to inherit anything? Annie has never even met Francis! Annie agrees to go and that’s when everything goes haywire.

From the moment Annie arrives at Castle knoll, it’s clear that there are several people who want part of Aunt Francis’ money.

The story goes back and forth between Francis’ 1965 diary and the present with Annie. There are a lot of creepy suspects and I kept going back and forth thinking I knew who the villain was. In the end I was totally wrong!

There are a lot of fun clues and suspenseful situations. Some are highly unbelievable but kept me reading.

Francis’ diary was like a soap-opera so that was a bit spicy and weird! She had quite the time in high school! I kept thinking, who does that?!?!

Anyway, it was a fun, suspenseful/ cozy murder mystery.

Many thanks to Kristin Perrin and Penguin Group Dutton for the ARC vía NetGalley!!

this title caught my attention right away and i was so excited to read it, however... it starts out great, a teen girl and her friends go to a fortune teller where one of the girls, frances, is told she’ll be murdered. then, the story jumps 40 years and we meet frances’ niece, annie.

annie is summoned by her wealthy, great aunt frances for a meeting in the country side at her estate. upon annie’s arrival, frances is found dead. you are then introduced to SO MANY CHARACTERS???? Then, it switches to diary entrys from then back to the present. all while 913777913 other plot are going on! It was just ALOT happening! the story was cute, but it was not all that engaging.

How to Solve Your Own Murder is a cozy, dual timeline mystery. In the 1960s, there's 17 year old Frances who received a fortune predicting her murder and a friend who disappeared. In the present day, Frances has been murdered and her great niece, Annie, is one of a few characters trying to solve the murder.

Throughout the story, I felt like I really got to know Frances through her perspective and hearing about her from many characters in the present timeline. Though I liked Annie's chapters more, I don't feel like I knew much about her.

Between the two timelines, there were a lot of characters to keep up with. This seems almost necessary in a mystery to create suspicion on various people, but I did have a hard time connecting some people between the two timelines. The book wrapped up nicely - I was satisfied, but not shocked, with the reveal.

This was an intriguing dual timeline mystery (1965 and present day), apparently the first in a new series, that revolves around a wealthy woman, Frances Adams, who beginning as a teenager, spends her entire life trying to escape her foretold death (by an English country fair fortune-teller) only to be murdered at her estate almost 60 years later.

Annie Adams, Frances’ great-niece, is summoned to the village of Castle Knoll to meet her reclusive aunt, only to arrive to find Frances dead. As Frances left a bit of a challenge in her will (if she is murdered, the heir will be the one who successfully interprets the fortune-teller’s riddle and exposes the killer), Annie begins her search and discovers more about the woman (both good and bad) and regrets never having met her. There are other characters competing for the wealthy estate as well as a whole host of villagers/childhood friends who may be hiding something.

I loved this book. As her first adult debut, Perrin has written a wonderfully complex and entertaining murder mystery set around a murder victim that we only get to see through flashbacks in her past…wish I had more of Frances, although Annie brilliantly takes up the helm of strength and determination that her great-aunt first steered. While the entire book was a treat, I especially enjoyed the flashbacks which introduced Frances’ friend group with all their secrets and jealousies. Excellent character development.

Thoroughly enjoyed and will be looking for more from Perrin.

My sincere thanks to the author, NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for providing the free early arc of How to Solve Your Own Murder for review. The opinions are strictly my own.

I like the premise of a young would-be writer summoned to a big country house, finally to meet her reclusive great aunt Frances. But when Annie arrives, she and Frances’s lawyer and a veritable entourage of others find Frances dead. Because of a girlhood fortune teller, Frances has spent decades expecting to be murdered, and now it’s finally happened. Frances also spent those decades putting together files on everyone connected to her, hoping to find her murderer before they could act. Having failed that, Frances’s will provides that if Annie can solve her murder, she will inherit.

Annie finds many possible suspects and motives. Almost too many, as the plot teems with characters and subplots. There is also a whole lot of exposition, which tends to bog down the story. While I enjoyed Annie and some of the other key characters, I ended up feeling like the book would have been more enjoyable if it lost about 50 pages and slimmed down its cast a bit.

How To Solve Your Own Murder
By Kristen Perrin

This is a typical British murder mystery, suspenseful in a rather understated way. But it is actually about two murders decades apart but linked together.

