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A review by jefferz
How To Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
I feel like the synopsis for Kristen Perrin’s How to Solve Your Own Murder does it no favors by comparing itself to Knives Out, Thursday Murder Club, or selling the murder mystery concept in general due to the murder mystery investigation being one of the weakest aspects of the novel for me (more flair and quality is needed to make such a bold claim). As a fan of true crime documentaries and the murder mystery genre, I was excited to read this based on the stellar premise of a character spending their life trying to solve their own murder before it occurs. I was also encouraged to pick this up as it was voted 2nd place for Jimmy Fallon’s upcoming bookclub. Unfortunately the actual execution, attention to details, and pacing left a lot to be desired (1.5 rounded down).
From the get-go I was unimpressed with the characterization and dialogue as well as the story’s details. Following an excellently foreboding prologue where Frances receives her grave fortune that kickstarts the titular concept, the book’s pacing and interest lost me. Despite being 366 pages, I felt like I was reading empty pages with little value or importance to either storylines revolving around Frances’s childhood or Annie’s rediscovery of her distant grand-aunt. A lot of the content is dialogue-heavy with some of Annie’s introspective thoughts weaved in. Perrin's descriptions tend to also focus on mundane aspects that don't enhance the material such as the manner in which Annie gets ready in the morning or makes observations that other characters have already implied. The dialogue overall also felt lackluster, generic and surface-level that sounds repetitive and basic. This is made all the more obvious as Perrin throws at least 10 new characters at Annie back to back with very little time to establish who is who or for the reader to care about them. One particularly laughable quote is the following:
"Oliver Gordon finally makes it across the threshold, and he’s magazine gorgeous. If anything, he’s a little too put together, in that “dress for the job you want” sort of way."
There is no elaboration as to why Oliver is gorgeous, put together, or stiff other than the fact that the author says it’s so. This becomes a common trend with Annie describing people in ways with no context or details that show why she feels a certain way. The large cast of characters quickly become a problem when they’re described with so little detail as the story involves three different generations, couples, and their descendants/family members spanning the ages of 16-70+. The dialogue’s weakness is also quite obvious due to how similar each character speaks and acts. Despite the variety of ages, economic/social backgrounds, and careers of the characters, they all somehow sound alike. There is a particular scene between Rose (age 70+) and Beth (aged 20-30) where they both talk similarly to how Annie speaks (20’s) which is not only age inappropriate, but also unfitting considering Annie was raised in the urban city of London while the others were from the rural countryside. On that note, had the book failed to repeatedly mention Castle Knoll's proximity to London, I wouldn't have known this story even took place in England based on the dialogue choices and lack of English mannerisms (Annie calling her mom Mum isn't going to cut it). The book also utilizes a split-perspective narrative between Annie in the present and Frances 60+ yrs ago in the 1960’s. Yet despite the gap in years and the different characters, Annie and Frances quickly blend and sound like the same person. At its best, some characters come off as standard trope archetypes like the rich woman obsessed with class or the humble elderly gardener looking after the historic estate. At worst, they’re forgettable and are difficult to distinguish who is who.
I’m personally more than willing to overlook weak character work for this genre if the murder mystery and investigation is good; sadly it wasn't. Annie and Frances don’t really do any “investigation”. Rather, Annie talks to someone who gives her a random theory, she runs with it, and then realizes it was clearly wrong. Annie spends the entire book basically suspecting people based on stories or experiences told to her by the residents of Castle Knoll but does almost no critical thinking or discovery of her own (as they say, she is a head-empty character). This is my least favorite style of murder mystery story as it feels like the story is just running off of random red herrings instead of providing real clues for Annie or the reader to piece together. Worse, what little investigating and official work we do see is incredibly unrealistic and comically implausible. As the town coroner, there is no world in which Saxton would be assigned Frances’ autopsy as a family member and potential beneficiary which is a blatant conflict of interest. When the autopsy is actually done by Dr. Owasu, it somehow only takes four hours to complete (that’s ignoring the official out-processing time that takes weeks) including full blood work and a minor toxicology analysis. Detective Crane breaks so many basic protocols that I couldn’t tell if he was meant to represent the police force or a personal investigator. The book clearly intends for him to be police but his actions and work are so off from basic protocols that I laughed in disbelief (the amount of endless evidence tampering Annie and other characters do right in front of his face). There so many gaps in logic and plot holes, it’s almost imperative to turn off your brain to enjoy the story which defeats the purpose of a mystery novel.
