A great aunt you’ve never met summons you for a change in her will but is murdered before you can get there and the fate of her large estate rests with whoever can solve her murder which was predicted by a fortune teller when she was 16. This murder mystery reminded me of Clue with a cast of suspects and weapons and had me evaluating each person and their motive and opportunity only to be surprised by the final chapter! Enjoyed this whodunnit!

Thank you to Penguin Group for the ARC. #HowtoSolveYourOwnMurder #NetGalley

The only reason I eventually decided for a 4-star rating instead of a 5-star one is because this book tended to drag on in the last few chapters. I did enjoy the way the mystery was solved, although I found it more and more unlikely... I also didn't appreciate the fact that everything came together somewhat magically toward the end, something I have come to hate about mysteries.
HOWEVER, this book had a lot of positives, too. For one, I enjoyed the switch between the 60s action and current day. There was a significant difference in the tone of Frances and Annabelle, which made for an even more realistic experience. I loved Frances' journal the most as I felt that it perfectly conveyed that 60s atmosphere in the United Kingdom. Annie was a lot more modern by comparison, also because of her somewhat disjointed upbringing and the fact that her mother didn't tend to communicate her feelings properly.
The many quirky characters in this novel make it lovable, as well, from the veterinarian and her wife to whatever the gardener is planting on his farm.
In the end, this was a pretty good book and it very much exceeded my expectations.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me a free copy in exchange for a review.

I have to say I did not expect this book to be a favorite! From its unassuming cover to the plot summary, I thought it would be a middle-of-the-road read. And I was as wrong as I was when I guessed “who dun it”!

We follow Annie Adams, an aspiring writer, who ends up being summoned to the estate of her great aunt Frances. When it seems that Frances’ 60 year old fortune foretelling her death has come true, it’s up to Annie to investigate into the killer to have a shot at her great aunts’ inheritance.

I’m in love with this whole book! I loved the writing, with its cozy feeling(yet not quite a cozy mystery). I loved the cast of characters, past and present. I really got invested in the whole town of Castle Knoll and all of its various businesses. Annie was a very likable main character with very human weaknesses. And mostly I loved reading about Frances! I could read another 300 pages about her life and the way she thinks.

Basically the only reason I didn’t give this book 5 stars is because the ending left a little to be desired and the amount of times I had to read “Great Aunt Frances” was a bit much(like we get it just call her Frances).

Big thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy of the book to review.

This is a fast paced, entertaining, cozy mystery that kept me guessing. Frances is so scared when she receives a fortune teller's premonition at age 17, that she spends the next 60 years collecting evidence against her friends and neighbors to avoid being murdered. When she is found dead, there is a race to solve the crime and inherit her vast fortune. The story has a "Knives Out" feel - numerous suspicious/unreliable characters, all seemingly vying for Frances' money. The setting is a small village north of London and told in dual timelines: in the present, Frances' niece, Annie, an aspiring mystery writer, works with a handsome detective on the case, and in flashbacks, through Frances' diary from 1965, when the fortune is first told. This book was a pleasant surprise. Due out March 26, 2024

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin House Dutton for this E-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

When Frances Adams is a teenager in 1964 she has a horrifying fortune read. One day, Frances will be murdered. She spends her whole life obsessing over this fortune and doing everything in her power to prevent it from happening. For decades everyone thinks she's crazy and just doesn't take her seriously, until one day Frances actually is murdered.

In present day, Frances' great niece Annie is summoned to Frances' estate for a meeting. They have never met, and unfortunately they never will, because by the time Annie arrives she finds Frances dead in her home.

What follows is a back and forth timeline with Frances as a teen and present day with Annie trying to figure out who murdered her. Whoever solves the murder before the police gets to inherit the fortune left behind. With shady characters and years of investigation done by Frances this is a fast paced murder mystery that will keep you guessing.

I had a hard time keeping up with all of the characters and had to go back and remind myself who someone was to Frances as a teen and where they fall now in Annie's timeline. My only other dislike for this book was how easy some things came to Annie without much explanation.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. I will absolutely read more from this author!

My first read by Kristen Perrin! I was super excited to get to read this one. I would say it reminded me of the game of Clue. A fun cozy mystery (until the end) that goes between two time lines. As a reader I was fully committed to solving this crime. I could almost make my own murder board.

