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.
Murder.
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.
Don't just take our word for it...
“How to Solve Your Own Murder is 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
“Grab a blanket and mug of English breakfast tea and prepare to get lost in Kristen Perrin’s delightful How to Solve Your Own Murder. 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, #1 internationally bestselling author of Recipe for a Perfect Wife
“I so enjoyed this smart, original murder mystery. It’s filled with curious characters and takes place in the most gorgeous setting – the mysterious Castle Knoll – and sucked me in from the very first pages. I think fans of Richard Osman will love this one.”
– Beth O’Leary, author of The Flatshare
Taste the very first page
Castle Knoll Country Fair, 1965
“Your future contains dry bones.” Madame Peony Lane looks somber as she delivers the opening line of a fortune that will dictate the rest of Frances Adams’s life.
Frances is quiet, her eyes fixed on the woman in front of her, though her two friends giggle at the terrible theatrics. From the gaudy beaded curtains adorning the tent to Peony Lane’s tacky silk turban, the whole thing screams Holly- wood kitsch. Peony Lane herself can’t be more than twenty, though she’s adding a rasp to her voice in an attempt to seem ageless. It isn’t quite working. It’s all so flimsy that none of them should take her seriously, and almost none of them do. Except for Frances.
She takes in every word as if it’s gospel. And with each new line of her fortune, her expression tightens just a bit. Like hot water teasing out its boiling point, giving off steam but not yet ready to erupt.
When the girls leave the darkness of the psychic’s tent, Frances doesn’t even blink in the bright August sun. Her hair is long and loose, and it glows red-gold. A man selling toffee apples gives her a lingering glance, but she doesn’t notice him. She doesn’t notice much of anything after the grim pre- diction she’s just been handed.
Emily takes Frances’s left arm, Rose joins at her right, and…
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