The pacing is another area that felt poorly executed and likely contributed to my apathy to the story. Up until the 50% mark where a major plot-twist and related crime is unveiled, I was left wondering where the pages went as it felt like nothing happened. The reveal of the culprit is crammed into about 20 pages along with the timeline and explanation of how it was done, but it’s handled in such a lackluster after-the-fact kind of way. Worse, the killer’s motivation is somehow both shallow with a groan-worthy monologue, yet also doesn’t make sense when they elaborate on their intentions. The details of Emily’s disappearance in the 1960’s makes even les logical sense particularly in the manner of the crime.
You’re meant to believe that a few buckets of water and a floor drain is enough to somehow clean up an entire murder scene involving a revolver shot to the head done in a very short time frame. Also a body is hidden in a trunk that somehow does not produce any odors or fluid as the body decomposes for years as the trunk itself breaks apart (there are details that show the trunk’s casing is eroding with holes present). The trunks is placed in a basement (not a vault or something that’s airtight) and a room where Annie’s mother uses as a makeshift art studio for years. The explanation and logic is so poor, I almost would’ve preferred it to be left unspoken and left to the imagination.
The core concept of solving Frances’ murder started out promising but gradually devolved into an illogical and ridiculous mess. (this is not a spoiler and something revealed 20 pages in) Predicting her impending murder, Frances changes her will at the last moment to exclude her relatives and leave her estate to the one who solves her murder. She does this in an effort to match the fortune of “daughters are the key to justice” yet allows her nephew Saxon to participate who is not a female or her actual child? Or if this is a test to see if Annie is the chosen daughter, why even involve other parties? Mr. Gordon who is assigned to carry out the investigative competition to win her estate involves the police as a 3rd party and backup should no one solve the crime, but the very nature of the game causes endless potential inconsistencies and breach of protocols for the police and Detective Crane. Oliver, who is tasked and affiliated with the 3rd party police team, also does nothing of value except causing confusion and chaos. In hindsight his character contributes nothing to the story and slots into the same role that Detective Crane does as both an investigator and as a handsome male, except with less of a presence and impact.
Where this novel had a lot more potential is if it maybe stuck more to the story of Annie rediscovering her Grand Aunt Frances’ life that she never knew. Annie reliving Frances’ experiences and meeting her friends that are still alive 60-70 years later had a lot of promise. There are glimpses of what could’ve been, for example when Annie meets Pastor John, one of the last characters she encounters in the present after reading about him in Frances’ diary. Annie’s Mom Laura and her estrangement from her relatives in Castle Knoll could’ve also been explored in the epilogue rather than the two paragraph summary given instead. There's a loose theme of toxic friendships heavily implied in the 1960's friend group, but the lack of details and last minute plot-twist involving one of Frances' friend makes this feel element feel muddy and convoluted.
Had these element of the story been stronger, I might’ve not been so harsh on the rest of the book’s weaker elements. However as it stands, I’m not sure who this book is really for. The murder mystery is too mediocre to recommend for fans of the mystery genre but the huge cast of characters, their relations to each other, and split timelines are too complex and confusing for the casual comfy reader. In my opinion, the character work and dialogue are too weak for those who would empathize with Annie or Frances (not that I can see that happening as Annie suffers from the dumb amateur investigator to such an extreme, no wonder everyone writes her as a fool) yet the story gets progressively more absurd for those just interested in the plot. Apparently this novel is the start of Perrin’s Castle Knoll Files series, though it’s yet to be announced whether the next book will be a direct sequel or the series will take an anthology approach. Either way, I will not be joining (unless the potential cinematic adaptation heavily edits the source material).
From the get-go I was unimpressed with the characterization and dialogue as well as the story’s details. Following an excellently foreboding prologue where Frances receives her grave fortune that kickstarts the titular concept, the book’s pacing and interest lost me. Despite being 366 pages, I felt like I was reading empty pages with little value or importance to either storylines revolving around Frances’s childhood or Annie’s rediscovery of her distant grand-aunt. A lot of the content is dialogue-heavy with some of Annie’s introspective thoughts weaved in. Perrin's descriptions tend to also focus on mundane aspects that don't enhance the material such as the manner in which Annie gets ready in the morning or makes observations that other characters have already implied. The dialogue overall also felt lackluster, generic and surface-level that sounds repetitive and basic. This is made all the more obvious as Perrin throws at least 10 new characters at Annie back to back with very little time to establish who is who or for the reader to care about them. One particularly laughable quote is the following:
"Oliver Gordon finally makes it across the threshold, and he’s magazine gorgeous. If anything, he’s a little too put together, in that “dress for the job you want” sort of way."
