How to Solve Your Own Murder: A Novel (Castle Knoll Files)
A Jimmy Fallon's Book Club Finalist for 2024 AN INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER A Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist A GMA Buzz Pick! One of Amazon's Top 10 Best Books of April, One of Jimmy Fallon's favorite books for Spring 2024, The Top LibraryReads pick for March 2024, A Publishers Marketplace 2024 BuzzBook One of NPR's Books We Love Named most anticipated by: Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, BookRiot, BookBub, The Nerd Daily, Shelf Reflection, Novel Suspects, Borrow Read Repeat, The Everygirl, The Scout Guide, The Real Book Spy
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. 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.
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. 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.
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Community Reviews
Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC of this book!
As with any murder mystery, a reviewer needs to be careful to not give too much away so Iâll try to stick to general information available in the first few pages.
I really enjoyed almost every character and the premise. It was very well-paced and well-written. Additionally, the jumping between the words of Frances (through her diary) and Annie (her grand niece) was done very well and didnât feel gimmicky.
The only thing I do wish is that the diary read more like a diary (but thatâs a common complaint I have for books using a dairy as a plot device).
Personally, I wish I could forget the book and read it again because I did find it quick, enjoyable, suspenseful, and a bit surprising. All the best components of a mystery. Would read this author again.
As with any murder mystery, a reviewer needs to be careful to not give too much away so Iâll try to stick to general information available in the first few pages.
I really enjoyed almost every character and the premise. It was very well-paced and well-written. Additionally, the jumping between the words of Frances (through her diary) and Annie (her grand niece) was done very well and didnât feel gimmicky.
The only thing I do wish is that the diary read more like a diary (but thatâs a common complaint I have for books using a dairy as a plot device).
Personally, I wish I could forget the book and read it again because I did find it quick, enjoyable, suspenseful, and a bit surprising. All the best components of a mystery. Would read this author again.
4.25/5
I wasn't sure what to expect with this book, but I really enjoyed it. The present day segments reminded me a little of some of my favorite historical mystery series like the Lily Adler Mysteries and the Gilded Newport Mysteries, but in a contemporary setting. I actually thought the pacing between the past and present segments was done pretty well, the journal entries were interspersed in such a way that the reader was discovering them at the same time as Annie. I got pretty sucked in and had my own mental murder board going as more information was revealed. I also thought the author managed to handle introducing all of the characters/suspects in such a way that they were revealed gradually and with enough emphasis that it was fairly easy to keep track of them all. The audiobook narrators were both good, and reflected the different outlooks of their characters in their delivery. Annie had more of a sense of humor and Frances was more introspective. I'd definitely read more from this series.
Content Warnings:
Graphic: Toxic friendship
Moderate: Bullying, Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, and Murder
Minor: Drug use, Sexual content, Vomit, Car accident, and Pregnancy
I think I just don't like murder mysteries. This one had great reviews but I couldn't keep up. Tons of characters and little clues along the way. I'm not really even sure who "did it". LOL Let me stay in my lane!!!
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