How to Solve Your Own Murder
How to Solve Your Own Murder (Castle Knoll Files #1)
By: Kristen Perrin
[Fulfilled ‘A book with a title that begins ‘How to’’ prompt as part of Shelf Reflection’s 2024 Reading Challenge]
[Nominee for ‘Best Mystery/Thriller’ category of the 2024 Goodreads Choice Awards Reading Challenge]
“‘My favorite chess saying is very simple: you can play without a plan, but you’ll probably lose.’”
I enjoyed this dual time period mystery novel! I think it’s fitting for Goodreads to advertise this to fans of Knives Out. Definitely similar vibes.
I thought the author wove the mystery together nicely. I didn’t have it figured out— I’m not sure if we were necessarily given enough of the clues early enough to have tried— and am satisfied with how it was all resolved.
I don’t always like the dual time period format for mysteries, but in this case it actually worked well and I can’t decide which timeline I liked better. I think I preferred the present day one because I’m not sure how likeable the characters were in the past, but I still enjoyed the excerpts.
The book is over 350 pages but I finished it in a couple days because it was pretty hard to put down.
The book begins with three friends (Rose, Emily, and Frances) at a booth where Frances gets her fortune read. It predicts things about betrayal and bones; ‘All signs point to your murder.’
“In a year’s time, they won’t be three friends any longer. One of the girls will disappear, and it won’t be Frances Adams.”
A friend’s disappearance and her fortune looming large, Frances becomes obsessed with figuring out who would murder her.
We jump ahead to present day to our main character, twenty-five-year old Annie Adams— “recently redundant admin assistant by day, wannabe writer by night. Prone to fainting at the worst possible times. Daughter of Laura, the modern artist out of touch with reality.”
Annie discovers her great aunt Frances requests her presence in Castle Knoll as the new sole beneficiary in her recently revised will.
“‘Everyone ignores Frances. She’s nutty. So much so that she’s a local legend— the weird old lady with a huge country house and piles of money, just digging up dirt on anyone who crosses her path in case they might turn out to be her murderer.’
‘Frances may be nutty, but she’s very calculating And she likes to play games.’”
The meeting never happens though. Frances is found dead in her home. Murdered.
Not so surprisingly, her will states that if Annie or her nephew (by marriage) Saxon can solve her murder, they will become the beneficiary of her entire estate. If they fail to solve it in a week, everything will be sold off in pieces with the proceeds donated to the Crown (presumably to fund the search for a replacement to Prince Andrew…).
When Annie discovers Frances’s diary, she is transported back to 1966, taking in all the details Frances recorded at the time, having felt her demise had been set in motion. She is motivated to solve this mystery, not only to validate her great aunt’s fears and bring justice, but also because the house she lives in with her mom is part of the estate and if she fails, they’ll be out of a home.
Immersing herself in Frances’s paranoia brings Annie to feel paranoid as well.
“Once you start thinking about murder, you see potential murderers everywhere. Every detail starts to feel like a threat.”
She believes her aunt must have been killed because she had solved the disappearance of her friend Emily and the killer wanted to silence her. If Annie discovers what Frances discovered, she could be the next target.
There are a lot of characters to keep track of. Especially because the people from the 1966 timeline are grown up now and their children and grandchildren are part of the story. I’ve created this little character chart, if you need help keeping it all straight.
Character Chart for How to Solve Your Own Murder
While it was confusing at times, I did like that aspect of the story. It created more options for potential killers with motives related to their relatives’ pasts.
One thing I liked about Annie as she was trying to solve the mystery is that she didn’t keep all her knowledge to herself like a lot of characters do in these types of things. She kept a few others in the loop, including the detective. What a rational thing to do! I hate when characters are like- ‘I know who did it but I’m not going to tell anyone my suspicions but instead set myself up as bait to trap the killer. I don’t need anyone’s help.’ It was a teensy bit like this, but she took some precautions.
This book seemed like a step-up from a cozy mystery with a little more complexity. But at the same time, it’s one of those books that could probably be pulled apart and character interactions or plot details picked at and pointed out. There’s certainly reviewers who have done that.
For me, I enjoyed it and did not feel like anything stuck out noticeably that made me feel disappointed about the execution of the book and the reveal of the killer. I’m sure there’s things, but I don’t really care about them. I am content with my reading experience.
I also wonder if a lot of the more negative reviews were written because this book was super hyped up and their expectations were high. Since I was far removed from the hype, I had no reason to be let down. Sometimes it’s better to wait to read hyped books once the press has died down and you can have a more uninfluenced reading experience.
Sidenote: The author’s bio on the back flap says she moved from Seattle to Surrey, UK and that she can be found jumping in the mud with her kids. Having watched many episodes of Peppa Pig, I just gotta ask— are muddy puddles actually the quintessential UK childhood experience?
Recommendation
If you like a good murder mystery, I would definitely recommend this book!
Now I looked ahead to some reviews of book two, and I haven’t decided if I’m going to read that one. Annie solves another crime from Frances’s past using Frances’s journals and her own investigation. I liked that set-up for this book, but not sure if I will like that model for the entire series. Plus the fortune teller shows up again and I’m thinking one mystery started by a fortune teller is enough for me.
This felt like a good standalone and like it doesn’t need an ongoing series, but maybe I’ll check out the third one and see if Perrin deviates from the formula with that one.
[Content Advisory: 1 f-word, 4 s words; a couple sexual scenes as there are references to the night Frances lost her virginity and Emily is sexually promiscuous; a couple minor LGBTQ characters]
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