As a big fan of How to Solve Your Own Murder, I was delighted to get the opportunity to read an advance copy of its sequel, How to Seal Your Own Fate. I thoroughly enjoyed this one too. As I started this book, I realized that I needed to refresh my memory of the first book in the series. It had been over a year since I read the first book, and I decided to re-read it before reading HTSYOF. It was very helpful to be re-familiarized with the recurring characters and even with the format of alternating the contemporary story with the entries in the aunt's diary from the Sixties. I highly recommend reading the books in order. Once again, there were many repercussions of events during the Sixties in the current crimes. There were many twists and turns and a lot of suspense, especially when left with cliffhangers at the end of many chapters. I think this is a very fun series with great characters and clever writing. I highly recommend this book and look forward to the next in the series.

The second installment in the Castle Knoll Files series is much like the first- class warfare, historical murder mystery, police procedural. For fans of Tana French, only without the length. How to Seal Your Own Fate is a faster paced, deep mystery of questioning and generational secrets. Annie Adams lives in Castle Knoll and learns that Peony Lane, the local fortune teller, is now dead. Peony has an interesting past and even a former identity. Annie looks into the death to see if there was someone trying to cover up a murder from the 1960's. Set in a lovely English village, this quaint small town setting is perfect for- while not exactly a closed room mystery- a small town has that vibe as the story unfolds.

I found this to be a suspenseful story with a satisfying ending. I normally find procedural mysteries to be a bit tedious, but this is readable and engaging. The characters fell a bit flat for me, as the conversation seemed stilted and somewhat boring. This is a good mystery that will not take long to read and will hold your attention until the very last page.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Book to be published April 29, 2025.

In this follow-up to 'How to Solve Your Own Murder,' we are dropped back into Castle Knoll, where Annie faces yet another mystery. She relies on her grandmother’s journals and her own intuition to solve more murders related to an ominous fortune. This is yet another engaging read filled with interesting characters and a complex mystery. 'How to Seal Your Own Fate' is an entertaining read that will keep you guessing as Annie uncovers more secrets and solves more mysteries.

I loved How To Solve Your Own Murder, so I was ecstatic when I received the ARC for How To Seal Your Fate in my email. It was just as fun, charming, fast-paced and twisty as HTSYOM, and I enjoyed it immensely. The only criticism I can give is, I wish it had a little synopsis or catalog of the characters from the first book at the beginning of this one. I read HTSYOM almost exactly a year ago and it took me a while to remember who everyone was and what their backstories were. For that reason, I would suggest a re-read before reading this one! I love Annie and Aunt Frances, (and Detective Crane :)) so much and am hoping for a third! Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton books for this ARC!

An interesting follow up to the first in this series. I found it confusing with the different story lines and multiple characters. I’m interested in seeing how the series progresses.

4.5

i don't even know where to start with this book. i read the first one a few months ago and i fear i may have judged it a little too harshly (but to be fair if i knew it was going to be a series i would have understood the amount of lore and worldbuiling that went into it) and I'm a little shocked that i was able to breeze through this book in one day as that hasn't happened in months. it was definitely easier to get into since i read the first book and reminders of the lore and characters were easy to pick up and not repetitive in a way that was annoying to read.

i still love annie even though she kinda gets on my nerves sometimes but I'm not going to even act like she didn't have me laughing at time because she is a totally funny character. i got more of a grim/dark vibe from this book than the first one and i think its because for the most part i knew the very basics of the lore and diving into things that were briefly discussed in the last book to come full circle was a crazy experience.

also, i love when books have riddles that are actually riddles. for the life of me i could not figure out what it meant which made it more fun to uncover the secrets of what's going on. all time favorite character has to Frances, she was just so unbelievably real that i found myself relating to her every time she was on the page.

for me, the only reason it isn't a 5 is because of the pacing. i didn't notice it as much in this book as the first but it did lag at times and i DID skim over a few parts when it felt like it was going on for too long but overall, will absolutely be reading if there's another book!!!

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for gifting me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Perrin is back for a sophomore effort with "How to Seal Your Own Fate" and arguably, she did even better than her first novel on this one. Annie Adams returns as narrator and after solving her great aunt's murder in the first book, she's thrust into the midst of another unsolved mystery.

