How To Solve Your Own Murder is an excellent mystery novel in the style of Agatha Christie - the town-scale version of a locked room whodunnit. The author’s light hearted writing style made it super easy to get hooked on this book and there were just enough twists and turns to keep me turning pages. At one point I thought I had sniffed out one of the twists, but then on literally the next page the author revealed that I was, in fact, only about 5% right, which is a great thing in a novel. I can usually guess what the twists will be, but this wasn’t one of those times.

The character who finds themselves murdered (not really a spoiler given the title) was a bit annoying, but that was the point - the crazy great aunt we’ve all had at one point or another. The main character, though, was excellent. She is herself a budding crime novel author, which leads to some witty introspection and jokes about what she would write “if” this was a crime novel. Creative idea a la Billy Summers.

All told, this is a very easy to read but pretty entertaining story and will surely get picked up on clubs like Book Of The Month before showing up on the Goodreads most read this week list. It’s a great mystery novel that stops short of the dark murder books that have become so popular. If you like murder mysteries but don’t like gore, this is for you. Thanks NetGalley, Penguin Group, and the author for the ARC!

This is a breezy read with an engaging heroine, nice country atmosphere, and a decent mystery. A fun cozy.

Cozy mystery with dual timeline

When a fortune teller predicts that 17 yo Frances’ life will end in murder, she spends her life trying to figure out her potential killer. Sixty years later when the fortune comes true, Frances great niece Annie, picks up the trail. This is told in dual timelines, one in 1965 through Frances’ diary entries and one in the present as Annie pieces together the mystery.

The writing felt a little YA to me but this may be intentional as part of the story is told from 17 year old Frances’ perspective. There were many characters to keep track of and several fell flat for me. I still was interested to hear how it was all going to turn out so the mystery kept me entertained well enough.

Overall I would recommend this for readers who enjoy cozy mysteries and coming of age stories.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dutton books for an advanced reader copy.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy.

It's a light, enjoyable read, but the comparison to the brilliant Thursday Murder Club series is a bit of a stretch.

While it makes for a quick weekend read with intriguing characters, none stand out as particularly lovable. The heroine starts off well, but her decisions in the latter half become frustratingly unintelligent.

Fortunately, the story doesn't veer into a predictable romance, which is a relief. Would consider reading another installment if it became a series, but I wouldn't actively seek to purchase it.

Although it's only January, I'm pretty sure that HOW TO SOLVE YOUR OWN MURDER is going to be one of my favourite books of 2024!

Wonderful title, beautiful cover, and such a unique premise - a woman wo spends her entire life trying to prevent her foretold murder is found murdered and her great niece must solve her murder in one week in order to get the inheritance.

The story alternates between the present day and the diary entries from 1966. I really enjoyed reading both and couldn't put the book down.

(To be honest, some of the diary entries were a bit confusing because of the dates. For example, on September 15th Frances writes that baby Laura is two months old, but the baby was born on the 8th of August.)

This was an entertaining well done closed room mystery. Frances and her friends are a tight bunch in the late 60"s, always up for fun, especially with local boys. Their summer of fun in 1968 is interrupted by an ostensibly light hearted prediction of Frances's murder by fortune teller at a country fair. Frances is further troubled by a soured relationship with Emily, another member of the group. Formerly her friend, Emily has become her rival. Soon, Emily disappears without a trace and Frances spends the ensuing decades waiting for her doom.

Now in the 21st century, a very wealthy Frances summons her grand niece Annie to a meeting as she has now appointed her her heir . Annie never gets to meet Frances as Frances is murdered just prior to her arrival. It is now Annie's job to find Frances' murder.

This mystery, although modern, carries the same feeling, and with it the same skill, as an Agatha Christie novel. There are plenty of surprises and I did not see the ending coming. Perrin plays fair however and you do have the material available for at least a good guess at who the murderer is.

Thank you to Penguin Group Dutton for an ARC copy via NetGalley for an honest review.