The book starts with a country fair in 1965 where three young friends – Emily, Frances and Rose – have just visited a fortune teller. Frances is upset because her fortune involves betrayal and ultimately her own death by murder.

Fast forward to Annabelle Adams receiving an invitation to meet with her Great Aunt Frances and her solicitor. She knows of – but has never met – Frances. Upon arrival at the town of Castle Knoll, Walter Gordon, the solicitor, tells Annabelle (Annie) that there has been a change in plans and the meeting will be held in Frances' home, Gravesdown Hall. In addition to Annie, there are others invited to this meeting – Saxon, Frances' stepson and his wife Elva; and Oliver, Walter's grandson who is a property developer. When the invited guests – minus Saxon who has been detained – arrive at Gravesdown Hall, they make a startling discovery – Frances is dead!

From this point on, the story takes many twists and turns. Frances, who has spent a lifetime believing she will be murdered – has laid out the terms of her will; whoever solves her murder within one week will inherit her vast fortune. And so the fun begins.

As Annie is the heroine of the story, the reader naturally roots for her to solve the crime. But along the way, it becomes apparent that there is not just one murder to be solved, but two. The story is cleverly done, shifting back and forth from the 1960s to the present. There appear to be several suspects, each of whom needs to be cleared before the killer can be found and the murders solved.

If you like British murder mysteries, I would definitely recommend this one!

"How to Solve Your Own Murder" offers a thoroughly engaging tale weaving through two murder mysteries complemented by an endearing ensemble of characters. While not quite fitting the cozy mystery label due to its mild adult content and occasional profanity, it flirts closely with the genre. The story toggles between present-day efforts of Annie Adams to unravel her Great-Aunt Frances's murder and flashbacks to the 1960s, shedding light on the disappearance of Frances's friend during her youth. Although flashbacks can be hit or miss for me, Frances's past captivated me more than Annie's contemporary investigation.

The characters are generally likable, with even the villains displaying a toned-down malevolence—murder aside. The narrative is both believable and gripping, keeping me in suspense and completely in the dark about the identities of both the historical and modern-day culprits until the climactic reveal. Set against the backdrop of an English manor house—a setting I can never resist—the book promises and delivers a captivating read.

If you're looking for a quick, cute, mystery novel in the vein of "The Thursday Murder Club" and "The Inheritance Games," this should 100% be your next read.

Kristen Perrin's tale follows Annie Adams as she sets out to solve her great-aunt Frances' recent murder...a fate that was foretold to Frances Adams 65 years earlier by a fortune teller. Annie is thrown into high stakes to win Frances' inheritance from the likes of a few other competitors by answering the question, "whodunnit."

Perrin's tale takes us through present day with Annie and the past with journals from Frances that tell of the summer she received that fateful fortune. Among it all, Frances' habit of digging around for secrets may have just solved her own murder after all...now it's up to Annie to decode.

What Perrin does so well here is make the stakes high but nothing is unrealistic. The story is fun and allows for readers to follow along quickly, especially helping by the change in point of views throughout the novel. While the end didn't fully tie into a neat bow for me, it was enough to make me look back and marvel at just how some of the clues all came together to create this story.

Something fun and a little bit mysterious, "How to Solve Your Own Murder" is sure to be a hit.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group for this awesome ARC in exchange for an honest review!

It's been quite a long time since I was this engrossed in a murder mystery. This one kept me guessing and engaged. There's an interesting ensemble of suspects and the book's two storylines interweave to make a compelling page-turner.

In present day, Annie is called to meet her mysterious Great Aunt Frances only to discover her murdered. In the 60s, flashbacks using diary entries get you caught up on Frances' strange backstory.

I felt like I was helping the lead character Annie solve the many mysteries surrounding her Great Aunt's death and it kept me guessing until the end. I just checked Goodreads and it looks like this will be start of a series! Good! I sensed a little spark between Annie and the Detective that bears further investigation by me.

If you have a murder mystery reader in your life, they will thank you for gifting them "How to Solve Your Own Murder."

