This book was ok. The premise of the story was good but morally it just didn’t sit right and meant I didn’t really connect with the characters as much as I would have liked.

The story is set over 2 timelines - the 1960s and present day. Both trying to figure out who the murderer is/was and in the past timeline when one of the murders would even take place and what happened to a missing friend.

I found there were too many characters and I couldn’t keep up with them all, especially as some characters were in both timelines and their children/ relatives were also in the present timeline.

I was expecting a bit of a twist but there wasn’t one, more of a trap to set up the killer(s) and then a half-hearted reveal.

There was enough intrigue to keep me half interested but I wasn’t rushing to get to the end as I just didn’t really care enough about the outcome.

Agatha Christie fans will love this. Solve a murder set in a country estate with plenty of red herrings and a huge cast of would be villains. An enjoyable light read.

Firstly, forget any comparisons to Richard Osman – I am unsure why publishers cling to this idea that a novel has to be like something else. This is not a humorous book and so reading this on that premise will lead to disappointment. This is, in fact, a slightly odd read, which is written partly in the present and relies on journals from one characters past but feels as though it is all set somewhat in a Golden Age mystery set. Which is not to say that I did not like it, so let me explain.

It begins with three friends, Frances, Emily and Rose, at a County Fair in 1965. Frances has her fortune told and the fortune teller helpfully foresees her murder: ‘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 towards your murder.’

Frances takes this seriously and fast forward sixty years, and she invites Annie Adans to visit her at Castle Knoll in Dorset where she is, you guessed it, murdered. Annie lives in London with her mum, Laura, an artist, and Frances has both given Laura an allowance and a house that she owns to live in. Frances has now upended Annie’s – an aspiring crime writer – life as well as the security of her and her mother. Her will stipulates that whoever solves her murder inherits, so the race is on between Annie and other characters involved.

Part of the story is told through Frances original journals and part from the present, as Annie attempts to discover why, of the three friends that day, one went missing and one lived her life in fear of a threat of murder. The whole of Castle Knoll and the characters that inhabit it have a slightly old world feel, but, overall, this was a good read. I wavered between a three and a four but have opted for four as I thought it was fun. It is likely to appeal to those who enjoy cosy mysteries with no real sense of violence or menace, as this focuses far more on the puzzle to be solved. Lastly, I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

Told in two timelines this murder mystery had me guessing to the end. Annie Adams is summoned to Castle Knoll for what she believes to be a meeting with her great aunt Francis . Francis is an eccentric who in 1965 with two of her friends visits a fortuneteller who fortells a grim future including Frances’ murder. On her arrival Annie finds that the prediction has come true and Francis has in fact been murdered. Annie now has to find the culprit in order to protect her inheritance. The story is told through Frances’ diaries and Annie’s investigations and I had absolutely no idea who the murderer was, as there were numerous red herrings and suspects. This novel does have a golden age of mystery feeling to it and is all the better for it.I will be looking for more this series … maybe there is more to be found in Frances’ files! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to listen to this novel in return for an honest review.

How To Solve Your Own Murder is supposed to be a double narrative mystery of amateur sleuths in the style of Agatha Christie or Richard Osman. Sadly, it is nothing like those authors mentioned.
At a fair in Dorset in 1965, a fortune teller predicts doom, gloom, and death to come in Frances Adam’s life. Frances then proceeds to live her life thinking she is going to be struck by an early demise. We then jump sixty years to the present day. Annie Adams who is France’s great niece has aspirations to become a mystery writer. She receives an invitation from solicitors to go to Dorset to discuss the future of Francis’s vast estate and what will happen in the event of her death. Once at Gravestone Estate, Annie and other future beneficiaries are shocked to find Francis’s dead body. Is it natural causes or something to do with the fortune teller’s prediction? The story then alternates between the present day and France’s diaries set in 1965 as Annie sets out to solve the mystery.

This has such a good premise and I was really looking forward to reading it, but ultimately it is very disappointing and falls short in every conceivable way. The diaries of 1965 and the present day are too similar in language and presentation so you don’t get a clear sense of life in 1965. There are far too many characters and a number of them have very clunky dialogue. One of the main issues is that it does not have that quintessential English mystery feeling and that may be because the author is not English. The plot suffers from being far too overly complicated when it really does not need to be.
In summary, the book suffers from trying to be too original and then falls short of being able to be put in any genre. This is despite that there is a reminder that we are in the midst of a murder mystery in literally every chapter.
My thanks to NetGalley, Quercus Books and Kristen Perrin for the much appreciated ARC in exchange for an open and honest review.

The premise of this book immediately intrigued me and made this one of my most anticipated reads of the year, and I am happy to report it did not disappoint.

