I wanted to read this book so badly, because on a booksellers' event it was hyped very cleverly by the publisher. Image the song and dance I did when my request was approved by the publisher!
Did this book live up to the hype? Yes. Yes it did, I seriously cannot wait to handsell this titel to our customers.
*The plot was intricate, it kept me guessing till the very last moment, but the story was full of red herrings. A re-read will be a lot of fun :)
*The writing style is highly addictive, not for a moment did I want to put this book down. I am especially in awe of the way that it was so easy to remember who was who in this enormous list of characters and how they were related to each other.

"How To Solve Your Own Murder" is an entertaining murder mystery, told via a dual timeline; 1966 when young Frances learns that she is likely to be murdered - information that will impact on her until the present day and Annie's story in the present day, as she delves into France's past.
There is quite a cast of characters and it did take me a while to settle into the storyline and keep track of everyone, but once I had worked that one, the story became enjoyable. And there were plenty of twists and fun to be had throughout the storyline.

How To Solve Your Own Murder is a double narrative tale of aspiring sleuths: tasked with the responsibility of solving her great aunt’s murder in order to inherit her entire estate (as well as the house her and her mother have always lived in), Annie Adams finds herself in the middle of a sixty year old story, in a village she’s never known, where secrets abound and an old woman’s grudge could very well destroy a whole community.

The book flies by really quickly, and the double narrative device, with Annie’s story in the foreground in contemporary times and her great aunt Frances’s diaries in the 1960s, helps in giving the sense of urgency thanks to well placed cliffhangers.

The premise sounded really fun, but right as the situation is established I found myself in disbelief: the humble and forgiving woman of the 1965 diaries has really become so jaded and secluded from her own community that she’s willing to let it die unless a niece she’s never even met solves her murder (which at the time of the will being written hadn’t even happened yet, of course)?

This same problem of unbelievable and barely consequential logic leaps reverberates throughout the novel, as clues fit together into a tapestry just as well as a forced jigsaw puzzle.

The writing is a bit clunky at times, the fortune the whole plot is driven by is a jumble of words - which would be fine when it comes to the realism of it, I guess, but for me and the people that have to read it countless times in the novel it becomes a bit of a mess. I suppose that should teach everyone a lesson in looking for signs anywhere just because they’re found in cryptic sentences.

The novel felt a bit too descriptive (I lost count of how many Get Ready With Mes we get), with the narrator of choice (either Annie or Frances) explicitly telling us what they were thinking at any single time in a way that felt a bit too fabricated, especially because you can tell when either of them is withholding information in order to create another end of chapter cliffhanger. Also the tongue-in-cheek joke of the murder mystery writer solving the murder mystery of someone obsessed with a murder mystery of her own while we are reading said murder mystery - with all the references to typical murder mystery novels and films: that’s too much, reel it back a little. Did you see how annoying it was to read the words “murder mystery” so many times in a row? At a certain point any attempt at metanarration becomes a sad cliché, and it happens soon.

Another final remark: Frances and Annie’s voices read exactly the same, they don’t feel like characters of their own (does any character, actually? they all feel pretty twodimesional to me), and even worse, the narration sixty years in the past could have very well been set in contemporary times and I would have barely noticed a difference - they speak in the exact same way as the people in 202x (whichever year this book is set in). Also it’s set in England but doesn’t feel British - a quick research told me the author is American, so keep that in mind - there is nothing particularly telling about it, but I did get an uncanny valley feeling about it and had to check.

The plot also reminds me of another recent murder mystery novel with a fortune teller and a surprise inheritance plot with the double narrative of hidden diaries, even though it’s a bit darker in tone: The Death of Mrs Westaway by Ruth Ware.

I’m very sad I ended up giving this book a low rating, even though I came to it with an open mind. It still works for the very occasional crime reader or for someone in need of an airport book, but if you’re in search of the next Great Mystery Novel then I’d advise to look elsewhere.


Access to the ARC acquired thanks to NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The title of this book is what caught my attention and after reading it, it's not what I expected at all.

There are a lot of characters to keep track of I thought I was going to need my own murder board at one point. The suspense is all the way through the book keeping you on a thread to see who the killer is/was. All in all it was a great murder mystery.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the digital copy.

