How to Solve Your Own Murder
by Kristen Perrin
Pub Date: March 26, 2024
Penguin Dutton
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
For fans of Knives Out and The Thursday Murder Club, an enormously fun mystery about a woman who spends her entire life trying to prevent her foretold murder only to be proven right sixty years later, when she is found dead in her sprawling country estate.... Now it's up to her great-niece to catch the killer.
Great mystery! I enjoyed reading it.
4 stars

A fairly interesting mystery that switches between two time periods. A bit unrealistic and didn't care for the characters much, but it was ok. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

This was a fun small town murder mystery! I found that the characters were likable and somewhat relatable. The plot was great and easy to follow which isn’t always the case with these types of books. It was hard to put the book down once I started it. I thoroughly enjoyed this book!

I love a good mystery. This one was no exception, and the introduction to another country was fantastic.

I loved this book. It has perfect amount of quirk and the author does a great job alternating between the past and present day as Annie works to solve the murder of her great aunt. Some of the descriptions of this book compare it to Knives Out and Clue and I agree that it has that vibe. I very much enjoyed Annie's search for answers and her interactions with family and local residents.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. It is a fun read.

Perhaps my favorite book of the year! Top 3 without question! Annie is tasked with solving her Aunt Frances' murder in order to inherit her estate. But Annie never met her aunt, how would she even know where to begin to figure out who would want to kill her?! Luckily, Frances has believed since she was a teenager that she would be murdered and has kept notes (clues) ever since. This was a thoroughly enjoyable and unique story and should be added to everyone's TBR!

I enjoyed reading this book. I have not read anything else by this author, but will certainly seek her other works now. This book is about the past and present and unintended consequences. A daughter attends her great aunt's funeral and stands to inherit millions if she is able to unspool the mystery behind the murder of her aunt. To complicate things, she is competing with her aunt's nephew from marriage for the inheritance. There is also the element of a fortune told decades ago to the aunt which predicted her demise and betrayal.

The overall mystery was fun, I enjoyed the aunt's diary entries more so than what was happening in the present. some of the motivations of characters was not clear to me, but it did not bother me as much as I enjoyed reading the book.

In 1965, teenage Frances Adams gets a harrowing fortune at an English country fair that changes the course of her life. One day she will be murdered but she doesn't know by who. She spends her lifetime trying to solve a crime that has not been committed yet. With no one taking her seriously, Frances turns into the reclusive rich woman of the village. In present day, Frances great-niece, Annie, finds out that her mother has been removed from Frances will and that she has been summoned to have a meeting at Frances estate with her lawyer. Only, when Annie gets there, Frances is dead. She is murdered just like her fortune claimed. To become Frances heir, Annie has to solve her murder before the cops and Frances's weird nephew.

I enjoyed the parts where it went back in time to look at the dynamics of Frances and her friends when they were teenagers. I thought it was interesting to see how that would tie in to the main mystery of how Frances died. I wasn't as interested in how Annie would figure out the mystery, because I ultimately knew she would.

I was initially intrigued by the description of How to Solve Your Own Murder. It seemed like an interesting premise -- and something that has not been overdone. I loved the small town setting, which was juxtaposed with Frances' wealth and estate. Kristen did an exceptional job of developing the characters over the course of Frances' life (and beyond). When the big "ah-ha" moment came, it truly seemed to fit after everything we learned. Overall, a way to cap off my 2023 ARCs!

Loved it! Great cozy murder mystery with a few particularly fun elements: murder victim Frances's attempts to pre-solve her own anticipated murder, and the story-within-the-story that comes from Frances's diary.

Back in 1965, Frances is at a fair with her two friends, Emily and Rose, when she receives a cryptic fortune predicting her demise. As some early elements of the prophecy seem to come true, Frances becomes obsessed with her future murder--even more so once Emily disappears. For several decades, she collects "evidence" she believes might either lead her to avoiding her murder, or on the chance she cannot, help to uncover her killer.

In her will, she establishes a contest so that either her (creepy) step-nephew Saxon or great-niece Annie will receive her vast fortune if they can solve her murder within a week. Annie is a hopeful mystery novel writer, so she tentatively joins forces with a local detective from Frances's small English village to see if she can uncover the circumstances that led to her great-aunt's murder before time runs out.

I was hooked almost from page 1, and at about midnight, I had to force myself to put the book down since I knew that if I let myself, I wouldn't want to stop reading until the final pages (likely in the very wee hours of the morning). There are really two mysteries to solve here: what happened to Emily back in 1965, and how and why it relates to Frances's death today. Both are compelling mysteries to be solved, and you will root for Annie to figure them both out.

