How to Solve Your Own Murder

 

How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin (2024) 358 pages

Annie Adams has a great aunt Frances whom she has never met, but the aunt is helping support her and her mother in a house in Chelsea that she owns, while the aunt lives on her large estate in the English village of Castle Knoll. When Annie is summoned to Frances' home for a meeting, along with Frances' attorney and her late husband's nephew Saxon, no one expects to find Frances dead. She has a sizable estate and her will stipulates that it will all go to either Annie or Saxon if either of them can solves Frances' murder within a week. If that does not happen, the estate will be sold off and the proceeds given to the government. The job of selling the property goes to the attorney's grandson Oliver, who will presumably reap commissions from the sales. If the village detective solves the murder first, the estate still goes to the government.

Yes, Frances was so sure that she would be murdered that this information was in her will. And the evidence shows that she was indeed murdered—by an megadose injection of iron. When she was a teen, Frances had been told by a fortune teller that she would be murdered, and Frances was a believer. She kept a room in her house filled with information about everyone she came into contact with who might possibly become her murderer. There was even one of those murder boards that are seen in police shows, with photos and strings.

The race is on, to see if one of the possible heirs can solve the murder in time. The story dips back into Frances' younger life, via her diary, which Annie found. The diary was immensely helpful in following Frances' thoughts. There are lots of characters to consider, and some surprises, as well as danger. Recommended.