How to Solve Your Own Murder – Kristen Perrin

Synopsis

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.

It’s 1965 and teenage Frances Adams is at an English country fair with her two best friends. But Frances’s night takes a hairpin turn when a fortune-teller makes a bone-chilling prediction: One day, Frances will be murdered. Frances spends a lifetime trying to solve a crime that hasn’t happened yet, compiling dirt on every person who crosses her path in an effort to prevent her own demise. For decades, no one takes Frances seriously, until nearly sixty years later, when Frances is found murdered, like she always said she would be.

In the present day, Annie Adams has been summoned to a meeting at the sprawling country estate of her wealthy and reclusive great-aunt Frances. But by the time Annie arrives in the quaint English village of Castle Knoll, Frances is already dead. Annie is determined to catch the killer, but thanks to Frances’s lifelong habit of digging up secrets and lies, it seems every endearing and eccentric villager might just have a motive for her murder. Can Annie safely unravel the dark mystery at the heart of Castle Knoll, or will dredging up the past throw her into the path of a killer?

As Annie gets closer to the truth, and closer to the danger, she starts to fear she might inherit her aunt’s fate instead of her fortune.

My Thoughts

This book sucked me in from the get-go. There is certainly no skimping on the drama, and definitely no skimping on all the great cozy mystery tropes. Even setting the scene and establishing the cast of characters sucked me in. Ideas were already swirling around in my head, and we hadn’t even arrived at the murder yet. And to me, those are signs that this book is about to grab me heart and soul, and be very reluctant to let go.

I love the past meeting the present in this book. Seeing things play out from both Annie’s and her great aunt Frances’ perspectives is a nice little thrill, honestly. Especially in the beginning, having some pieces – especially characters – click together with Annie’s present adds a really lovely element of everything coming together. And I have no doubt that everything is playing out – both in the past, and the present – exactly as it should.

It really didn’t take long to realize that we would be solving two mysteries in this book – one past, and one present. And let me just say, the ante has been ramped all the way up. Just as I begin to think there really can’t be any more twists or turns, we get whomped with all things twisty and turny (and a little timey wimey). And of course, Annie’s right in the middle of all of it.

Annie not only is left responsible for solving a murder, but she also feels responsible for solving a cold case, and the mystery that was the life of her Great Aunt Frances. And the more she gets invested, the more everyone around her in the little village of Castle Knoll is a suspect in some way, shape, or form. (And the easy on the eyes detective she comes across is also a pretty nice bonus to the whole thing.)

It was really easy to get wrapped up in the mysteries, and to follow along with Annie as she put the pieces together and worked out not only who killed Great Aunt Frances, but who killed one of her best friends, too, Emily Sparrow. At one point, I stopped trying to solve the murder along with Annie, and just rode the ride. And what a ride it was!!

The more time Annie spends in Castle Knoll, the more she comes to feel like she belongs. She’s getting to know the town, and its residents, bit by bit, and she can’t help but feel drawn to the town – to a part of her family history. (And again, Mr. Handsome Detective Crane definitely adds to the appeal).

I really was thrown for a loop when Annie solved Great Aunt Frances’ murder. I absolutely hadn’t pegged the killer as the killer, but when the pieces all fell into place, it made a lot of sense. And getting to the conclusion was a very twisty, very pleasant surprise!

I absolutely loved this book. I adored it. This is the kind of book I would re-read over and over again, simply because of how much I love this setting, and these characters. There’s a small, selfish part of me hoping this is the beginning of some kind of series.

But even if this is a standalone, I will be keeping an eye on Kristen Perrin, and I plan on devouring every book she puts out. Because if there’s one thing I’ve learned recently, it’s that life is way too short not to indulge in great books, and great authors.

~ by Aubrey Smith on June 23, 2024.