Thank you to Kristen Perrin, Penguin Random House/Dutton and NetGalley for this opportunity

4.5, rounded down. I really enjoyed this one! Loved small town setting and many of the characters. The ending was surprising, yet believable, and was as heartwarming as a murder mystery could be.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC (my first🤗)!

I love love loved this book. I hadn’t ever picked up a book by Kristen Perrin, but I definitely will in the future because I really enjoyed her writing style. The premise of this book definitely gave me more cozy mystery vibes up until the end, especially with the chapters going back and forth between time periods. I feel like more people will love this due to that kind of vibe as opposed to your typical ‘thriller/suspense’ genre label. Annie was a great FMC to follow along with to try and solve her Great Aunt Frances’s murder, and I truly did not guess the ending in the slightest. All of my boxes were definitely checked in terms of what makes a mystery great on this one. Thank you to NetGalley for letting me review this early!

I was immersed in the two stories that intertwined and eventually came together. One is the story of three friends, a fortune teller’s prediction, and events that didn’t want to stay buried. The other is a young woman who needs to solve the murder of her aunt in order to receive her inheritance, but the past has secrets that need to be discovered first. I was drawn in immediately, to the story and the performance, and I really couldn’t put it down.

Thanks to Netgalley, Dutton Publishers, and Kristin Pirrin for this book!

It’s rare and wonderful to find a mystery that I can’t really predict in advance…or where I feel like the main character doesn’t do unpardonably stupid things to either uncover evidence or trap the killer…Or where I feel I understand the victim more than the investigator! All of these things were true here, making this one of the most enjoyable mysteries I’ve read this year…and I read 8 Agatha Christie books. (I went on an absolute obsessive tear, so sue me).

This is two stories in one. The first is set in the 1960s with a set of mean-girls-but-more-interesting girlfriends and their social circle. It evolves slowly and ever more menacing as the girls love each other and focus on each other and little by little they tear at each other until one of them goes missing in an unsolved mystery. That mystery is still unsolved when, 60 years later, Annie Adams travels to the same bucolic English town and discovers her Great Aunt, one of the mean girls, has been murdered. She has a week to find out the killer and prove it before she loses her house, and potentially a gigantic fortune.

I honestly thought the story could not live up to such a cool by line. But I found that it has. The writing is strong, the characters are AMAZINGLY developed, and the mystery and story is actually believable AND interesting, emphasis on the believable, thank god. I’m just so sick of writers twisting themselves into knots to save their main character from insane decisions they have to make for the story to work. This book will give you a fun time AND spare you from that BS.

The only weakness was the modern romance part - save your romantic investments for the 1960s plot line.

Recommended to mystery readers from YA up through the elderly.

Summary
A sixty-year old fortune comes to fruition when Frances Gravesdown is murdered in her own home shortly after removing her niece as a beneficiary, and adding her great niece.

Since she was a teenager, Frances took meticulous notes about anything and anyone suspicious after being told by a fortune teller that she would be the victim of a murder. Now that her fortune has come true, her sprawling estate and all that comes with it, is up for grabs. But, not without her heirs meeting the requirement as stated in her will. The first to solve her murder, acquires the estate.

As the newly added beneficiary, Annie knows the least about her great aunt Frances. Actually, she had never met her mysterious aunt. While staying at the estate, fortunately, Annie gets her hands on an old diary. With the diary, Annie begins to familiarize herself with who her great aunt really was and comes to learn that Frances’ murder isn’t the only one that needs solving.
But will she beat the running clock?


Review
There are alternating timelines taking place throughout the novel. We get to hear from teenage France through the reading of her diary, while alternating to the present day with her great niece Annie working to solve the murder. The flashbacks were great in developing great aunt Frances as a character despite her death and adds color to her story. Frances story line was at least as interesting (if not more interesting) as Annie’s.

This novel is full of charming, cozy, English vibes. Such a well-done setting. Characters were accurate for the time and place and most of them were quite likeable.

I really enjoyed reading this book, but there wasn’t really a wow factor for me.

(Thank you to Kristen Perrin, Dutton, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review. This book is slated to be published March 26, 2024)

How to Solve Your Own Murder is a fun mystery with great characters. Certainly filled with a cast of potential murderers and cleverly done.