Back in 1965, 16-years-old Frances Adams gets her future predicted by a fortune teller, only to be met with a prophecy that announces her future murder. Shaken by it, Frances spends the rest of her life trying to outsmart her fate and solve her own murder before it's too late. Sixty years later, her aspiring mystery writer great niece, Annabelle Adams, is summoned by Frances' lawyer to Castle Knoll to discuss her estate. However, by the time Annie gets there, Frances is already dead, and she gets caught up into figuring out what happened to her Great Aunt.

The story is told in two timelines: one set in the present, where Annie is working her way through different clues to piece together what has really happened to Frances; one set in the past, which is brought to life thanks to the pages of Frances' diary, which Annie uses to get information about her Great Aunt. I personally loved both timelines, and I had so much fun finding out things as Annie did, even though I feel like the book seamlessly worked moving the reader from being one step ahead to one step behind, which I found interesting.

There was a great number of characters, and I did struggle to keep up with all of them at first, but it got easier as I got more into the story. Not all of them were very interesting, but, again, as there was a great number of them, that was to be expected. Annie was a very enjoyable character to me, but there was something so fascinating about Frances' character to me, I really looked forward reading from her point of view and getting to know her more— and at times I even found myself questioning whether or not I could trust her.

Overall, this was such a fun read with a great Agatha Christie-esque feel to it. I genuinely couldn't put it down and I was so interested in figuring out how it all would unravel. I would definitely recommend it if you're looking for a smart, entertaining, small-town mystery, and I'm intrigued to see more of Annie's adventures in the future, I genuinely think it has the potential to be a great series to come back to.

Huge thanks to Quercus Books & Netgalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review

Loved the unique perspectives in this wonderful mystery.

The flashbacks were stunning and I loved the performance of the narrator.

An intriguing and gripping story, I loved the characters and can't wait to read more by this author.

"Where there's a will, there's a way." in this case, solving Frances' murder is the way to receiving the proceeds of her will. Frances' obsession with a prediction of her murder told to her by a fortune teller when she was 16 has given her great-niece Annie everything she needs to uncover the truth.

It's a great story with a fabulous hook, entertainingly executed,

I enjoyed this cosy mystery by Kristen Perrin. I thought the narrator did a really good job at engaging me in the story. I liked the premise and thought the flashbacks did at good job at adding to the plot.

I new immediately that this murder mystery would be a hit, my reading slump is over and I couldn't put it down. I wished I'd had a note book as I read this as it seemed set out to give you the information and tools to solve the mysteries yourself. I enjoyed the different characters and how they slotted into the story, how each could have committed murder but why they didn't.

I hope this is not the end of Annie.

'How To Solve Your Own Murder' written by Kristen Perrin

Pub date: 26 March 2024
Page count: 384

Thankyou netgalley, Kristen Perrin and Quercus Books

Thoughts:
● I took SO many notes, I was trying to unravel this and doing everything I could to try to solve the story. I might have actually taken more notes than the MC and that's saying something. 
● I absolutely loved this from the get go. I just finished it and I already want to start it again.
● Am I going to preorder this? Almost definetly. Am I going to encourage others to preorder this? Only if you like cozy mysteries, with lovable and interesting characters.

Positives:
● a long lost journal that tells part of and helps progress the story
● alternating chapters with the journal from the past and current day
● small town vibes with an MC who's a "city girl"
● mysterious community
● the reader (and MC) isn't completely sure who to trust

Negatives:
● alot of really helpful things seem to be conveniently happening

Recommend if you:
● love a cosy mystery
● want to try to solve a 'whodunnit' by yourself
● want a read that you can get hooked on
● you enjoy medium-paced books
● you want a book with a good selection of loveable characters (but you also like to have a character you will dislike that won't be too grating)

This was a really enjoyable murder mystery, it kept me guessing throughout and had some likeable characters that kept the story going. This isn't quite a cozy mystery but is very close to being one. I enjoyed that the story branched into two timelines and split narrative as it kept pushing me on to read as I needed to know who the murderers were.

I finished this within a day which surprised me as I don't have a lot of time to read and get distracted by life very easily. I would recommend this to people wanting to get into the murder mystery genre and find the older traditional detectives a bit daunting.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

How To Solve Your Own Murder is Kristen Perrin's debut novel in adult fiction, and it's a jolly entertaining read.
There are two timelines in the story; the present day, which is told from the point of view of Annie Adams, and the summer of 1966, which is told in diary form from the POV of Annie's great aunt Frances.
There are a lot of characters, most of whom are likeable, including the killer. There is also a mystery within the mystery, which should complicate things, but doesn't.
I'm not going to give a synopsis of the book, as that would give too much away. Suffice to say that this is a cosy mystery, a fun and easy read. If you liked The Thursday Murder Club or Knives Out, then this is the book for you.
Many thanks to Kristen Perrin, Quercus Books and Netgalley for the eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to #NetGalley for letting me read this ARC.