I heard about this book a while and ago and was very intrigued about the story. Overall I throughly enjoyed the read. I loved the small town setting with this mystery of who done it with the story spanning over 60 years. The cast of characters were easy to follow and made the reader keep guessing who the murderer was. I enjoyed the dual timeline allowing you as the reader try and piece together what happened.
The one downside to the novel was that it did seem to take awhile to get through.

In all, I really enjoyed the story and would recommend if you are an avid mystery reader.

Interesting premise of a fortune dictating the life of not only the main character, but also her friends, family and community throughout her life and after her death. The "game" she establishes for solving her murder after her death is very unique. Providing historical information through the journal writings as the murder investigation unfolds gives important context and clues. Can you correctly identify her murderer?

The wonderful premise leads to an engrossing mystery with an interesting cast of characters. Although it is morbid at times, overall it is an intriguing tale moving back and forth through time, giving the reader the opportunity to weave together all of the different strands to solve the mystery. I would have liked getting a deeper character development of the murderer, as well as a twistier conclusion that would make it harder to guess before the end who the murderer was.

This was a classic-feeling murder mystery that struck all the right notes! It reminded me of an Agatha Christie book in terms of the setting, pacing, and overall tone of the book—but updated for 2024. Annie and Frances, the main characters, tell their stories in two different timelines, encouraging readers to help Annie solve two different murders. I love any book with a hint of a romance subplot, which this also had. The book was well-written, the idea was creative and really well-executed, and I hope it becomes the first in a series!

I really enjoyed this book! I love a good murder mystery, but what was so cool about this book was that you actually were trying to figure out two murders, the first occuring back in the 60's and the one that just happened. The diary entries were informative enough but I loved watching Annie piece everything together in the present as clues come up. I was definitely hooked the entire time trying to guess who dunnit, highly recommend this book!

Frances Adams and her friends are at an English country fair in 1965 when she meets a fortune teller who sets the entire course of her life. She predicts a series of events that will lead to Frances' death at the hands of another.

This psychic reading colors the next six decades of life for Frances, who spends her existence in a virtual murder board, making constant connections and trying to identify who is out to get her and who may be able to help her. When she identifies that her great-niece Annie Adams may be key to keeping her alive, she sends for Annie…but not in time.

It’s now up to Annie, our POV character and a would-be mystery writer, to unravel what happened to her great-aunt, which of the side characters may have betrayed her, and who - if anyone - can be trusted.

The setting of this book in the English countryside is absolute chef’s kiss, and the vibe is a mix of wholesome and subversive that leaves you rooting for Annie to find out what happened to Frances. This is a strong debut that will definitely have me watching what happens next in the (fingers crossed!) series. I predict this will be a buzzy spring book!

Thank you to Dutton for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

Overall rating: 3.5/5 (rounded up in stars)

Read this book if you’re interested in: inheritance, riddles, small towns and family drama.

This story is told through multiple POVs - we hear from Frances, as told through her teenage journal entries, and we hear from Annie, with narration on a present day timeline.

In the 1960’s, a 17 year-old Frances attends a local County Fair with her best friends. At this fair, a psychic predicts that Frances will be murdered in the future, and this unlikely predication becomes a fixation throughout the remainder of her life.

Fast forward to present day - Annie Adams is moving back home to live with her mother in order to pursue a career in writing murder mysteries. Shortly after her arrival home, Annie receives a request from her estranged Great Aunt Frances to meet and discuss her will. Upon Annie arriving to Frances’ mansion in Castle Knoll, she finds Frances already dead. Frances’ will details that select members of the family will have one week to solve her murder - and whoever solves it first will inherit her entire estate.

While this certainly falls in the mystery category, the story has humor embedded throughout, and hints at a potential romance (I can’t be the only one who wanted more between Annie and Detective Crane, am I right?).

I found this read to be a “cozy” mystery - it does not move at a fast and thrilling pace, instead, the reader uncovers information alongside the characters. That said, it did take me a bit longer to read than usual; there was lots of opportunity for breaks between the chapters given the pace of the storyline. I also didn’t find myself guessing the “whodunnit” until the very end of the story, once enough information had been revealed.

This book is expected to be released on March 25, 2024.