At the beginning of the story, we're introduced to Frances who s a teenager, visits a fortune-teller. Frances is told that she will be betrayed and murdered. A year later one of her friends goes missing and the case is unsolved.

Flash forward to the present, and we're introduced to Annie, an aspiring murder mystery writer who lives with her bohemian mother in London in a house owned by her Great Aunt Frances. She receives a letter inviting her to meet with her aunt to discuss her will. Except when she arrives to meet her Great Aunt, she discovers Frances' dead body and that her fortune has come true,

The story is told from dual narratives, with us learning about Frances in her younger years through her diary and Annie being the focal point of the present day as she tries solve the mystery of Frances' death. The revelations in the diary make you feel a part of the mystery as the past is unravelled.

There are plenty of people to suspect as Frances made a few enemies from her investigations as she was paranoid about her murder. She investigated everyone around her.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this, it had me on the edge of my seat with each reveal. Loved the Christie-like feel the book has. Similar, to her books this one isn't just focused on the murder but also all the people around her and their motivations. The plot was gripping, the characters were fleshed out in to actual humans, and the conclusion was delicious and satisfying.

An enjoyable read with an alternating storyline between Annie, Frances's granddaughter and Frances herself in 1966. I preferred Frances's storyline which was told through the medium of a notebook recounting the events following the fortune-teller's prediction of her murder as the characters seemed to have far more depth than the present-day protagonists. There were lots of clues, red herrings a little romance and an excellent ending.

What can I say, I'm a sucker for a mystery. So with a title like this, how could I resist?

This was a really enjoyable book. Frances has her fortune told as a young woman and is told that one day she will be murdered. Well, what do you know? It turns out to be true! However, Frances, believing one day this prediction would come true, has kept a log if information and evidence on those with whom she has come into contact and her niece, Annie, is now tasked with finding the killer if she wants to inherit Frances's fortune.

As I say, this was a really enjoyable, cosy mystery. The only slight issue I had with it was that the number of characters was just overwhelming and some were so undeveloped you forgot who they were. It just made an enjoyable story a little hard to follow at times.

Other than that minor criticism, I really enjoyed it.

Thanks to Netgalley and Quercus for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

When Annie receives a letter summoning her to meet with her wealthy but eccentric Great Aunt Frances, she's excited to visit the picturesque town of Castle Knoll and to find out more about the relative she's never met. Instead, Annie finds herself drawn into a murder investigation, with an inheritance that will change more lives than her own hanging in the balance. Thanks to a fortune teller Frances visited when she was seventeen, Frances has lived the last sixty years of her life as if somebody wanted to kill her, suspecting everyone, and inadvertently giving most of the village a reason to want her dead.

I loved this one. How to Solve Your Own Murder is a title that I couldn't resist, and it didn't disappoint. The story itself is mainly focused on the present day, where Annie finds herself drawn into investigating Frances' murder, but it is also interspersed with some of Frances' diary entries that relate to the sixty-year-old prediction of Frances' death that has finally come true. I loved both storylines equally, and especially the fact that I didn't trust any of the characters. The small town setting really adds to tension, while also ensuring that I never lost track of who was who. This plot kept me guessing until the very end, without ever becoming overly complicated or implausible, and I particularly enjoyed the way aspiring-writer Annie approaches the mystery.

I could quite easily have read How to Solve Your Own Murder in one sitting. It grabbed me from the first line, and didn't let me go until the very end. I just found this one such an easy and engaging read, with a really interesting mystery at its heart, and a charming setting and cast of characters. Despite this book being light on romance, it somehow strikes me as what would happen if you dropped a romance heroine into a murder mystery (and I absolutely mean that as a compliment).

Three seemingly inseparable friends in an idyllic summer and then it all goes wrong. Frances has her fortune read and from that date until the day she died it dominated her life and in this case death too. Four people are tasked with solving her murder and two could inherit the multi million pound inheritance.

A quintessentially English mystery set in a small town ( which for some reason I think of as Castle Combe), full of gossip and history and all with their own secrets. Who can our heroine, Annie trust, the rather dashing police detective, her fellow investigators, Frances’ childhood friend.or are her instincts right, solve the mystery of missing Emily and that will solve the murder of Frances. There are some pretty unpleasant characters in here but can Annie weed them out to keep herself and her inheritance safe.

