How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin is a cozy mystery that is inspired by Agatha Christie. This whodunit is the first book in The Castle Knoll Files. The basic plot is a niece is called to her rich great aunt’s estate to talk about her possible inheritance. When she arrives the great aunt is dead. Her will stipulated that her immediate heirs will have a week to solve her murder. If they succeed in solving the murder, they get the whole estate. “The game is afoot” to quote Sherlock Holmes. The novel is in the present but we get a diary of the past from 1965-1966. Early on, we learn that the aunt’s murder seems connected to a disappearance in 1966. The disappearance involved a childhood friend. I was hooked from the beginning. It starts with a creepy fortune in 1965 about the eventual murder of the great aunt. Since that day, the aunt lived by the rules of that fortune. She tried to prevent her death or find the right person to solve it. After the initial hook, the novel gets confusing. You have a lot of characters in the past. A few of those characters from the past are in the current time, only older. Then you have second and third generation characters that are related to the past. And you also have new characters introduced as well. It was overwhelming for a while and very confusing. Midway through the book, I understood who most of the characters were. I also knew how they were connected to the past. The suspect list is high for both the disappearance and the murder. In both cases I was shocked by who committed the crimes. The murder is almost impossible to solve with the main character holding her thoughts close to the vest. But the disappearance gives you a little hints, I could not solve it but someone smarter than me could. I do like how the crimes are tied together at the end. The ending was ultimately satisfying and had a good epilogue wrapping everything up. How to Solve Your Own Murder was a selected book on the Jimmy Fallon Book Club. How to Solve Your Own Murder was published on March 26, 2024.

Plot Summary: Frances is 17 in 1965 she and her two friend Emily and Rose have their fortune read. Rose and Emily laugh about it as Frances takes it seriously since the fortune predicted her death. She has amassed massive wealth thanks to marriage. She has a full estate with a farm and massive acres of land. Frances does not enjoy it as she is so preoccupied by her predicted murder. She stops living and bugs the people in he life as she reads into everything. Annie finds boxes and bag of Aunt Frances things. The boxes are pushed to the side as part of her mothers basement/art room. Annie just look at the items just gets rid of the clutter. Annie is contacted by Frances old friend and lawyer. Laura, Annie’s mother is out of the inheritance, Annie is in the will and must travel to the estate to meet Frances. There’s a line in Frances fortune about picking the right daughter. When Annie arrives she finds Frances dead. Her death looks like murder. The will reads, it will give Annie and Saxon a close relative a week to solve her murder. Who ever solves it get the whole estate, if they don’t solve it before the week they get nothing.

What I Liked: The fortune is pretty haunting. I like how dedicated Frances is the fortune and the code buried inside of it. The flashback mystery was my favorite. The clues were helpful. I was satisfied with who was responsible for the disappearance. I was also satisfied with how they could get away with it for so long. Saxon was a creepy kid when he was younger. I appreciated his brutal honesty. I liked Annie’s snooping at the hospital. Annie figuring out the code on the fortune and the way Perrin wrote it so the reader could figure it out as Annie did. Jenny was a character I thought was pointless but I like the way Annie bounced her theories of her. I liked how the disappearance and the murder were connected. I liked that Frances researched all different types of poisons.

What I Disliked: Way too many characters for Frances murder. Too much was hidden from the audience for the reader to solve Frances murder. I did not like who was responsible for Frances’ murder, we didn’t know much about them until the end.

Recommendation: I liked only one part of a two part mystery. The novel is clearly an homage to an Agatha Christie novel. The story is told in modern times and uses technology. However, the novel takes place in such a small town that it feels a bit old-timey too. I have not read too many Agatha Christie novels. I’ve read around 6 of them. I feel this novel is closest to her novel The Underdog. I wanted to like this novel a bit more. The back half was way more enjoyable than the first part. I cannot recommend How to Solve Your Own Murder. I will give author Kristen Perrin another shot as I liked the puzzle aspect to the mystery a lot.

Rating: I Rated How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristin Perrin 2.7 out of 5 stars.