Thank you to the publisher, Dutton, for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC through NetGalley!

What a journey this book took us on! I loved the storyline switching from past to present as we tried to solve not one but two murders. It kept me guessing until the very end!

How to Solve Your Own Murder - is an Agatha Christie-ish style murder mystery which leans towards the side of a cozy style mystery. There are lots of characters who all become a suspect in the murder of Frances, a woman who spent the last 60 years of her life trying to solve her own murder which was foretold by a fortune teller when she was young. Frances, with some due cause became suspicious of everyone in her life and spent her time analyzing a crime that did not happen yet, until it did!!! Her Great Niece, Annie is summoned to Aunt Frances' sprawling estate for the reading of the will and quickly picks up Frances' life mission and has to solve not one but two murders.

Fun premise and story line with a dual time line, one being Annie's in the current day and the other being Frances' diaries from the 60's. I did have one issue with the book and that was my own personal preference, if 1/2 stars were available I would have given the book a 3.5 but did settle on rounding up. I realize now that cozy murders mysteries take up a large portion of my reading lists and have become accustomed to a certain style of writing. Although the setting for How To Solve Your Own Murder is set in the quaint English village of Castle Knoll. the writing and vernacular did not seem British. I ended up researching the author and soon found out that she is indeed and American living in Surrey.

Looking forward to the next installment of the Castle Knoll Files...

Thank you to Dutton Publishing (Penguin Random House LLC), NetGalley and Kristen Perrin for the opportunity to receive an advanced copy of this fun book for my honest review.

I was intrigued by the description of this one - a fun mystery for fans of Knives Out and Thursday Murder Club, about a women who is told she will one day be murdered & then spends the rest of her life trying to avoid that fate…a unique take on a mystery indeed!

The cast was enjoyable & mysterious, I liked how Perrin used a dual timeline … and she kept me guessing until the big reveal!

After Frances receives a grim fortune at the county fair, she spends the rest of her life waiting for it to come true. When it does, her great-niece Annie is left with two mysteries to solve - what happened now and what happened back then.

Annie is a likable, but very naive, aspiring mystery writer who has an awful lot of good luck throughout the story. Frances speaks through her old journal and the maze of clues she’s enshrined in her old estate. This is one of those books where there are a lot of characters and everybody has something to hide.

Although there were some very convenient coincidences and strokes of luck, and a few confusing resolutions to clues (the bank statements come to mind, I didn’t understand the explanation) I enjoyed the writing and the dual timelines. I’ll admit I didn’t guess the villain (in either timeline) but it made sense once it was all revealed.

The ending sets up for a series, and it looks like this will be the first of at least a few. I wouldn’t mind reading the next one! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Delightfully engaging. This murder mystery kept my rapt attention from page 1 & was consumed in one day. The comparisons to Knives Out are accurate, but I rather think I enjoyed this more given the way it was written between Annie in present day & Frances’ older journal entries. Was sad to see this one end, but could see an opening for a companion or series in the future. I at least look forward to seeing this in film one day.

Thanks to NetGalley & Penguin Group Dutton for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A fun, twisty mystery of a 'small-town secrets' variety - after receiving a dismal fortune during a tumultuous summer, Frances Adams spends her life trying to find out what secret someone will kill her for. Now, she's just died, and it's up to her mildly estranged great-niece Annie to untangle the secrets of Castle Knoll in order to inherit, and vindicate her great-aunt's paranoia.

I enjoyed this book, and would definitely head back to Castle Knoll, if the gently hinted at series unfolds of Annie using Frances' files to uncover more mysteries (and flirt more with the handsome detective of course.)

Easy read could potentially be shelved in young adult or adult fiction.

When the great niece of Frances is suddenly gets a letter from a solicitor saying she’s been written into the will she sets off to visit and hear the new version of the will. As she arrives into town her great aunt, Frances, suddenly dies from a heart attack. But everything is not what it seems.

Now she is solving a murder from decades ago along with the murder of France’s, as it is the condition of the will to inherit her fortune.

Overall this was a good book and an easy read.