I like to browse Goodreads every now and then to find new books to read. Goodreads had a list of new books coming out in 2024 and one of those books was How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin. This is Kristen’s debut adult novel having previously written middle-grade books. The premise for this book was too good to pass up, so I had it saved for later. While in New Mexico, I found this book at a local bookstore and my mom was kind enough to buy it for me as an early birthday present. How to Solve Your Own Murder lived up to the hype and it might be my favorite book I have read in 2024.

In 1965, Frances Adams received a fortune. This fortune-teller gives her a riddle alluding to the fact that Frances will be murdered. Frances does what she can to investigate every person who enters her life, determined to beat the fortune. In the present day, Annie Adams visits her Great Aunt Frances, a woman she barely knows. Before being able to talk with her, Frances is found dead. Annie quickly finds out about the riddle and is determined to solve her murder, no matter the cost.

How to Solve Your Own Murder is recommended for those who liked Knives Out and I couldn’t agree more. Unlike Knives Out, How to Solve Your Own Murder focuses more on the people who live in the same town as Frances. There are certain unlikeable family members, but the town gossip is central to this book. Between Annie’s investigations are snippets of France’s journal entries detailing a summer in the 1960s. Both stories converge when Annie figures out who killed Frances and who killed one of France’s best friends decades earlier. It’s been a while since a book has kept me up late reading, but this book accomplished that. It’s funny that I was late to my Dungeons & Dragons game because I was reading this book in the parking lot before our session. My group laughed at me, but it shows how invested I was in this book.

Annie as a main character is equal parts naive and sweet. Annie doesn’t always make the best decisions, yet it fits her character. There’s a flirtation between Annie and one of the detectives, but I liked how this book didn’t force a romance between the two. Returning to the Knives Out reference, Annie has a list of suspects who could have killed Frances, so this aura of mystery always remains throughout the book.

I didn’t realize that How to Solve Your Own Murder would be the first book in a series as I was anticipating this to be a stand-alone story. I am here for the sequel and I’m curious if this will center around Annie as the main character or if this will be an entirely new mystery altogether. This book was so cozy and was exactly what I wanted.