I have a delicate relationship with the mystery genre. It’s often thriller or horror-adjacent, so I enjoy the suspense and tension of trying to uncover secrets. However, like romance, it’s a genre with unwritten rules and beats, so I sometimes find it too predictable. I like when a mystery keeps me guessing, but dislike when it throws too many senseless red herrings. I may not be the ideal mystery reader, but I come to every page with hope.
Kristen Perrin’s How to Solve Your Own Murder didn’t let me down.
If that title doesn’t grab readers’ attention, then the plot will. Annie Adams, struggling mystery writer, is summoned to the small village of Castle Knoll by her Great Aunt Frances, a woman she’s never met. Unfortunately, Frances is murdered before Annie can find the reason. This doesn’t come as a total surprise to the folk of Castle Knoll, as Frances has been trying to solve her own murder since a fortune teller foretold it when she was seventeen. Decades later, she’s been proven right – but who was it, and why didn’t she see it coming? Annie only has a week to solve the case before others, or else an entire inheritance will be forfeit.
The plot takes a lot of standard movements and tropes of classic mystery and presents them in a familiar yet new enough way. An outsider being brought into a small community fraught with secrets. A reclusive relative with a vast fortune to inherit. A scandal from the past that has an effect on the present. An attractive detective who banters with our amateur sleuth. And many, many suspects. Perrin weaves all these elements together in a way that is never fully predictable, but still remains true to what readers want from a mystery.
It helps that Frances’ suspicions on everyone who ever came near her makes Annie equally suspicious. Was it the gardener? Was it Frances’ sneaky nephew, or his covetous wife? Could it even be the detective? At certain turns in the plot, readers will suspect anyone and everyone of the murder. This makes one of the reveals towards the end satisfying, because it may be one of the characters a reader would guess – even if it seems like everyone is a possibility. Annie weeds through a long list of suspects by becoming familiar with the people she interacts with and how their lives intersected with Frances’.
Interspersed through the main narrative, are excerpts from Frances’ diary from the 60s. What starts as a carefree day at the fair ends with anxiety as Frances learns she’s destined to be murdered. This prophecy comes to dominate her life. Despite that, she tries to maintain her friendships with Emily and Rose, go steady with her boyfriend, and avoid her intrigue at the mysterious man in the manor. Is this a self-fulfilling prophecy, or is Frances truly destined for a deadly fate?
Annie is an enjoyable mystery heroine. She knows the tricks and tropes of the genre, and this adds a slight meta layer to the narrative. Even though she’s never met Frances, her stakes in this be-quest are high enough and she’s driven to discover what happened. She’s an amateur sleuth and a bit of a stranger to the insular Castle Knoll, but awkwardly bumbles her way into people’s hearts with her earnest attitude. She’s not a hard-boiled detective who isn’t afraid to break thumbs to find answers, but Annie’s passion (and almost obsession) with the case is endearing. I also liked one of her physical flaws – namely that she’s prone to fainting and panic attacks, especially when it comes to violence or blood. It gives her a fun weakness to play with as the tension ratchets higher and higher.
Frances is almost our second heroine and, clearly, the actual subject of the title. I’m not 100% sure I agree with her methods of solving her own murder, but they seem effective enough. The Frances we come to know through the diary seems at odds with the mysterious woman we never truly meet and only hear of. She keeps file cabinets full of people’s secrets, bothers the local police and medics with her worries of being murdered, and spends so much time worried about the past and future that she doesn’t embrace the present. The younger version is passionate and driven, but also seems to let others push her around more than she should. Her friendships with Emily and Rose, especially the antagonism from the former, push the narrative in interesting directions. Her growing interest in and relationship with Rutherford “Ford” Gravesdown and his grand estate help us see how some things fall into place.
The vast cast of characters that fill the book are a little archetypal, but with a knowing nod to the traditions of mystery storytelling. Like I said, you end up suspecting anyone of murder but, as Annie comes to understand them, so do you. Castle Knoll has its own rhythm and history, and its secrets don’t remain buried for too long. It’s also interesting to see how the people from Frances’ diary have grown up and changed. Detective Rowan Crane is a little enigmatic because he should be working against Annie to solve the case, but intentionally works with her to guide toward the resolution. The chemistry between them is definitely there but isn’t a real focus of the narrative. Each supporting character is charming and noticeable in their own ways, and they stand out just enough from their archetypes to create a believable world.
As I said earlier, some mysteries are too predictable for me. While How to Solve Your Own Murder had a lot of familiar scenarios and tropes, it never felt too predictable. My list of suspects was shorter than Annie’s, but I was able to guess one of the culprits in the end. I think that’s a strength of the book: one plot thread gives you the confidence to guess, and the other foreshadows and lays the groundwork but isn’t too obvious. I was satisfied by how the main narrative wrapped up, even if smaller bits and pieces didn’t fully come to the fruition I wanted. This does almost feel like it could be the start of a series rather than a standalone, but time will tell if Perrin decides to pursue that avenue.
Overall, this novel feels like an “elevated” cozy mystery. It has all the best parts of what a reader wants from the mystery genre and takes those pieces to craft something exciting. It never pushes the boundaries too far, but that semi-meta-acknowledgement adds something new. The mystery decades in the making pays off and readers will come away with a sense of justice. I recommend How to Solve Your Own Murder for those who adore this genre, especially when it comes to the inheritance trope. This is for readers who also like British whodunits like Masterpiece episodes, writers who have wished they could live their plots, and anyone who grew up in a small town full of secrets. If you believe anything a psychic tells you then you’ll understand Frances’ motives. In the end, this is a mystery you’ll want to read closely for clues again and again. Find a copy today, and face fate or fortune.
Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton Books for the advanced copy.
Reading Malone 