This is a fabulous concept, follow the clues left by the victim who essentially does solve her own murder, thanks to Annie’s intuition and determination. A clever plot line with some lovely twists with some well written characters. There’ seems to never be a quiet moment in Castle Knoll . I can safely say I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it’s well worth a read.

Do I dare hope this might become a series? Yes! Is it? Stayed tuned and we'll find out! I quite enjoyed this book and felt like Annie was a great well-rounded character who instantly drew you in. I also loved loved loved the mystery within a mystery aspect and was dying to get more chapters of 1965 and the three "original girls". I enjoyed all of the characters and the setting was vivid and I loved the atmosphere of a lady who spent her entire life trying to solve her murder but then her own Grand Niece managed to solve it on her behalf. It was a great original concept that Perrin managed to pull off with aplomb. My only compliant was that it ended and that the middle lagged just a tiny bit.

3.5 rounded up

At the Castle Knoll Fair in Dorset in 1965, a prediction from a fortune teller dictates Frances Adam’s life. She is told her “future contains dry bones“, a grim prophecy indeed, or should that be Grimm? Frances spends many years taking every precaution she can to prevent an untimely demise. Sixty years on in the present day, Annie Adams, Frances‘s great niece is trying to become a mystery writer. She is summoned to Frances‘s lawyers in Castle Knoll to discuss the considerable estate and fortune. Annie travels to Dorset as requested, and along with other potential beneficiaries, she is taken to Gravestone Estate, Frances‘s mansion and grounds. There they find her dead. Has she been murdered exactly as foretold sixty years ago or is it natural causes? Initially, the authorities decide she has died a natural death, but further examination proves that she has indeed been murdered. Annie has already decided she needs to detect, however, she is presented with a very good reason to sleuth when Frances’s will is read, and she only has a limited time to come up with the goods. The story alternates between the present day and the past via Frances’s journal which gives us a good idea of her personality and the shenanigans of the late 1960s.

This has a good premise and and a great Christieque setting for the unfolding drama. It’s very much in the vein of a Queen Agatha cozy mystery with murder and mayhem on the agenda. There’s plenty going on in a packed plot with odd characters, inheritance issues, riddles, games, and challenges, there are numerous suspects to say nothing of the original prediction which hangs over Frances‘s life and dictates her actions. The detecting race against time that Annie is engaged in reveals numerous potential motives, also secrets by the truckload with accompanying lies, alongside threats and betrayals. It’s a long list in fact, which perhaps makes the plot more complicated than it needs to be. I do like the competitive race against time idea as it does give an edge to the storytelling, which inevitably leads to a path of danger at every return.

Apart from a somewhat overcrowded plot, there are lots of characters to get your head around, some are not especially interesting, but also not very well developed. Whilst I admire Annie’s persistence, she’s not in the same calibre as say a Miss Marple and although she doesn’t have a bad nose for detecting, she does need to rein in her enthusiasm which will mean she’ll make less unwise decisions.

Overall, the cozy mystery genre is a packed market place these days, and whilst this is an engaging read has the author done enough to stand out in the crowd?? However, if you like cozy mysteries it is worth checking out.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Quercus Books, for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

I thought this was a good book the characters where great.
This book was a fast-paced book i enjoyed reading it.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC! Unfortunately, I had to DNF at 15%, and I really tried to read it. It's so slow- so so slow. It was repetitive, overly descriptive and just not that interesting of a premise. An old lady who sounds like she was kind of an a-hole gets murdered after a psychic told her she'd be murdered. She was alive for a ridiculous amount of time, so her murder wasn't eminent or anything. And the disappearance? Pass. 3/5 stars just because I DNF.

I loved the idea of this book and was excited to start it. We meet Annie who has just been told that she is now the main beneficiary in her Great Aunt Frances's will. Following a fortune telling when she was a teenager, Frances has been obsessed that she will be murdered and has spent her life investigating everyone she has come into contact with. When the beneficiaries gather at Frances's house, it would appear that the prophecy has come true as Frances is discovered dead.

