How to Seal Your Own Fate by Kristen Perrin - Review

 

I was invited to read the second in this series because I read and reviewed How To Solve Your Own Murder previously. So thank you very much to Quercus Books for the chance to read and review this one. I was provided with an electronic copy of this book for review purposes, but was not otherwise compensated for this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

We're back in Castle Knoll for this book, a few months after the events of the first book. Annie is getting used to living in the huge manor by herself, but she hasn't really put her stamp on the place yet. She's living a nice enough life, Archie is living in his family's farmhouse on her land and is doing a good trade in restoring old bangers. Her friend Jenny is coming to stay, and she's still in touch with Detective Crane from the police station. 

She's out for a walk one morning when she bumps into Peony Lane. She is the woman who gave Great Aunt Frances her fortune all those years ago, telling her that she would be murdered. She tells Annie that she has a fortune for her, but Annie refuses it. Annie carries on to visit Archie, where she finds a dagger stuck in the waterwheel near his house. It has something to do with the crash that took the lives of Olivia, Edmund and Harry, three of the toffs that lived in the manor house. Frances was married to Edmund's brother Ford, who brought up his nephew after the deaths. 

Annie takes it back to the house. Jenny has arrived so they go to eat lunch in the solarium and then they find Peony's body. She has been stabbed and the dagger that Annie found is stuck in her back. They obviously have to phone the police. Crane turns up and so does his new boss, Tobias Marks. It looks like Annie is a suspect, but of course, there's more to it. 

There's also the dual narrative of Frances' diary from the late 60s, about the aftermath of the crash and about what happened then. Annie has to piece everything together and solve the murder, but in that she uncovers a lot of stuff about the past and the crash. 

I generally liked the book and was happy to be back with Annie and the inhabitants of Castle Knoll. I felt like there should be some of this stuff which had come out in the first one, but I'll allow the artistic licence. I also thought it was again just a bit complicated with a couple too many characters. I am looking forward to another instalment in this series. I like Annie and I think there'll be more to do with her family and past. 

I'm giving this four out of five. 

How To Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin - Review

Thank you so much to Quercus books for giving me access to this book! It seemed right up my alley so I was really looking forward to reading it. I was provided with an electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I was not otherwise compensated for this post and all thoughts and opinions are my own. 

There are two strands of narrative in the book. In the first, Frances Adams is seventeen. It is 1965 and she has two good friends - Emily and Rose - and a boyfriend. There are three lads the girls hang around with. The girls visit a fortune teller, and she tells Frances that she will be murdered, and that the bird will betray her, and that she should be aware of the queen in her hand, or something like that. Emily's surname is Sparrow and she does end up betraying Frances, so Frances deeply believes the fortune teller. She becomes obsessed over the next few years - and indeed her life - about solving her own murder before it even happens. 

She changes her will to exclude her niece and instead to include her great niece, Annie. Annie and her mother live in a family house in a posh part of London. Annie has sent some of Frances' belongings to her in her posh house in the countryside, in this tiny town, and Frances asks Annie to visit. Annie's mum is an impoverished artist so she and Annie are lucky to live in such a fancy house, but I digress. Annie has never met Frances but she goes on to the small town to meet Frances. She meets with the solicitor - one of the boyfriends from the sixties - and they head to Frances' house. She married the local lord of the manor which explains why she's so rich. 

And she's now dead. It seems like the fortune teller's warning did eventually come true. Her nephew Sebastian and his grabby wife think everything will be left to them, but actually Frances' will is a strange one. Either Annie or Sebastian must solve the murder, or the house and land will be sold to developers to become a housing estate. Clearly this is going to go down like a bucket of cold sick in the town, and it means Annie and her mum would lose their house in London too. 

Annie sets about solving the murder, but she comes up against absolutely everyone. The house isn't safe for her. She doesn't know who she can trust and who she can't. Oliver, the estate agent, seems out to sabotage her. The local police officer is a total dish but he won't want Annie to show him up and solve the crime before him... 

I did generally like the book but I think that there were too many characters and it needed whittling down a bit. I did sometimes find the back and forth between the two time periods confusing and I think some further editing was needed. But I found the story compelling. Frances also had a room full of the sins of basically everyone in town, which may come in useful in further books. I would definitely keep a look out for the next one! I'm giving this four out of five and I liked it.