How to Solve Your Own Murder

Netgalley read
Annie is summon to her rich eccentric great aunt Frances to meet for the first time, of course Frances turns up dead before they can meet. And of course great aunt Frances has made her death into a game, solve my murder and get the whole estate.

Fun idea but our main character is isolated and don't feel I really get to know her and she has no quirky sidekick or similar. She does have her friend and mom on the phone at times but very little camaraderie or friendly interactions for her. I never really warmed to her. And you'd think that someone that wants to be a cozy author (our main character) would be smarter than putting herself in mortal danger.

Parts of the book is aunt Frances diary entries from the 1960's, they don't read like they are from the 60's and takes you out of it a little. All in all, it's alright.

I had the audio version and the lovely Alexandra Dowling does a wonderful job reading it.

I don't think I've ever read a “cozy” mystery, but that's what I'd call this. I felt excited and, well, cozy reading it. It reminded me of Miss Marple or Sherlock, but in a different way. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I got it from Libby, and slowly read it over two weeks. That's actually fast for me. In the last four days, I've been speed-reading because the book was going to be returned and I couldn't renew it. I just had to know the ending!

How to Solve Your Own Murder follows Annie in the present day when she seemingly and suddenly becomes the heir to her elderly Great Aunt Frances' fortune, so she travels from her home in London to pleasant Castle Knoll. Annie has never met Frances, so this was a surprise. More of a surprise is that the day Annie is going to meet Frances, she is found murdered. All her life, Frances was obsessed with a fortune she was told as a teenager that she would be murdered, so she acted rather paranoid and rooted out secrets. Annie's involvement in solving the mystery is interspersed with entries from Frances' diary as a teenager in the 1960s, which sheds light on the mystery as well.

The story is entertaining and pulls you along. There are many characters, and I was only slightly unsure of who some were, but those were very minor ones. I think the book does a good job of swirling all these different egos, histories, motives, and fears together. The setting is enjoyable as well, and as this is becoming a series with a second book on the way, I can see many things happening in this small town.

I had two main issues with the book. One was that something would happen on the page, and then we would receive Annie's inner narrative describing what just happened. Many times it didn't elaborate or cause revelations for Annie. It was just a description, more-or-less. Obviously, it happened enough times for me to notice it. Secondly, Annie's character is fun, but she felt a little one dimensional. It felt like she was a mirror for all the interesting characters in the story even though she's the main character. She was excited right from the beginning to learn about Frances and Castle Knoll, even before the murder. Often in books, this type of setup creates an unwilling main character, so it is refreshing that Annie wanted to be there. But she had so little depth. All I really know about her is that she wants to be a writer.

I recommend this book if you like mysteries of any kind, especially if you just want a rather lighthearted read. (Well, considering it's a murder mystery...) I will read the second book as this one was so enjoyable.

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3.5 (rounded up)

This murder mystery was a whirlwind of excitement! The storyline was engaging, and I loved how the different subplots wove seamlessly into the main mystery. However, there were moments when the plot and characters seemed a bit too ambitious, leaving me craving more depth and development. I understand there are more books in the works, so perhaps this is just setting the stage for future adventures. Despite this, the book had me on the edge of my seat, and the plot twist completely blindsided me! It was a thrilling ride, though I wished I could have connected more with the main character.

Big shoutout to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts!

CAWPILE
Characters - 6
atmosphere - 7
writing - 6
plot - 8
intrigue - 9
logic - 7
enjoyment - 7

This review is just to help me remember key points about the book. If you find it helpful or relatable that's cool too.
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“But daughters are the key to justice, find the right one and keep her close. All signs point toward your murder.”


2.75 Stars ⭐️

Mid tier murder mystery.
This is one of those times where it was an interesting concept, but the writing fell flat. I just didn't find any of the characters interesting and the main character unlikable. In the last few chapters, it felt like they were trying to tie it all up in a bow but they didn't have any string. There wasn't nothing abhorrent about the book but it was rather dull.

Did not expect this to be this good. But this is definitely one of the best newer murder mysteries I read in quite some time (apart from the Thursday murder club)! I liked the characters and their dynamics very much. No-one felt completely forced out did absolutely outrageous decisions just for the sake of driving the plot along. All in all it was just great to spend time with Annie and Frances!

I didn't expect there to be more but goodreads says there's gonna be a second book so definitly looking forward to that!