Not sure if this will be the start of other mysteries featuring Annie and her potential love interest, Detective Crane, but I did like their pairing and would read another book with them.

3.5 stars

I enjoyed the premise and multiple POV's: Frances's journal from the 1960s and her great-niece Annie in the present. The writing style easily pulls the reader in. The pacing is a bit slow at the beginning, but it picks up as the book goes on. There were a few characters who seemed unnecessary, which made it hard to track things on occasion. There were numerous red herrings, making the ending a bit of a surprise, which is always appreciated!

Thanks Netgalley and thanks Kristen Perrin!

This was such a fun read. I love a good whodunnit under the right circumstances.
The dual timelines were great, the ending wasn't obvious, and everything wrapped up well.

How to Solve Your Own Murder was a five star read from the very beginning! I can’t say enough good things about this book. Not only was it a fantastic murder mystery with classic Clue vibes, but it also managed to feel suspenseful and cozy at the same time.

Annie, our main character, finds herself in a race against the clock to solve her superstitious Great Aunt Frances’ murder. Along the way, she runs into fantastically written characters, stumbles into danger, and uncovers a story that leaves the reader invested chapter after chapter.

The story was laid out very well. It is told between alternating chapters of Annie’s investigation and Frances’ diary entries from the 1960s. The pacing is fantastic. And truths are revealed in a way that gives the reader a good balance of being unsure who the killer is, but also feeling like they are keeping up with the main character.

I loved this book. It was so much fun! The characters were entertaining, the setting came to life in my mind easily, and I felt invested in the story. I can’t wait to get my hands on a physical copy of this book!

*Huge thanks to Netgalley, Penguin Group Dutton, and Kristen Perrin for granting me access to the advanced copy of this book in e-book format*

Thank you to PENGUIN GROUP Dutton for inviting me to read this through NetGalley.

Besides the fact that I knew there would potentially be a murder, I went into this book blind. I was not disappointed at all! It felt like Nancy Drew but grown up. It's set in a small town but there's a large cast of suspects - I mean characters. There are twists and turns around every corner and it really has you second-guessing who you think the murderer is. I also enjoyed the flashbacks and getting to feel like you knew Frances.

I don't want to give any spoilers for this book so you can go into it blind like I did. Overall, I had a really fun time with this book. It was everything I expected it to be and hope to see Annie solve more mysteries in the future!

I found this book un-putdownable. It reminded me of an Agatha Christie novel. the story moves between past and present and captures the reader's imagination as they try to solve the murder. Highly recommend

In 1965 a prediction from a fortune teller changes Frances Adam’s life forever. 60 years later her great-niece will be embroiled in the mystery revolving around Frances’s death.
In a race against the other beneficiaries of Frances’s will, Annie must use all her wits to crack the case.
Using Frances’s journal the story alternates between the past and the present, from one mystery, to another.
I had a hard time with this book. I wanted to love it but the action sequences kept pulling me out of the story. I feel like maybe it just needs another strong edit. To have one character fooling around laughing with her boyfriend and then on the next line they are giving serious dialogue, it just felt like the timing was off. There was a lot of telling, not showing. I’ll give this 2.75 stars, round up to 3.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

A perfectly fine book, but it just didn't work for me and I can't put my finger on why. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity.

I really enjoyed this classic-styled mystery, full of family and village secrets! The reveal was very well done, surprising without seeming to come from nowhere.

Frances received a fortune that she was going to be murdered, but the fortune teller had no important details, such as who? When? How? Why? So Frances' life revolves around stopping this event. It's a cozy story with shades of Agatha Christie, an old fashioned style of mystery, that is fun to read. Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy.

4/5 stars.

I greatly enjoyed this book. The characters were lovable and I wasn’t so anxious that I could still sleep at night.
It is a nice blend between traditional and cozy mystery. I imagine a tipsy agatha christie would have loved this. It’s a little more frothy and sugary while still feeling like an authentic and intelligent mystery.

There is only one reason this book is a 4 instead of 5 stars. I feel that there could have been a slightly stronger editorial hand. Especially in the middle, there were a few moments where I struggled to stay engaged. It felt that our girl was snuggled up reading the diary while all the other characters were taking action. I think with a little more editing, the book could have been condensed a bit more and been a 5/5 for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the ARC!