How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin
How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin was published in 2024. It was recommended to me by a blog reader when I posted my review of Murder on Lake Garda. I actually went and bought it immediately, but I bought Butter and Murder at Holly House at the same time as it and read them first. How to Solve Your Own Murder is by far my favourite of the three books!
Set in the 1960s and the present day, How to Solve Your Own Murder is a fun cosy crime read. In 1965, 16 year old Frances is told by a fortune teller that she will be murdered. There begins a lifetime obsession with detailing everything about everyone she knows, just in case they murder her. Everyone in the local village thinks she’s mad.
In the present day, Annie, Frances’ great-niece gets invited to the village of Castle Knoll to hear about a change in her great-aunt’s will. But when she arrives, the fortune teller’s prediction has come true – Frances has been murdered. In the great tradition of British crime novels, she is a body in the library of a stately home.
Can Annie use all of Frances’ files and notes to work out who murdered her great aunt? And can she keep herself safe in the process? There are people in the village who don’t want the murder to be solved…
The story is divided between the present day and Frances’ diary from 1966 and 1967. It tells of three girls, best friends since childhood, struggling with growing up. Boyfriends are on the scene and not everyone is faithful to either their friends or their partners. One of the girls and all three boys are still alive and well in Castle Knoll. There are also younger characters, who are the children and grandchildren of the group of friends. Everyone knows everyone in Castle Knoll. Is the murderer one of Frances’ old friends?
I loved How to Solve Your Own Murder, which slightly reminded me of Murder at Holly House (small town where everyone knows everyone’s business) and Death at the Sign of the Rook (country house murder). After Butter, which was a slow and heavy read for me, I binged it in three days. If you enjoy cosy crime and don’t like your murders too gruesome, I would definitely recommend How to Solve Your Own Murder.
