How to Solve Your Own Murder: A Novel

A dual narrative, feel good mystery in which a woman, Frances, spends a lifetime trying to prevent her murder as predicted by a fortune teller at a country fair when she was just 17. When she is in fact murdered nearly 60 years later, her great niece Annie must solve the crime to avenge her great aunt’s death,and in so doing uncovers the dark heart of the quaint English village of Castle Knoll, where she might just find herself in the path of the killer.

In 1965 a fortune teller warns 17-year-old Frances that one day she’ll be murdered. And one year later a girl is missing, but it’s not Frances. It’s her best friend Emily. Frances spends a lifetime compiling dirt on every person she meets, withdrawing deeper into her obsessive investigations as she tries to prevent her own murder and solve the case of Emily’s disappearance.  

In the present day, twenty-something Annie has just moved home to London when she is summoned to a mysterious meeting by her wealthy and reclusive great-aunt Frances. But by the time Annie arrives in the quaint and charming village of Castle Knoll, Frances has been murdered, just like she always said she would be.

When Annie discovers Frances’s diary from 1965, she finds herself tangled in her great-aunt’s investigations, seeking justice for Frances, and maybe Emily, too. Can Annie unravel the mystery at the heart of Castle Knoll, or will digging up the past throw her into the path of the killer?

Story Locale:Castle Knoll, England

Series Overview: In the Castle Knoll Files, Annie investigates more cases “with” Frances. With each book, Frances’s writings and investigations will alternate with Annie’s present-day timeline, and in this way Frances's investigations will help Annie solve new and cold cases in Castle Knoll.

About the Author

Kristen Perrin is originally from Seattle, Washington, where she spent several years working as a bookseller before moving to the UK to do a Masters and PhD. She lives with her family in Surrey, where she can be found poking around vintage bookstores, stomping in the mud with her two kids, and collecting too many plants. Her middle grade novel, Attie and the World Breakers was published in German, Dutch, and Polish. How to Solve Your own Murder is her adult debut.

Author Residence: Surrey, UK

Author Hometown: Seattle, Washington