I mean, if I was to be murdered I would LOVE to also be the one to solve it - so the title already had me hooked!

This was a solid story with a bit of a "looked room mystery" vibe to it. There was no actual looked room to it, but with a limited amount of people involved, and with a very short timespan for the plot to play out, it had many of the characteristics of a classic mystery novel.

My favourite things from the book:
- The throw-back to the 60's through diary entries
- The way the story invites you to make up your own theories along the way (even if they turn out to be wrong)

My least favourite things from the book:
- The ending was a little too sappy for my taste, and didn't really fit with the rest of the book
- The main character has a bit of the Nancy Drew syndrome, she is just a little TOO good and at everything and it is a bit unnecessary

All in all this is a solid mystery, with a fun take on the genre, but perhaps not my personal favourite. Would definitely read more by the author though!

I enjoyed the multiple narrative past and present. Very similar vibe to Aghata Christy , everyone is a suspect . I was hooked from the beginning! Thanks for the copy.

This book was so good! I love a good cozy mystery but I can be very picky with them. I do sometimes find that they can be a bit too simply written or the mystery itself can be a bit lacklustre. But neither of those things were the case here.

I thought the writing was really fun, it felt modern and there was enough going on that the mystery itself was complex and interesting. I loved the town of Castle Knoll and getting to know all of the characters, including Frances. I'm just as sad as Annie that we never got to meet or spend time with present-day Frances but her diary entries really added something to the story and helped me to really care about finding out who killed her.

I haven't given this a full 5* because I do think it is a tad too long, there was a lot of set up and it did take until about the 40% mark for the story and mystery to really get into full swing. Also, there are a lot of characters in this book and a lot of them are related to each other in various ways and it was sometimes difficult to keep track of it all. So I think it would have been helpful to have a (spoiler free, of course) list of all of the characters, their jobs and who they're related to at the start of the book to refer back to.

All in all though, I would definitely recommend this to cozy mystery fans. And if Goodreads is correct in indicating that this might be a series, I cannot wait to read the next one!

Thanks to Quercus and NetGalley for the ARC.

The premise, and title in particular of this one really drew me in and I thought this would be something different within the cosy crime genre. The cover also looks great so I was looking forward to getting stuck in. Sadly this didn’t live up to expectations and the title is misleading as it has nothing to do with solving your own murder really as the person murdered doesn’t do that.

Overall it’s ok and that’s the general feeling I’m left with. The writing is decent, the story is ok but In a market and genre that is becoming saturated it does nothing different to stand out from the crowd. I didn’t really connect with the main character Annie, and didn’t really care if she won her inheritance or not as I didn’t really see her as deserving (her mum Laura is and more focus should have been on her character). Im also confused as to why Frances was obsessed with her psychic reading and took it to be instantly true. I get little things fed into it but it’s a big leap to just instantly believe you’re going to be killed. I always also get slightly annoyed when a detective who has access to everything the main character does can’t figure it out or pull together a half decent investigation.

The best part of the book were the diary extracts which were much more interesting than Annie’s story, and I liked the idea of the back story of the group of friends.

Overall not my cup of tea, maybe cosy crime just isn’t for me anymore. As always have a read and see what you think.

I enjoyed this one a lot! Our narrator is a mystery writer who gets involved in a murder case - her mother's aunt was found dead. But Aunt Frances had been preparing for this for sixty years, ever since she received the prophecy. She has information on everyone. Which is great, because Annielacks exactly that.

There are a couple of red herrings in it, which were too clear that they are red herrings, and the delay in the story's information delivery was forced on one or two occasions - if I were to lift a card from a murder board, I would have learnt it by heart in three minutes - not it would come to my mind three days later that it exists. The prediction is very evocative, but kinda clunky when I try to interpret it in any way. However, these are all mistakes that I can ignore, because everything else brought the atmosphere I was looking for. Very fun. engagind, complex story, I couldn't guess the killer but it made sense retrospectively.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quercus Books for providing the ARC!

Billed as Agatha Christie like. A woman’s spends her adult life convinced she is going to be murdered. As a teen she had her fortune told and it was:
“ 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 is eventually murdered and in her will be leaves her estate to the person who can solve her murder.

The book started out very well for me and I was enjoying the switch between Frances (the murdered one) and Annie her great niece. After about 150 pages my enthusiasm waned and by the end of the book I didn’t really care who had murdered Frances. There was a large cast of characters and I wasn’t interested enough to work out exactly who everyone was.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC