Loved this title.
Refreshing in that I don’t recall having read a similar plot line. An intriguing well paced plot, set over a split timeline with two murders to solve, one historic and the other present. I was enthralled and couldn’t wait to find out what happened next. I’d say it’s quite a cozy mystery, because all of the characters have been written so immaculately that it was difficult to dislike them - even the less savoury characters.

A perfect fireside read and an easy 4 star 🌟 review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quercus for the opportunity to listen to this audio book in return for an honest review.

3.75 / 5

Just because something is a murder mystery does not mean it's anything like Knives Out. Or Only Murders In The Building. As far as I can see, the only connection to OMITB is the use of a 'murder board'. Nevertheless, this is a strong debut mystery that has all the components to intrigue those who fare towards the slightly cosier side of this genre - small village setting, mysterious rich relative, a large cast of characters and an unlikely non-professional detective at the heart. Plus, a race against time.

'How To Solve Your Own Murder' is fast paced; I gobbled this one up in a handful of sittings and despite never quite feeling fully invested in the story, I kept wanting to pick it up and read on. The author does a great job of establishing the setting, of giving us a competent lead character who solves the mystery. Though I'm not sure Annie is the kind of person with enough personality to lead a detective series and she is woefully under-developed as a character, she didn't irritate me enough to put the book down, so that's a win. I will also give a thumbs up to the author (who is American) that the UK-isms were spot on and the dialogue felt very natural.

The primary problem with this novel is the characters - there's so many with very little differentiation and those who do stand out a bit more don't get much development at all. Even our heroine veers into the two dimensional at times because she's sharing her side of things with her great Aunt's diaries. Particularly the people unmasked as the criminals - there are 2 murders and 2 murderers - don't feature strongly enough in the story or leave enough of an impact on the reader for you to care when it's revealed who they are. This book is bloated with characters who aren't strong enough to be distinguishable and therefore, intriguing to a reader, and that lets the overall mystery down. We don't get those amazing moments of catharsis with those characters we suspect - they just kind of...disappear by the end and it all gets wrapped up very quickly.

I felt the ending wasn't necessary - after the announcement of who did it, things could've just ended there and it still would have been completely satisfying. It's an interesting book but despite its 'in-your-face' title, it offers little to nothing new to the genre.

'How To Solve Your Own Murder' by Kristen Perrin is available from March 26th.

This was fun.
I enjoyed the narration via dual timelines, which I usually am not a fan of, and even thought the twist was a bit predictable, I liked the plot overall.
The book did start to drag a little too much for my liking at some point, but it didn’t get too bad.
Overall a solid read, I’d rate it 3.5 stars.

This story was a delight to read! It's a duel narrative that shifts between Frances' life as a teenager when one of her best friends goes missing, to sixty years later when Frances is murdered and her great niece Annie attempts to solve the mystery. I loved the switches between POVs in each chapter, as it felt like I was learning about who Frances was as a person along with Annie. Each of the characters were well developed and interesting, with as many flaws as virtues, and each with their own secrets to hide - I especially loved seeing how Walter, John, Rose, and Saxon had changed over the previous six decades! The narrator did a wonderful job of capturing everyone's unique accents which only added to the enjoyment. My only criticism, if you could call it that, is that I figured out who the murderer was quite early on in the story - however, finding out the motive for doing so, as well as how the murderer managed to remain hidden for so long still kept me entertained until the end!

I loved this book. It was like I was there with them trying to solve this murder. I loved the twist that the characters didn’t really ‘solve your own murder’. I did enjoy the back story and the little clues along the way. Loved the narrator of this audio book and felt it was such an easy, and entertaining read.

This rather cleverly conceived murder mystery centres on a victim who had been expecting to be murdered ever since a fortune teller at a fete gave a cryptic prophecy to that effect. Annie Adams is called to an English village by the solicitor of her rich and eccentric great-aunt Frances, whom she has never met. Frances has lived her life trying to evade what she believes is her fate, and also trying to find out what happened to her best friend, who disappeared when they were teenagers. Before Annie can meet the reclusive Frances, the old woman is murdered, just as she always believed she would be. Now Annie has just one week to find out who did it, or see Frances' estate be given over to greedy developers.

Although it's set in modern times, there are clear Christie-esque overtones with the country setting, grand house, and skulduggery around wills. The idea of the solution lying in the past is also a well tested murder mystery trope. The storytelling alternates between Annie's perspective as she tries to unravel the mystery, and Frances' teenage diaries (which Annie reads as part of her investigations). There's clearly a link between the murder and what happened to Frances and her friends during the summer of the prophecy, but it takes a long while to work out what it is. I did manage to half-solve it myself, but not entirely, and it wasn't an obvious solution - but also not a totally obscure one. Just right in fact.

Annie is a likeable heroine and it was easy to want her to succeed, and Frances gradually develops into a loveable character too. Presented initially as a crank, through her diaries Annie - and the reader - come to know a kind hearted, sensitive and intelligent young woman who showed great loyalty to her friends. You come to want the mystery to be solved for her sake as much as anything. Often murder victims are two dimensional or even villainous, but I really felt for Frances and was sorry she'd been killed.

It works well as an audiobook - the story is easy to follow and I didn't lose track. There are two narrators, one for Frances' sections and one for Annie's, although they sound quite similar to each other. Both read well with good pacing and expression and are easy to understand.

I'd highly recommend this book to 'cosy crime' fans - it's well constructed and written. Yes, it's a bit far fetched and wouldn't happen this way in real life, but within the limits of what I consider acceptable in this genre. It moved me more than I expected, and the solution was cleverer than many. I'd certainly read another by the same author.

In the 60s, three teenage girls got their fortunes told. One of them, Francis, had murder in hers and became obsessed with it. In modern day, Annie, great-niece of Francis, is called to Francis’s estate. However, Francis does wind up murdered. And to inherit, Annie must solve her murder.

I enjoyed this one a lot! I thought there was good pacing and good clues. I think I might have enjoyed it more as a physical book rather than an audiobook. The narrator was good, but there were a few times I think that there were breaks in chapters (that denote time has passed) but that was not clear in the audio version. I also wished I could have flipped back at times to review clues. Overall though, a fun twist on the murder mystery that was successful!

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley and Kirsten Perrin for the audio ARC of How to Solve your own Murder.

I really enjoyed this cosy mystery/thriller narrated by Alexandra Dowling and Jaye Jacobs. Both have lovely voices in which fit the characters personalities which helped keep the 2 timelines distinguishable

The story is set in 2 different timelines with a murder in each time line and both are linked. The main characters were well described and had a good sense of the village where the story takes place. The narratives have some subtle twists and turns so you do have to pay attention to the foreshadowing. The main twist and pay off at the end of How to solve your own murder was clever. I do feel though that the other characters in the book could have been fleshed out a little more, although there is enough there to get your teeth into.

I nice 3.7 stars

3.5 🌟

There's a lot of people in this book, and a lot happens, so pay attention.
It ticks a lot of the boxes on what anyone could be looking for in a cozy crime book.
Fun at times, with some good surprises.
I enjoyed it.

Can Annie unravel the mystery and find justice for Frances, or will digging up the past lead her into the path of the killer?Relatable characters, an engaging story and twists you’ll never predict no matter how good you are at it. And always the one final twist that you really didn’t see coming.
Grab this one or any of the author’s books at curl up and enjoy the wild ride. You won’t be disappointed.