While I'm not big on these small English village murder mysteries where everyone knows everyone and everyone is related...but this one really got me hooked! Loved the protagonist as she tries to solve her great aunt's murder. Switching back to the aunt's childhood where her murder was forecasted by a fortune teller, you get to know the broad cast of characters to figure out the murderer.

Enjoyed this one...and never a fan of these British towns where everyone is old and related lol. So many secrets are uncovered. Loved the protagonist!

I Enjoyed this book throughly. When a book has different timelines to me it adds to the mystery. It helps the book move along so it doesn't give that feeling of dragging.. Even though sometimes I skipped forward in a oh no they didn't manner. I did not see this ending coming which to me makes for a good mystery I would recommend this to others.

Annie is an aspiring mystery writer in London when she is called to her great-aunts house by an attorney. Over the next few days she learns much about this aunt she had never met. How her life had been ruled by a fortune told to her almost 60 years ago and the friend who went missing a year later. A totally different twist on a mystery and a great read

A fun and unusual take on murder mystery set in the UK (always a plus in my opinion). The story jumps back and forth in time with two main characters. I enjoyed it but it felt a bit long at times. I couldn't completely jump into the story due to the two time lines, but I'm sure other readers won't mind it. Thank you #NetGalley for this ACR

When Francis and her friends visit the English Country Fair, she is told a series of events will eventually lead to her murder. Sixty years later, when she is found dead at the Gravesdown Estate, her family and the rest of the town believes that her fortune might be correct. Frances has changed her will to make sure her murder is being looked into. Whoever solves France's murder will be given the inheritance of a lifetime. France's great niece, Annie Adams, is determined to find the murderer. However, will digging into her great aunt's past put Annie in the dangerous path of a killer?

This book was captivating. I enjoyed the two timelines and the POVs from Frances told by her diaries and Annie in present time. I was not expecting the ending but was happy to see how things lined up in the end. This book opens up the possibility of a sequel in the future (especially hoping for a book with more Annie and the detective) but is perfect as a standalone as well. This is the first book I have read from Kristen Perrin and I will be following the author for more content.

How to Solve Your Own Murder comes out on March 26th, 2024.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Publishing for the opportunity to review How to Solve Your Own Murder. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book.

How To Solve Your Own Murder (Dutton Books, 3/26/24) is the debut mystery from author Kristen Perrin. At age 17, Frances Adams was told by a fortune teller at a village fete that she will be murdered. Frances spends the next sixty years trying to outwit her would-be murderer. Unfortunately for her she does not succeed as she is eventually murdered on her country estate. It's up to Frances' estranged great niece Annie Adams (an aspiring mystery writer in her own right) to solve the case. Featuring a cast of memorable characters, a sprawling country estate, a cozy English villiage , and dual narratives, this novel is a must read for fans of cozy crime. As someone who reads a lot of mysteries particularly from the Golden Age, I found Ms. Perrin's novel to be highly entertaining. I'm hoping that it will be adapted for television as the dual narratives between 1966 focusing on teenaged stranded and present day Annie's investigation would work well in a cinematic adaptation. I really enjoyed seeing Annie work as an amateur detective. I hope we have more of her adventures to look forward to in the future.

In 1965 teenage Frances Adams is at an English country fair with her two best friends. But Frances’s night takes a hairpin turn when a fortune-teller makes a bone-chilling prediction: One day, Frances will be murdered. Frances spends a lifetime trying to solve a crime that hasn’t happened yet, compiling dirt on every person who crosses her path in an effort to prevent her own death. For decades, no one takes Frances seriously, until nearly sixty years later, when Frances is found murdered. In the present day, Annie Adams has been summoned to a meeting at the sprawling country estate of her wealthy and reclusive great-aunt Frances. But by the time Annie arrives in the quaint English village of Castle Knoll, Frances is already dead. Annie is determined to catch the killer, but thanks to Frances’s lifelong habit of digging up secrets and lies, it seems every endearing and eccentric villager has a motive for her murder.

This is the author's debut adult novel and is so very well written that it is hard to believe she has only written two YA novels. The premise of the novel is intriguing, but I don't want to give too much away. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for introducing me to a new author that I hope will write another novel soon.