I really liked and appreciated the alternation between present day and the excerpts from Frances in the 1960s - I thought that created a fun dynamic and made the read compulsive. I thought that this book was very fun and I was genuinely concerned with how to follow up the original story but dare I say, the second installment is even better. Bravo to Perrin - four stars!

Perrin's Castle Knoll books are a fun cozy mystery series set in rural England. I enjoyed my trip back to Castle Knoll, but as it had been a while since my first trip, I couldn't remember what exactly had happened in that first book. Perhaps Perrin didn't want to spoil that book for anyone who reads book 2 without having read book 1, but at least a few reminders of the events in the first book beyond "Anna solved Frances's murder and won the inheritance" would have been really helpful. I look forward to the next book in the series.

This is Kristen Perrin’s second installment of the Castle Knoll series (the first book was the delightful “How to Solve Your Own Murder”). Most of the same characters are present, so you can consider it a sequel — and knowing what happened in book one informs you a lot more about the Castle Knoll folks in book two.

Annie Adams, the one who finally solved Great Aunt Frances’s murder and therefore inherited the entire Gravesdown Hall (truly a castle) and surrounding properties, is our main narrator again. This story revolves around the unfortunate Peony Lane, the fortune teller who influenced Great Aunt Frances’ entire life by telling her she would be murdered. Peony is also murdered in Annie’s solarium/greenhouse just before Annie was having tea with her London friend Jenny among the tropical plants. Annie had only met Peony that morning and the fortune teller was about to reveal Annie’s supposed future to her.

Once again Annie gets drawn into trying to solve a murder, this time aided by her late aunt’s voluminous collection of possible blackmail material. As a result, Annieis shunned by the people of Castle Knoll because they know Frances collected their secrets.

Alternating with present day observations are excerpts from Aunt Frances’ files and diaries from the 60s. There’s a hint of beginning romances (Annie and Detective Crane; Frances before she married Ford). And, omigod, I haven’t seen a reference to Donovan’s “Mellow Yellow” in decades (that vinyl LP lived in our house in the 60s with the coolest cover art)! Too bad Frances was unalived in the first book.

Author Perrin has created a twisty mystery that covers two time periods and multiple murders. Annie acquits herself as an accomplished sleuth and, I suspect, will be back investigating the pocketful of unopened fortunes she still has in future books. I actually found myself liking the sequel more than the original. 5 stars!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): YES Ellen Jones and Peony Lane have green eyes with brown flecks, and Frances has spring green ones.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): Sort of: Elva fired the gardener for planting the “wrong color” hydrangeas. He had no choice — Whatever he planted depended on the acidity or alkalinity of the local soil — pink flowers in alkaline soil; blue in acidic soil. You never can grow blue and pink hydrangeas next to each other unless they are in pots with different soils.

Thank you to Dutton Books and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC
First off , this is definitely a SEQUEL. It’s not a stand alone book Even though I read the first “How to Solve Your Own Murder” , I still had to blow the cobwebs off my memory to get at the details from the first. Although it can get annoying to have things from a first book summarized in the second to catch readers up, this book needed more of that.
I found it to be 2 1/2 stars rounded up
Beyond that, I found the pacing to be slow and the mysteries not engaging enough I’m ok with a slow burn if the main mystery is engaging enough. There were too many things with not enough heart. I wish I felt more frisson between the primary love interests.
After all that, the solution had too much of an Agatha Christie gimmick to it for my taste.

A truly delightful read! So happy to revisit Castle Knoll, a town that seems both idyllic and full of murder! We pick up the story with Annie, enjoying her inheritance but feeling a bit listless. She runs into Peony Lane on her way to Archie's farm, and the plot thickens when just hours later Peony is found dead in the solarium. As Annie tries to solve the murder, she keeps coming back to the Gravedown car crash in 1960s, and how everyone is keeping secrets about it. Is it connected to Peony's murder? And, if so, can she figure out how before more bodies start to drop?

Of course we dive back into Frances' diaries, which are truly my fave! She is dealing with the aftermath of Emily's disappearance and the rest of her friends starting new lives. As people start whispering about the Gravedown car crash, she also starts her own investigation. Leading her to make new friends and reconsider her own relationship with Ford.

Overall I adored this read, it is a good mystery which keeps me guessing.
I do find that Annie's story, and her narration, is just a bit more bland than Frances who is more emotive and a bit more daring. I am hoping that in the next book Annie shows some character development and takes life a bit more in her own hands!



