How to Solve Your Own Murder - is an Agatha Christie-ish style murder mystery which leans towards the side of a cozy style mystery. There are lots of characters who all become a suspect in the murder of Frances, a woman who spent the last 60 years of her life trying to solve her own murder which was foretold by a fortune teller when she was young. Frances, with some due cause became suspicious of everyone in her life and spent her time analyzing a crime that did not happen yet, until it did!!! Her Great Niece, Annie is summoned to Aunt Frances' sprawling estate for the reading of the will and quickly picks up Frances' life mission and has to solve not one but two murders.

Fun premise and story line with a dual time line, one being Annie's in the current day and the other being Frances' diaries from the 60's. I did have one issue with the book and that was my own personal preference, if 1/2 stars were available I would have given the book a 3.5 but did settle on rounding up. I realize now that cozy murders mysteries take up a large portion of my reading lists and have become accustomed to a certain style of writing. Although the setting for How To Solve Your Own Murder is set in the quaint English village of Castle Knoll. the writing and vernacular did not seem British. I ended up researching the author and soon found out that she is indeed and American living in Surrey.

Looking forward to the next installment of the Castle Knoll Files...

Thank you to Dutton Publishing (Penguin Random House LLC), NetGalley and Kristen Perrin for the opportunity to receive an advanced copy of this fun book for my honest review.

I was intrigued by the description of this one - a fun mystery for fans of Knives Out and Thursday Murder Club, about a women who is told she will one day be murdered & then spends the rest of her life trying to avoid that fate…a unique take on a mystery indeed!

The cast was enjoyable & mysterious, I liked how Perrin used a dual timeline … and she kept me guessing until the big reveal!

After Frances receives a grim fortune at the county fair, she spends the rest of her life waiting for it to come true. When it does, her great-niece Annie is left with two mysteries to solve - what happened now and what happened back then.

Annie is a likable, but very naive, aspiring mystery writer who has an awful lot of good luck throughout the story. Frances speaks through her old journal and the maze of clues she’s enshrined in her old estate. This is one of those books where there are a lot of characters and everybody has something to hide.

Although there were some very convenient coincidences and strokes of luck, and a few confusing resolutions to clues (the bank statements come to mind, I didn’t understand the explanation) I enjoyed the writing and the dual timelines. I’ll admit I didn’t guess the villain (in either timeline) but it made sense once it was all revealed.

The ending sets up for a series, and it looks like this will be the first of at least a few. I wouldn’t mind reading the next one! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Delightfully engaging. This murder mystery kept my rapt attention from page 1 & was consumed in one day. The comparisons to Knives Out are accurate, but I rather think I enjoyed this more given the way it was written between Annie in present day & Frances’ older journal entries. Was sad to see this one end, but could see an opening for a companion or series in the future. I at least look forward to seeing this in film one day.

Thanks to NetGalley & Penguin Group Dutton for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A fun, twisty mystery of a 'small-town secrets' variety - after receiving a dismal fortune during a tumultuous summer, Frances Adams spends her life trying to find out what secret someone will kill her for. Now, she's just died, and it's up to her mildly estranged great-niece Annie to untangle the secrets of Castle Knoll in order to inherit, and vindicate her great-aunt's paranoia.

I enjoyed this book, and would definitely head back to Castle Knoll, if the gently hinted at series unfolds of Annie using Frances' files to uncover more mysteries (and flirt more with the handsome detective of course.)

Easy read could potentially be shelved in young adult or adult fiction.

When the great niece of Frances is suddenly gets a letter from a solicitor saying she’s been written into the will she sets off to visit and hear the new version of the will. As she arrives into town her great aunt, Frances, suddenly dies from a heart attack. But everything is not what it seems.

Now she is solving a murder from decades ago along with the murder of France’s, as it is the condition of the will to inherit her fortune.

Overall this was a good book and an easy read.

I love a good murder mystery but I did find this one a bit confusing to follow. A lot of back-and-forth with the past and present. I felt like there were a lot of characters to keep track of and my mind would start to wander while I tried to remember and figure out who was who. It kept me interested because I wanted to find out “who done it “ but the ending didn’t “WOW” me. It was just ok.

Oh this was such a cozy book! I was hooked from in from page one. This story had a little bit of everything to fulfill everyone’s needs.

The Plot- In 1965, Frances went to a fair where she went to the fortune tellers booth, who told her she'd be murdered. Frances talked about this all throughout the years and no one believed her when she would profess that it would happen. They finally realized she was correct when she was found murdered. Fast forward to present day we have Annie who is determined to catch the killer, but as Annie digs deeper is she putting herself in danger?

My Thoughts- I loved the strong writing in How To Solve Your Own Murder in this murder mystery. The character development was also top tier. Like I mentioned before this a cozy read so the pace is a little slower than most mystery books. Dont like that stop you from reading this. It was such a fun read. I was entertained an the storyline kept me guessing the whole time. I will recommend this book to anyone who like a cozy mystery. I look forward to checking out more work by this author.

How to Solve Your Own Murder is a cozy and puzzling thriller. Annie is set to inherit her Great-Aunt Frances estate, but she first must solve her aunt’s murder. A murder that her aunt has been trying to solve prior to taking place. The setting and characters were charming. Overall, I really enjoyed this quick and fun read.

Thanks to Dutton Books and NetGalley for an advanced copy to read and review! HOW TO SOLVE YOUR OWN MURDER will publish on March 26, 2024, and I think it’s worth your preorder!

Annie’s Great Aunt Francis was told 60 years ago she would be murdered, and she’s dedicated her entire life to solving and preventing her own demise. When it does come down to her untimely end, it’s a race against the clock for Annie to solve the crime.

