Indeed, how do you solve your own murder?

Well, it starts with getting a bright young woman fight for you. Annabel, or simply Annie, is unpresumptuous and open-minded. She realizes all three friends, Frances, Rose and Emily, had a bit of a confusing time being seventeen.

So with the murder of Frances sixty years later, Annie has got her work cut out for her. Will she find out what happened to her great-aunt and perhaps even understand the dynamics between the family members, friends and acquaintances – both then and now?

Often I make a point of inclusion or diversity when it lacks in a book I read, but in this case I was happily surprised by the different flavors of the human kind being part of the community of this small town. Without this being emphasized as a theme of the book.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book.

I just read How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin and it was so good. All the cosy murder mystery vibes. I don’t often spend time thinking about mystery books when I’m not reading them but I was staying up at night running theories on who could have done it, piecing together the clues.

This is the story of Annie, who is called to her kooky great Aunt Francis’ estate. Francis is obsessed with a fortune she was given as a teenager foretelling her murder. Everyone think she is crazy but when she she is murdered, she turns her will into a game. Whoever can solve her murder wins her estate.

I loved Annie, I loved the small town setting and I loved the mystery. A true escape book, thank you Netgalley. I highly recommend this one.

A fun whodunnit mystery with lots of twists and red herrings! I did think there were a couple of plot holes that didn’t add up but regardless this was a quick and enjoyable read.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

This is an amazingly well written mystery with true Christie vibes.
The dual POV from two different time lines flow effortlessly from one to the other with our two main characters being strong and passionate woman searching for a truth and fighting their way through muderous mysteries.
I truly loved the writing style and the plot was brilliant. It had me hooked continuously because as you thought something was about to become clear you switch time lines.
A rollercoaster I didn’t want to get off. Thank you for your approval, my first read of the year and what a way to start the year. I will be keeping an eye out for this author.

How To Solve Your Own Murder started off pretty well, I loved the idea of a murder mystery which we know is coming. I liked the initial fortune reading and found it really set up the story well that you would notice little instances of the ‘signs’ popping up throughout. However I struggled to really engage in this one, the frequent time jumps seemed to confuse rather than clarify and the large amount of characters made it difficult to follow.

I liked Annie’a character and found her interesting to follow, I would liked more of Frances as an adult, as mainly the flashbacks were around her being quite young.

Overall I gave this one three stars, I enjoyed the first part but the more it went on the more I wanted to skim the book to see the ending.

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. So if you prefer an audio version then its also recommended.

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 enjoyed this book.
A murder long predicted has been committed and it’s up to her great niece to solve it.
I liked the period feel of the story and the story was very Christie in tone, found myself getting gripped by this style and a sensible but not really guessable plot really helped.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I'll start by saying this book has all the best murder mystery vibes. So much mystery and intrigue, as well as some high stakes drama towards the end. I've heard it compared to Agatha Christie, The Thursday Murder Club, and Knives Out, and as a fan of all three, I knew would enjoy this story.

The narrative takes place on two different timelines: present day, and the 1960s (via journal entries from the present day murder victim herself). This meant there were basically two interlocking mysteries unfolding at once and as they both progress I found myself hooked!

The flashback journal entry chapters really helped to flesh out some of the older characters and gave a lot of insight into events from both timelines. I did get some of the characters mixed up in my head in the early chapters and keeping up with the familial relationships between the characters in 1965 and the present day was a little confusing, but if anything this reflected on the fact that the main character, Annie, doesn't really know these people.

As the story developed a lot of things started to slot into place and make a lot more sense to me (sometimes it takes me a while to remember who everyone is in a book 😅).

The ending was not too predictable, as murder mysteries often are, and I really enjoyed how the big reveal was done!

What a great story! Annie’s great aunt Frances is convinced that a fortune teller predicted her murder and spent years obsessing over it. When she dies, she sets the potential heirs to her estate the task of solving her murder. The story is set in the present day, and in the 1960’s, told through Frances’ diary.

Once I started reading, it was hard to put down. There were so many twists that every time a potential murderer was suggested, I was absolutely convinced that they had done it. There were no one-dimensional characters, no one was completely awful, morally questionable, or wonderful, which really helped to add depth to the story. It added to my conviction that everyone could have been Frances’ murderer.

Thanks go to #NetGalley and #QuercusBooks for the advance copy of the fantastic #HowToSolveYourOwnMurder, and the very satisfactory ending!

Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the arc. A crime mystery set over two time lines, it started well but the lack of pace and too much time spent in the head of Annie the protagonist became irritating and I was happy to.finish. Fans of cosy crime drama like Midsomer Murders will enjoy it.

🐦‍⬛How To Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin 🐦‍⬛

Thank you #Netgalley for this ARC of #HowToSolveYourOwnMurder which will be published on the 26th March 2024.

“When you write it all down, you can go back and find meaning you’d never noticed was there all along.”
This was a great read, so fast and had me gripped to the kindle for two sittings.

France’s has had her fortune told and she’s convinced she’ll be murdered. While everyone else thinks she’s been fooled, Frances spends her life trying to figure out who will murder her and trying to solve the mystery surrounding her friend’s disappearance until she eventually does get murdered.

We follow Annie, France’s great niece as she tries to solve the murder and the many mysteries surrounding Frances and the people in her life.

This felt like a very modern Agatha Christie and I loved it. It was a quick, fast paced read with lots of fun little reveals. It had me trying to guess the culprit right till the end and then wrapped up in a really satisfying way. I can see this being a big one next year!