This was such a fun read. I thoroughly enjoyed it and could not stop listening. It's nicely paced, really intriguing and quite a classic type of cozy murder mystery. We follow Annie who is, through the will of her great-aunt Frances, tasked with solving her great-aunt's murder in order to inherit her estate. Based on a life-long prophecy made by a fortune teller in her youth who foretold that her death will be a murder, great-aunt Frances has spent her life trying to solve her own, not yet happened, murder. In her will she creates a game where the person who solves her murder first wins her wealth. Annie thus sets out to do just that, and we follow her journey, whilst also getting glimpses into young Frances life through her diary, which involves another mystery. Side by side the past and present unravels as we go along, culminating in a big reveal at the end. The audiobook narrator was fantastic, and I just really enjoyed myself.

Thanks so much to the publisher for the ARC provided through NetGalley!

A fun romp with a solid mystery behind it - enjoyable central character surrounded by various people who might conceivably have “done it” - Annie's great-aunt Frances always believed the fortune-teller's promise, that eventually she would be murdered. This comes true within the first pages and Annie becomes the amateur sleutch, fending off suspicious relatives, friends from Frances' past and assorted workers around the estate. Everyone seems to have a motive, some lying in the past, some very much in the present. Like Annie, you never quite know who's an ally and who's untrustworthy. Kept my attention. Well-written, well-paced and a good palate cleanser after one too many spooky thrillers. Will appeal to fans of cozy mysteries with intrepid young female detectives saving the day.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a fun and clever murder mystery.

Annie is called to the house of her eccentric aunt Frances to learn about the elder woman's updated will. Of course, before they meet for the first time, Frances is found dead, Even more interesting, her death had been predicted when she was a teen by a local psychic. Frances had spent the rest of her life trying to solve it. Of course, there are quite the cast of characters who could be behind the murder. A budding mystery writer, Annie decides it's on her to figure out who killed her aunt.

This story is a delightful read. The cast is quite fun, and the plot is quite clever. As you read, you're not only learning about Annie's investigation but about Frances' youth as well, especially how her best friend goes missing around the time she meets her husband.

I have nothing negative to say about this book. It's that good!

Well-fleshed out characters, a few 'good guys' to get invested in, twisty, dramatic, a bit too close to thriller tropes I don't enjoy, such as a liberal helping of awful people doing awful things, or awful things happening to people, or people who've had awful things happen to them doing unlikeable things. A bunch of juicy scandals, for those who like that sort of thing, and a dual timeline with various mechanisms to draw out the tension.

Other downsides from my perspective:

Something about the protagonists in both timelines were giving me early 2000s historical romance heroine, and I've been there, done that, had my fill.

Never read a book where so many people bite their lips.

If you're looking for my thoughts on this book in particular, you can stop reading here, what follows is the only reason I'm going to remember this book fondly, because it provided me with a great revelation about my taste in mysteries, that will benefit me as a reader going forward, and probably knock a few dodgy prospects off my TBR. I've had a fairly mystery heavy reading year this year, and though it resulted in a number of duds, it has the benefit of providing me with a lot of evidence for my conclusion.

I just went through my list of read books on Storygraph, filtered for 'mystery', for the last two years I've been seriously back into reading. Anything that might be categorized primarily as a modern mystery, I didn't really like. Whether a publishing trend that seems to favour thrillers over mysteries, has led to more mysteries being written like thrillers, or whether a writing trend rewarded by loyal audiences, has led to more mystery-thrillers that cannot be separated out into straight mysteries, it looks like it's a safe bet for me to eliminate any book that is a contemporary mystery on the basis that it's probably going to read more like a thriller.

If it's a classic (Christie), if it's funny or charming as much as it's mysterious (Osman, Sandford - Virgil Flowers, McDonnell - Stranger Times), if it's fantastical or sci fi but not too dramatic (Older - Mossa and Pleiti, Lafferty - Midsolar Murders, Cogman - Invisible Library - of these, I'm only continuing in the last one!), if it's historical (Raybourn - Veronica Speedwell, Kinsey - Lady Hardcastle), if it's fairly cozy (Burns - Baker Street, Popp - Pies Before Guys, Priest - The Booking Agents, Wallace - Evenfall Witches B&B), I enjoy it, but flat out mysteries, not so much!

Here's hoping my rant/revelation helped somebody else!

⚠️Child abuse, statutory SA

This book sucked me in.. and what a relief. I have started (and not finished) so many books in the past few months, so much so I was beginning to wonder if I would ever figure out what I like to read now.

This story was a light whodunit with great pacing. It kept me engaged from page one to the very end. Of course, it was mostly surface level as far as character development but on par with the genre from that perspective.

One thing that really stood out was the author's creative way of incorporating descriptions via showing. I really enjoyed the writing style and look forward to seeing how this series develops!