I truly enjoyed this book. The mystery is perfectly laid out. Inside this book you will find a grandmother who believes in a fortune predicting her murder that she received as a teen and her granddaughter who is struggling to justify the choices she is currently making in life. What happens when their worlds collide? You get a beautiful mystery, because sometimes fortunes play out but maybe not in the way you quite thought they would. Both Annie and Francis are amazing characters whose voices jump off the pages and draw the reader into their world. This is a fantastic book for a book club. I can’t wait to recommend it soon to patrons.
Thank you so much to Penguin Group Dutton and Netgalley for allowing me to be swept away by this beautiful mystery.

I enjoyed this classic whodunit. It is fast-paced and twisty, with plenty of secrets to be revealed in good time. The main character, Annie Adams, is likable and easy to root for in the race to solve her great aunt's murder and inherit her fortune. This is almost a 5 star book for me, but something about the ending, the revealing of the murderer and motives, didn't sit right. Something is missing--maybe more clarity and depth of reason or maybe more details that lead to the discovery, but something isn't quite right.

I would recommend this one for sure for anyone who enjoys classic mysteries!

In 1965 teenaged Frances hears from a fortune teller that she will be murdered. Frances spends the next sixty years trying to identify her killer. That’s a long time to live your life suspicious of everyone and waiting to die.

When Frances is found dead, her will sets in motion a race for potential heirs to solve the mystery with a large fortune at stake. There’s no shortage of suspects and her niece, Annie, doesn’t know who to trust. Suddenly, Annie’s life is in danger as she gets closer to the truth.

How to Solve Your Own Murder has an Agatha Christie feel with two murders to solve and plenty of possible culprits.

Thanks to NetGalley, Penguin Dutton Group, and Dutton for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my unbiased review.

Do you ever just open a book and sit down to give it a try and find that hours have passed and you have been so engrossed in the book that you have read almost the entire thing and its now dark outside? That is how I felt about this book. There was a feeling to this book, it read to me, like those old time murder mysteries that grab you and keep you hooked until the end. You forget where you are and you are just one with the story in your hands. This book did that for me and I felt so lucky to be able to read this one.
I loved how the story was told, how many plot twists there were and how well the characters were written. I loved our amateur detective, Annie. She made the story for me. However I will say that the entire plot and characters and dialogue were supremely well written. I really hope there are more of these coming out!

As a huge fan of Knives Out, I was immediately intrigued by the description for “How to Solve Your Own Murder” by Kristen Perrin, which follows Annie Adams attempts to solve her great-aunt Frances's murder, and if you’re anything like me, you’ll be playing right along too. The story was interesting and kept me guessing until the end..

Thank you to netgalley, Kristen Perrin, and the publishing house for allowing me an early copy to review

My thanks for the ARC goes to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Dutton. I'm voluntarily leaving a review.

Genre: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Mystery Thriller
Spice Level: Medium (nothing on the page)
Format: 2 time periods, one from a diary

I love a good mystery.

HOW TO SOLVE YOUR OWN MURDER is fantastic. It starts with a fortune. Then it devolves from there into chaos in the best of ways.

Whenever there are two time periods, the question is will I be equally interested. In this case, I was!
Frances from the past is confronted with so many shady dealings, I didn't know which way things were going. And Annie is in over her head, playing catch up. Both women are trying to solve a murder—the same murder.

This book is clever! The prose is great, the characters are intriguing, the situation is untenable (which is exactly what we want for a murder mystery because you can't live with the unsolved crime), and the setting adds to the atmosphere. I was 100% vested in the outcome.

This book is tricky! Okay, that sounds a lot like clever, but I meant the twists. I didn't see everything coming—exactly like the way I want. I really didn't guess whodunnit.

Is there a romance? Hmm. I guess there's a budding, slow burn romance—but I don't know if it's going to work out. It's definitely a subplot.

Seriously, this is one of the best mysteries. I hope you grab your crime notebook and come along for the ride.

Happy (sleuthing) reading!

In 1965 teenaged Frances hears from a fortune teller that she will be murdered. Frances spends the next sixty years trying to identify her killer. That’s a long time to live your life suspicious of everyone and waiting to die.

When Frances is found dead, her will sets in motion a race for potential heirs to solve the mystery with a large fortune at stake. There’s no shortage of suspects and her niece, Annie, doesn’t know who to trust. Suddenly, Annie’s life is in danger as she gets closer to the truth.

How to Solve Your Own Murder has an Agatha Christie feel with two murders to solve and plenty of possible culprits.

Thanks to NetGalley, Penguin Dutton Group, and Dutton for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my unbiased review.