Thank you to Dutton and NetGalley for the ARC!

I love dual timeline books and Kristen Perrin does it so well. The story is talking about the same thing but in the past and present times. I didn’t guess the twists and turns.

It was fun to be back in Castle Knoll, with the continuation of Book one, and all the intrigue of Frances's life, and death. Book two does NOT disappoint. Please, if you haven't already done so, grab a copy of "How to solve your own murder", and consume that before beginning this one.
It's to your advantage to do so.

Being back with Annie, in Gravestown Hall is definitely creepy, what with all of the situations that transpired there in book one. She is determined to figure out more about the life her aunt lived, and why uncovering the town's secrets played so heavily into her obsessive need to outrun her fate. Not only that, but trying to keep ahead of officer Crane, and the new police chief is a task all it's own.

I absolutely LOVED the twists and turns in this one, and how interconnected everyone is, and the roles they played in how things ended up. The interpersonal dramas between friends, brothers, lovers, and family kept the pages turning, and I was at the end of this one before I knew it.

I encourage you to read this book (once you're done with book one) as it is very entertaining. I was fortunate to receive an invite to read from the publisher, and a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley (thank you), and happily leave my review.

3.5 stars. The vibes were great and it was fantastic to be back to this setting, but it wasn’t quite as great as the first book in the series.

I was invited by the publisher to review this book. This is a follow up to the first book in the series, which followed Annie as she tried to solve her aunt's murder that occurred on her estate. In that book we got to be introduced to a whole host of characters from her aunt's past, many of whom were still present in her life or through her estate in some way. In this book, we get to carry on in the fun. Annie has to investigate yet another murder, this time of a fortune teller, (but this is very important, as she is being framed), and we get a blast to the past again through journal entries.

What I love about these books is that we get a mystery, but it isn't gory or even scary, and the plotline is still "cozy" without being boring. It's all just fun. And the idea again of weaving together Annie and Frances as they attempt to solve a mystery of their time works really well, it keeps readers on their toes, and lends a two-for-one bonus in the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was wondering how Perrin would follow up "How to Solve Your Own Murder", the way that book was set-up was unique. Perrin did a wonderful job with this title as well. I really enjoyed learning more about Archie and Peony. I don't want to give anything away so I am careful about what I say. I loved how much Gravesdown's history made it a character. I love all the mainstay characters. And the mystery of this one had me guessing and second-guessing what was going on. I can't wait for another installment.

As a fan of small-town mysteries, this book was a delight to read. The blend of amateur sleuthing and community dynamics kept me hooked from start to finish. I'm eagerly looking forward to book three, anticipating more twists and turns in this charming series.

'How to Seal Your Own Fate' continues the Castle Knoll series with another Agatha Christie-esque twisty mystery. Kristen Perrin does a great job of weaving meaningful puzzles together spanning 50+ years, so this sequel is even more compelling than 'How to Solve Your Own Murder'.

If you enjoy reading small-town, amateur detective mysteries, then I recommend this book to you! I am looking forward to book three.

Special thanks to the Publisher, PENGUIN GROUP Dutton, and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

4.5⭐️

I can’t get enough of Rowan Crane! He continues to be such a loveable character. This book serves as a strong sequel, and I truly hope the series keeps going. It has that cozy vibe while also delivering classic mystery elements.

We return to Castle Knoll, where we follow Annie as she navigates another murder case—both current and tied to the past. Just like in the first book, we seamlessly transition between the present and the past through Frances's journals. This narrative device is executed beautifully, enhancing the story and hinting at potential future installments.

Perrin continues to craft wonderful, lovable characters that you never want to leave behind. I will eagerly read anything she writes.

Thank you NetGallsy and Penguin House Dutton for this advance reader copy. My review is voluntarily my own.

The first book in this series, “How to Solve Your Own Murder,” was my favorite mystery of the year, and also just one of my favorite reads in general. This sequel did not disappoint. It’s formulaic, but that’s something I love about it - small countryside town location, returning characters from the first book, and a mystery that is somewhat related to the mystery from the first book. I liked the mystery here and the dual narrative that also served “HtSYOM” so well. I sped through this and I can’t wait for the series to continue.