Book Review: How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin (Castle Knoll Files, #1)
Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐
"Your future contains dry bones. Your slow demise begins right when you hold the queen in the palm of one hand. Beware the bird, for it will betray you. And from that, there’s no coming back. But daughters are the key to justice, find the right one and keep her close. All signs point toward your murder.”
Frances Adams has lived her life wary of the prophecy given by a fortune teller she met as a sixteen-year-old in 1965. Throughout her life she has tried to collect as much information as she could on friends, family, and almost everyone in her circle, all relevant information documented on private files and the puzzle depicted on her very own murder board, to identify those who could possibly be plotting her murder. Sixty years later, she is found dead in her lavish home in the English countryside and she has left specific instructions on how she wants her murder investigated.
Aspiring mystery writer Annabelle “Annie” Adams is summoned by her estranged Great-Aunt Frances’s solicitors to meet her for the very first time in connection to revisions made in Frances’s will. Unfortunately, Frances is found murdered the day Annie arrives in Castle Knoll. As per Frances’s last wishes, Annie and her relatives are in competition to find Frances’ killer. Whoever can solve the mystery within a stipulated time frame or before the police – will inherit Frances’s estate – not an easy task in itself compounded by the fact that Francis made enough enemies by digging up dirt on everyone she knew. Everyone Annie meets has secrets they want to protect and with a murderer in their midst, Annie needs to work fast before she becomes the killer’s next target.
How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin is a well-crafted, entertaining whodunit. The narrative is presented from the perspective of Annie with Frances’s journal entries from the 1960s in chapters interspersed throughout the narrative. The author deftly weaves past and present events into a fluid, well-paced narrative with more than one intriguing mystery and several suspects in the fold. Even though we don’t get to meet adult Frances we get to know a lot about her from her journal entries from when she was a teenager on the cups of adulthood and details shared by those who knew her during her lifetime. Annie is an endearing protagonist – impulsive yet smart, perceptive and curious - and I enjoyed following her efforts in unraveling the mystery. I loved the atmospheric setting and enjoyed getting to know the characters (even the unlikable ones). Even though the story features a large cast of characters and several sub-plots woven into the narrative, at no point does the plot get overly complicated, ambiguous or convoluted. Though I wasn’t entirely surprised by the final revelation, I enjoyed how we got there and was intrigued by many of the developments along the way.
Overall, I found this novel to be an enjoyable, cozy mystery and would be eager to explore future books in this series.
Many thanks to Penguin Group Dutton for the digital review copy via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Aspiring mystery writer Annabelle “Annie” Adams is summoned by her estranged Great-Aunt Frances’s solicitors to meet her for the very first time in connection to revisions made in Frances’s will. Unfortunately, Frances is found murdered the day Annie arrives in Castle Knoll. As per Frances’s last wishes, Annie and her relatives are in competition to find Frances’ killer. Whoever can solve the mystery within a stipulated time frame or before the police – will inherit Frances’s estate – not an easy task in itself compounded by the fact that Francis made enough enemies by digging up dirt on everyone she knew. Everyone Annie meets has secrets they want to protect and with a murderer in their midst, Annie needs to work fast before she becomes the killer’s next target.
How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin is a well-crafted, entertaining whodunit. The narrative is presented from the perspective of Annie with Frances’s journal entries from the 1960s in chapters interspersed throughout the narrative. The author deftly weaves past and present events into a fluid, well-paced narrative with more than one intriguing mystery and several suspects in the fold. Even though we don’t get to meet adult Frances we get to know a lot about her from her journal entries from when she was a teenager on the cups of adulthood and details shared by those who knew her during her lifetime. Annie is an endearing protagonist – impulsive yet smart, perceptive and curious - and I enjoyed following her efforts in unraveling the mystery. I loved the atmospheric setting and enjoyed getting to know the characters (even the unlikable ones). Even though the story features a large cast of characters and several sub-plots woven into the narrative, at no point does the plot get overly complicated, ambiguous or convoluted. Though I wasn’t entirely surprised by the final revelation, I enjoyed how we got there and was intrigued by many of the developments along the way.
Overall, I found this novel to be an enjoyable, cozy mystery and would be eager to explore future books in this series.
Many thanks to Penguin Group Dutton for the digital review copy via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
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