First, let’s talk about this cover and title! How intriguing is that??! 🤩 I hadn’t heard much about this one, and it was so enjoyable. I was so excited to pick this book up each night! Kristen Perrin wove a delightful and witty tale of a young woman solving her eccentric aging aunt’s murder. The dual timeline and dual perspective really worked for me and provided key details to the murder. I couldn’t help but cheer on Annie as she got closer and closer to solving the mystery. I tend to be a reader who tries to solve the crime as an armchair sleuth, and the red herrings here were very believable. In the end, I was only half correct in my hypothesis, and I found the ending to be immensely satisfying.

Check this one out if you love an entertaining murder mystery, Agatha Christie, or enjoy solving riddles!

Let me just say, that when I wasn't reading this book I was constantly thinking about reading this book. That's how captivated I was by this story and the mystery surrounding it.

I LOVED the contrast between the story set in the 60s and the current story playing out. This book kept me guessing right up until the very end, and as soon as that final piece fell into place I was shocked but it all made sense. I adore these sweet characters and this little tiny town and how an entire fortune set the tune for Frances' life. This book is fantastic and I can't wait for it to be out in the world.

Move over Knives Out! This was the most engrossing book I've read in a long time and I could not put it down. The whodunnit style plot was engaging and kept me guessing. I LOVED this book and it had the bonus of not having too much gore. Truly this was a masterpiece in suspense and had the perfect amount of mystere, romance, and drama.

How to Solve Your Own Murder is a cozy murder mystery set in a small town. There were a couple of twists that I didn't see coming and caused me to gasp out loud at work! I loved that it was set in a small town where everyone knows everyone and that Frances knew everyone's secrets. Reading from Frances old diary entries was my favorite part. It was a little difficult for me to keep track of everyone because I felt like I had to keep track of who's everyone family was. I did enjoy the ending of the book but I felt like there were too many assumptions about how the murder occurred.
Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the ARC!

Somewhere between 3.75 -4 stars

I would describe this book as a cozy-adjacent mystery. The story takes place in 2 timelines, one in the form of journal entries from when the great-aunt was a teenager, and then in the present following the great-aunt's murder. I thought this was a fun concept for a book. It reminded me a little bit of the movie Knives Out, with the murder of a wealthy family member, and a cast of suspicious characters.
I was super invested in this book throughout the first half. I enjoyed the journal entries and how they connected to the present. I also liked how you were introduced to all the characters from the past - guessing who everyone was and figuring out where they ended up was interesting.
This book started to lose me a little bit around halfway through, however. I felt like the plot wasn't really moving forward and the mc was starting to annoy me. The "regular person can solve a crime better than a trained detective" trope is not one of my favorites. The mc was constantly putting herself in danger and got annoyed when the detective told her it was a bad idea.
I did feel like the book pulled me back in right at the end and tied everything up nicely. If you're a fan of lighter murder mysteries and mysterious families with lots of secrets you might enjoy this book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton for the ARC!

"How to Solve Your Own Murder" revolves around Annie Adams, thrust into an unexpected inheritance after being named the sole benefactor in the will of her previously unknown rich great aunt, Frances. The catch – Frances is murdered before they can even meet. Frances, fixated throughout her life on a fortune predicting her murder and enduring mockery for this superstition, decides to prove a point and leaves behind a challenge: whoever solves her murder will inherit her vast estate. Annie finds herself in a race against time, competing with both her uncle and a detective, to find out who did it, a challenge further complicated by the many potential suspects who disliked Frances and may not want the murder to be solved.

Intrigued by the premise and drawn in by references to Knives Out and Agatha Christie in the blurb, I found the book to be a fun and fast read. The story is told through two timelines, Frances's in the 1960's and Annie's in the present time. I liked how the timelines were intertwined, and you could see how Castle Knoll's residents changed over time. I do still find it somewhat implausible that Frances was so convinced the fortune was true, and I kept waiting to find out why she was so certain, but ultimately accepted the fact that the belief was an aspect of her nature (and also needed for the plot).

The story is fast-paced, and I was hooked and wanted to keep reading to find more details. The abundance of twists, turns, suspects, and motives, however, made it challenging to keep track of the intricate plot. I didn't love the writing style, which felt very simplistic, and the dialogue between characters also felt odd and occasionally distracting. Despite a large cast of characters, the characters lacked depth and didn't feel real. Annie and Frances read the same to me, which may have been intentional, but it further led to the characters falling flat.

Despite these drawbacks, the reveal was ultimately satisfying, and I feel like if I did a reread I would notice the subtle clues incorporated throughout the book. Thank you Penguin Group Dutton for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

How to Solve Your Own Murder was very cozy mystery set in a small town. It gave off Clue game vibes and a whodunit plot line. I really like Annie and her dedication to solving the mystery. 2 timelines and POVs. I really enjoyed this book!

This was my first advanced reader copy book from NetGalley and it was a good one. The book puts it take on a classic murder mystery tale and asks the questions, if someone predicted your murder could you solve it before it happened? Such an interesting concept and it was well written! I could see this becoming a really good movie one day!

I absolutely loved this book! I couldn't put it down. I found it to be very easy to relate to the MC and I definitely never saw the ending coming!

Intriguing and immediately immersive mystery with memorable characters, great sense of place, and a unsolved disappearance from long ago.

4 stars!!
What I Thought About the Book:
I enjoyed this cozy mystery! This book was a whodunit murder mystery with Agatha Christie vibes. The book was engaging from beginning to end. I had no clue who did what in the end. But a side note: I am not very good at solving murder mysteries.

Read If You Like:
Cozy Mystery
Fast-paced read
Dual Timeline
Agatha Christie Vibes