I enjoyed the start of the book when we get to meet Annie and the other beneficiaries. Annie has never met her Great Aunt Frances, so you can understand the mistrust between some of the others and herself. The story is told from present day from Annie's perspective and from Frances's earlier years and initially both stories were as intriguing. Many of the other characters had known Frances since her teenage years, and if you throw in the present day characters of the Detective, the property developer and medical staff there becomes an awful lot of people to suspect of killing Great Aunt Frances.

The storyline, particularly the present day line, began to slow a little and I have to admit to getting a little confused with all the characters. Frances's early years storyline was more interesting and I enjoyed these parts more as the book moved on. However, I did find myself losing interest and struggled to stay focussed on where the storyline was going. Such a shame as I loved the idea of the book and really wanted to like it. I did follow it through to the end though, and liked the ending when it was revealed what had happened. A good idea, but a little slow and too many characters for my liking.

Just brilliant. A book packed with oddities, nasty relatives trying to trip people up, a police team that might be trustworthy and a batty fairground premonition that shapes several lives. Mixing in passages from an old diary to the murder mystery works really well and dragging in confusing and cruel relatives to twist the story and cloud the waters is great. A proper who done it with a very modern twist.

Not quite what I expected,but an excellent read all the same. An interesting cast of characters,two stories past and present intertwined. Plenty of twists.

This was such a wonderful and enjoyable read!!!! I loved this book and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys this genre. Thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is an engrossing tale set in the sixties and present day.

The heroine, Annie Adams, hears she has been chosen to be the sole heir to her Great Aunt Frances’ fortune. But Annie has never met Frances and until a request to meet her at her vast house arrives it has been Annie’s own mother who was due to inherit.

What unfolds is a dual narrative as we read Frances’ diary for 1965/6 when she is seventeen and what happens as Annie arrives at the local village of Castle Knoll in the present. And Annie is there to help Frances solve a mystery that has worried her for nearly sixty years: who is going to murder her?

This is a quick read with lots of possible leads that kept me gripped and I truly did not suspect the murderer(s) until right at the end. Very satisfying and enjoyable. If you like a mystery this one is excellent.

I read a copy provided by NetGalley and the publishers.

Was really excited about this book, after reading the synopsis and all the hype the publishers created but I was so let down this wasn’t wanted I was hoping for at all!!!

The opening prologue had me interested and excited but from there it moved to boring chapters told in the first person POV set in the present and to diary entries set in the past. Neither added anything to the book but the past diary entries were far better than the present day chapters.

The premise of the plot is interesting and could have stood up well if it wasn’t for the lacklustre, cliched characters all of whom were flat and annoying. Annie the lead in particular is so boring and dull. The conversations between the characters don’t read naturally they sound the like a playbook of woke falseness…hard to read.

I think the author was trying to go down the Agatha Raisin type of writing but she didn’t achieve this at all, while the storyline is a bit bonkers it’s not that, that holds it back it’s the overwhelming sense of tweeness and the fact it’s all over the place with strands of stories and really annoying characters. While a lot of books like this requires you to leave real life at the door this is too much

This book could have been amazing the plot lines are there but going down the happy go lucky style of writing lets it down. I feel if the writer had taken a darker style I could have forgiven the “real world” problems extremely white middle class conflicts, and with some pulling back on the clique( trying to make the characters like Agatha Raisin ones) characters this could have been what the synopsis hints at.

This is a cosy crime don’t be fooled by the cover, it is also not a stand out cost crime in anyway in fact I think it will be lost in what is an overcrowded genre.

Really wasn’t for me but two stars for the initial plot line.

Annie is a young woman with ambitions to be a writer. She lives with her mother, an artist, in a house belonging to her great-aunt Frances. Out of the blue Frances contacts her to say she is now the main beneficiary in her will. For years Frances has been obsessed with her own murder since having her fortune told as a teenager.

The novel goes back and forth between past and present, detailing the relationships Frances had with her friends and the disappearance of one of them.

I'm afraid the story didn't grip me and I found it a struggle to get to the end. There was no real tension in the tale and I didn't really care about the characters. I can't say more without spoilers.

Thanks to Quercus and NetGalley for the ARC. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3.