4.25*

Thank you to NetGalley and Quercus Books for a digital review copy of "How to Solve Your Own Murder" in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.

This was my first read by Kristen Perrin and as soon as I'd seen the premise I knew I had to read it - A dual timeline murder mystery that urges us, the reader to work out the clues and try and solve the case, right up my alley!

Reminiscent of Agatha Christie and Knives Out this is a small-town mystery with a plot that immediately intrigues. Annie Adams is called to Castle Knoll for a meeting with her Great-Aunt Frances for a changing of her will terms. Great-Aunt Frances has spent her life, since receiving a fortune teller's prophecy in the sixties that predicts her murder, trying to get ahead of the game and figure out who will be her killer. The prophecy has proved to be eerily accurate including the aforementioned murder which happens on the day Annie arrives. It is up to her now to solve the case, claim her inheritance and also possibly solve a second mystery that remains open from 1966.

This overall was a clever and twist laden whodunnit that, much like the classic Golden Age era, has an enclosed circle of suspects, secrets galore and multiple mysteries to solve. I was left guessing right up to the end as to the answers and wasn't left disappointed in the end resolution. The characters were overall engaging and I really liked the switching between timelines and using diary entries for the 1960s was an effective way of taking us to the past without distracting from the present, in fact it enhanced the present storyline considerably.

Annie is an effective amateur detective, instantly likeable and with an appropriate amount of damsel in distress attributes to make us care for her and keep urging her on to success. She starts to build relationships with a number of characters (and it's a large group which may not work for everyone) but there are a few who feel a little under developed and underutilised, however ultimately most, if not all have their place in the story to make the red herrings work and keep us engaged.

As it stands this book could easily stay as a standalone but I'm hoping that based on how I felt at the end (it definitely felt like there was a whiff of unfinished business) that we'll get a few more in the future. Cosy mystery fans and golden age mystery fans should all really enjoy this book and it comes highly recommended.

An intriguing title and hook, that the book mostly lives up to.

1965: a 16-year-old Frances is given a fortune at the fair, which predicts her murder. Frances becomes obsessed with the fortune, and avoiding her fate.

Current day: Annie Adams, great niece of Frances, is called to her great aunt's country estate in the village of Castle Knoll, due to some changes in the older woman's will. However, Annie arrives to find Frances already dead. It seems her fate has caught up with her, and Annie sets out to solve the case Frances has been building all her life. However, in the course of her life Frances has also uncovered a lot of secrets about a lot of different people in the village, so almost anyone could potentially have a motive.

This was fun, easy and exciting, and reminiscent of golden era classic whodunnits, which are very much my thing. I actually had to put it down a few times at bedtime because I got over-excited.

It was at times a little hard to follow due to involving three generations of various families in the village, and I feel a little fuzzy on a few of the details. I would have also liked to have the character of Annie be a little more fleshed out - I didn't feel like I really got to know her.

Still very much enjoyable and would recommend for any classic crime and whodunnit fans.

This book moves between two timelines switching back and forth between the present day and the 1960s. It has a Christie-esque vibe to it. Probably a bit too over-charactered but overall a good cosy mystery

Thank you Quercus Books and NetGalley for providing me an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. My review is my own and not influenced by others.

A friend recommended this book to me since I’m looking for cozy mystery books. This book has the right vibes for it and I can see why people enjoy reading it.
I found it interesting to follow two different main characters through this story to find out with them who the murderer is.

I just couldn’t feel really involved in this book, I don’t know if it’s the writing style that feels a bit itchy by times or the main characters with whom I didn’t feel a real connection.

Overall, it was a fine debut with all the cozy mystery vibes for readers who are looking for that.

4.5 stars.
When I saw the description for this book, I was intrigued by the concept of someone predicting their own death via a fortune, so I was hooked into it straight away - and was not disappointed. Throughout the read, I was constantly trying to figure out the mystery and found the inclusion of the flashback diary entries a fun little addition to shed light on the situation. I liked the fact that there were two mysteries to solve in one which were linked, and I did not predict the ending!
I didn’t give it a full 5 starts as I felt like the characters were a little 2-dimensional, but it didn’t stop my enjoyment of the book overall.
Thank you Quercus Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

***advance review copy received from NetGalley in return for an honest review***

This is a pretty run of the mill cozy mystery; with some flashbacks to past events in the mix. It’s readable and there’s nothing wrong with it, but it’s not overly exciting or particularly original. Unfortunately the name suggested something deviating from the norm, which the narrative never really lives up to for me.

A really enjoyable read and an excellent example of writing where the story is told from both the past and the present both in real time and written accounts. The story flows well and is easy to follow with well structured and good length chapters.
The story kept me wanting more and to find out the mystery of who murdered who and why. The characters have depth and all feel 'real' and not too clichéd like some can.
I would definitely recommend this to all murder mystery readers

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.

Superbly crafted murder mystery. Concepts don't get much hookier than this.
Frances, a woman who was given a fortune reading as a teenager that predicted her own murder, spends the rest of her pretty long life trying to solve who is ultimately going to be responsible for her death.

When the prophecy finally comes true, it is down to her great niece, Annie, to pick up the reigns and wade through the evidence built from a life investigating the possibilities of one's own murder.

Told in the now, through the eyes of Annie, and the then as we read Frances' diaries, this is a fabulously complex look into superstition, fears, neuroses and how feeding all of these can ruin a life in more than one way.

A clever, captivating debut with an abundance of style.