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Review: How To Solve Your Own Murder (Book #1 of the Castle Knoll Files) by Kristen Perrin

December 28, 2024 by Frasier Armitage Leave a Comment

Rating: 8.5/10

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.

Review 

How To Solve Your Own Murder is a classic whodunit — a fast paced murder mystery told from two perspectives as it flicks between past (through the voice of Frances) and present (through her great niece, Annie). 

Frances has long known she’d be murdered, but it falls to Annie to figure out by who and why. Everything changes for them both when Annie returns Frances’ belongings (stored at the London house where she grew up). A lot of details are thrown your way throughout both narratives, but it’s fun seeing whether you can figure it all out before the grand reveal. It makes for a satisfying challenge, with enough twists and turns to keep you guessing. And, of course, there’s a good old fashioned wrap up at the end. 

Be prepared to love the main character, Annie, who finds herself in an unexpected race to put the clues together. Thrown in at the deep end in a small village where everyone knows everyone else’s business, it’s hard for her to know who she can trust. Annie’s open nature is one of the things that will hook you right from the start. She’s young but savvy, meaning the more powerful players in the game underestimate her. A great twist to have a murder sleuth who is scared of blood! 

The story is packed with amazing characters. It’s definitely one of the book’s biggest strengths, and makes the whole thing very readable. I found myself itching to go back to it every time I had to put it down. 

Frances’ story reveals itself through her diary, which Annie finds. It journals one summer filled with teenage misdemeanours and the resulting fallout. All Frances’ friends — but one — are still circling the same small village. Frances has made it her business to find out everyone’s secrets in an effort to discover what happened to her missing friend, and ultimately, to attempt to solve her own inevitable murder. 

Can Annie unpick the complicated lives of this group of friends? You’re willing her to succeed right from the beginning, especially as she’s not even sure who she can trust. It’s so relatable, like when you start a new job and you’re trying to figure out the office dynamics. Who you really don’t want to annoy and who’s game for a laugh! 

Through both narratives, there’s a subplot of finding love. One more obvious than the other! But even when the story ends, you get the feeling that there’s a much more fulfilled life waiting for Annie the other side of all this. For a murder mystery, it has a positive vibe and an overall hopeful message that, no matter what happens, we can make the choice about how we tackle challenges to change for the better. 

How To Solve Your Own Murder is a must read, and I can’t wait for the next in the series. It’s a gem of a murder mystery, with a killer hook and satisfying ending. More, please! 

Filed Under: Reviews, Thriller Tagged With: murder mystery

About Frasier Armitage

Self-confessed geek and lover of sci-fi. When he’s not reading it, he’s writing it. Partial to time travel and Keanu Reeves movies. Dad. Husband. Part-time robot, full-time nerd.

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