LoveReading Says
The book opens in 1965 with Frances Adams having her fortune told by Peony Lane. She takes in every word as if it’s gospel and spends the next sixty years as a detective trying to prevent her fate, trying to stop the crime she is sure to befall.
Under her breath, she repeated her fortune again and again until it was burned into her memory.
"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. Bar daughters are the key to justice, find the right one and keep her close. All signs point toward your murder."
With the feel of a classic murder mystery, flitting between the 1960s and present day, wannabe murder mystery writer Annie finds herself at the heart of the story, tasked with trying to find the truth for her great aunt. Summoned to the sprawling estate in Castle Knoll in Dorset, a place she's never been to from a great aunt she only gets to know in death, she finds her quest.
In the heart of her sprawling country estate lies Frances' Murder Room, her eccentric library of detective work, where the right person could step in and use her findings to solve her murder. It contains every single theory and paranoia that Francis collected over the years, it's saturated with sadness. As the amaterur sleuths peel away the layers of Frances' psyche and find crooked people galore, we are forced to try and solve the puzzle as armchair detectives. Was it driven by greed, revenge, passion or self preservation? And the punchline, whoever cracks the code, inherits her millions.
As Annie makes her way through the Castle Knoll reading list she finds a boiling pot of deceit, betrayal, intrigue and a cast of characters that would rival any Agatha Christie novel, How To Solve Your Own Murder is a joy, a conundrum of a cosy crime, and I have a feeling there'll be more from this bunch. Oh please, let there be more.
Deborah Maclaren
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How to Solve Your Own Murder Synopsis
A Jimmy Fallon's Book Club Finalist for 2024
AN INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER
A Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist
A GMA Buzz Pick!
One of Amazon's Top 10 Best Books of April, One of Jimmy Fallon's favorite books for Spring 2024, The Top LibraryReads pick for March 2024, A Publishers Marketplace 2024 BuzzBook | One of NPR's Books We Love
Named most anticipated by: Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, BookRiot, BookBub, The Nerd Daily, Shelf Reflection, Novel Suspects, Borrow Read Repeat, The Everygirl, The Scout Guide, The Real Book Spy
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.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9780593474020 |
| Publication date: |
25th March 2025 |
| Author: |
Kristen Perrin |
| Publisher: |
Dutton Books an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
384 pages |
| Series: |
Castle Knoll Files |
| Primary Genre |
Crime and Mystery
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| Other Genres: |
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| Recommendations: |
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Kristen Perrin Press Reviews
I loved it: warm, clever and wildly original - Elly Griffiths, bestselling author of THE DR RUTH GALLOWAY MYSTERIES
A masterclass in the art of mystery. Kristen Perrin crafts a beguiling puzzle from sharp prose, compelling characters, and an irresistibly intricate setup. One of the best and most satisfying mysteries I've ever read - Elle Cosimano, New York Times bestselling author of Finlay Donovan is Killing It
A brilliant and masterful whodunnit. For all murder mystery fans - this one's for you! Don't miss it - Liv Constantine, internationally bestselling author of THE LAST MRS PARRISH
Debut novelist Kristen Perrin has done the impossible in delivering readers a quintessential English murder mystery with a fresh, unconventional approach . . . There's no shortage of entertaining, well-rounded characters in this charming and multilayered whodunit, a perfect shelf companion alongside reader favourites like Agatha Christie, Richard Osman, and Nita Prose - Sarah Penner, New York Times bestselling author of The Lost Apothecary
Perrin flawlessly links amateur sleuth, Annie, to a cast of eccentric characters, a fortune teller's dreaded prediction, a decades-old mystery, and a puzzling murder. With Agatha Christie-like vibes and perfect for fans of The Maid, this is an utterly charming whodunnit - I loved it! - Karma Brown, internationally bestselling author of RECIPE FOR A PERFECT WIFE
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