Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin

21 reviews

bibliomania_express's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristin Perrin is a unique take on a murder mystery that also employs a lot of classic tropes. It has the English estate and small town setting, secrets from the past, twisty family dynamics, greed, fear, passion, the amateur sleuth, the supportive best friend, and a dangerous gamble followed by a grand reveal.

I had a lot of fun with this book. Annie cannot resist a mystery, and she finds plenty to solve. I liked that she was curious and intelligent without being infalliable. Her medical fear also worked with the mystery and was consistent throughout the book. I also enjoyed her interactions with Detective Crane as they tried to solve her great-aunt Frances's murder.

This book really explores interpersonal dynamics through its present day investigation and the past timeline diary entries. It also looks at how much we can invest in something beyond ourselves, and how that can change your whole life.

I don't want to talk about the plot too much, but I love how Perrin basically weaves together two mysteries to explore friendship, family, obsession, and the ways people can or can't change. There's two closed circles of suspects (past and present) and they overlap in interesting ways.

I do wish we spent a bit more time getting to know some of the secondary characters and the village of Castle Knoll. Some of the diary entries were a bit long. On the other hand, I had suspicions but did not guess the murderer before the reveal.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship

Moderate: Death and Infidelity

Minor: Gaslighting, Gun violence, Violence, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Grief, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders

puddleshoes's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship and Death

Moderate: Pregnancy, Medical content, and Violence

Minor: Child abuse

emilywemily6's review against another edition

mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This was a solid whodunit with an interesting premise involving two timelines. I enjoyed seeing the journal entries being relevant in the present day timeline and found both timelines engaging. However, there were too many characters to keep track of, which made the ending/conclusion felt a bit rushed since the characters weren’t flushed out as well as I would have liked. And while I enjoyed the protagonist, some parts of their behavior and dialogue were stilted and obviously intended to just move the plot along- like how Annie called her best friend to talk about evidence and draw conclusions. I would really like to read another book by this author and with these characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Violence, Toxic friendship, Death, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Alcohol, Gun violence, and Medical content

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

bessadams's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, and Death

Moderate: Drug abuse, Violence, Gun violence, and Pregnancy

Minor: Vomit, Alcohol, and Car accident

beepbeep101's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Murder, Medical trauma, Death, Toxic friendship, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Gun violence, Infertility, Emotional abuse, and Pregnancy

agathajanemaud1908's review against another edition

funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

I found the first few chapters a bit clunky, but then I got wrapped up in the mystery and finished this book in three days. A bit more tension in the climax and more details and background about the main character would have made this book even better. I also found some developments/theories of the mystery hard to follow.
Looks like this is book one of a series, so I’m looking forward to more mysteries involving Great Aunt Frances’ files! There’s a lot of potential for a great series involving the village of Castle Knoll.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Drug use, Pregnancy, Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Murder, Bullying, Toxic friendship, and Grief

Moderate: Car accident, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Gun violence, Infertility, and Vomit

Minor: Abandonment

chelbelle122's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Murder, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Bullying, Death, and Violence

lavaly_1's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Addiction, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, and Toxic friendship

mamawantsbooks's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Knives Out meets Succession with this mystery novel of who killed Francis and whether the fortune from 50 years ago foreshadowing her death really came true. Fantastic first half but it gets so sloppy and messy in the second that I was just trying to figure out what happened in both timelines. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Toxic friendship, Death, Medical content, and Pregnancy

goldenlake's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Murder, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, Death of parent, Gore, Blood, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug use, and Mental illness

Minor: Alcohol, Homophobia, Dementia, Infertility, Vomit, Grief, and Infidelity