There is no elaboration as to why Oliver is gorgeous, put together, or stiff other than the fact that the author says it’s so. This becomes a common trend with Annie describing people in ways with no context or details that show why she feels a certain way. The large cast of characters quickly become a problem when they’re described with so little detail as the story involves three different generations, couples, and their descendants/family members spanning the ages of 16-70+. The dialogue’s weakness is also quite obvious due to how similar each character speaks and acts. Despite the variety of ages, economic/social backgrounds, and careers of the characters, they all somehow sound alike. There is a particular scene between Rose (age 70+) and Beth (aged 20-30) where they both talk similarly to how Annie speaks (20’s) which is not only age inappropriate, but also unfitting considering Annie was raised in the urban city of London while the others were from the rural countryside. On that note, had the book failed to repeatedly mention Castle Knoll's proximity to London, I wouldn't have known this story even took place in England based on the dialogue choices and lack of English mannerisms (Annie calling her mom Mum isn't going to cut it). The book also utilizes a split-perspective narrative between Annie in the present and Frances 60+ yrs ago in the 1960’s. Yet despite the gap in years and the different characters, Annie and Frances quickly blend and sound like the same person. At its best, some characters come off as standard trope archetypes like the rich woman obsessed with class or the humble elderly gardener looking after the historic estate. At worst, they’re forgettable and are difficult to distinguish who is who.
I’m personally more than willing to overlook weak character work for this genre if the murder mystery and investigation is good; sadly it wasn't. Annie and Frances don’t really do any “investigation”. Rather, Annie talks to someone who gives her a random theory, she runs with it, and then realizes it was clearly wrong. Annie spends the entire book basically suspecting people based on stories or experiences told to her by the residents of Castle Knoll but does almost no critical thinking or discovery of her own (as they say, she is a head-empty character). This is my least favorite style of murder mystery story as it feels like the story is just running off of random red herrings instead of providing real clues for Annie or the reader to piece together. Worse, what little investigating and official work we do see is incredibly unrealistic and comically implausible. As the town coroner, there is no world in which Saxton would be assigned Frances’ autopsy as a family member and potential beneficiary which is a blatant conflict of interest. When the autopsy is actually done by Dr. Owasu, it somehow only takes four hours to complete (that’s ignoring the official out-processing time that takes weeks) including full blood work and a minor toxicology analysis. Detective Crane breaks so many basic protocols that I couldn’t tell if he was meant to represent the police force or a personal investigator. The book clearly intends for him to be police but his actions and work are so off from basic protocols that I laughed in disbelief (the amount of endless evidence tampering Annie and other characters do right in front of his face). There so many gaps in logic and plot holes, it’s almost imperative to turn off your brain to enjoy the story which defeats the purpose of a mystery novel.
The pacing is another area that felt poorly executed and likely contributed to my apathy to the story. Up until the 50% mark where a major plot-twist and related crime is unveiled, I was left wondering where the pages went as it felt like nothing happened. The reveal of the culprit is crammed into about 20 pages along with the timeline and explanation of how it was done, but it’s handled in such a lackluster after-the-fact kind of way. Worse, the killer’s motivation is somehow both shallow with a groan-worthy monologue, yet also doesn’t make sense when they elaborate on their intentions. The details of Emily’s disappearance in the 1960’s makes even les logical sense particularly in the manner of the crime.
The core concept of solving Frances’ murder started out promising but gradually devolved into an illogical and ridiculous mess. (this is not a spoiler and something revealed 20 pages in) Predicting her impending murder, Frances changes her will at the last moment to exclude her relatives and leave her estate to the one who solves her murder. She does this in an effort to match the fortune of “daughters are the key to justice” yet allows her nephew Saxon to participate who is not a female or her actual child? Or if this is a test to see if Annie is the chosen daughter, why even involve other parties? Mr. Gordon who is assigned to carry out the investigative competition to win her estate involves the police as a 3rd party and backup should no one solve the crime, but the very nature of the game causes endless potential inconsistencies and breach of protocols for the police and Detective Crane. Oliver, who is tasked and affiliated with the 3rd party police team, also does nothing of value except causing confusion and chaos. In hindsight his character contributes nothing to the story and slots into the same role that Detective Crane does as both an investigator and as a handsome male, except with less of a presence and impact.
Where this novel had a lot more potential is if it maybe stuck more to the story of Annie rediscovering her Grand Aunt Frances’ life that she never knew. Annie reliving Frances’ experiences and meeting her friends that are still alive 60-70 years later had a lot of promise. There are glimpses of what could’ve been, for example when Annie meets Pastor John, one of the last characters she encounters in the present after reading about him in Frances’ diary. Annie’s Mom Laura and her estrangement from her relatives in Castle Knoll could’ve also been explored in the epilogue rather than the two paragraph summary given instead. There's a loose theme of toxic friendships heavily implied in the 1960's friend group, but the lack of details and last minute plot-twist involving one of Frances' friend makes this feel element feel muddy and convoluted.
Had these element of the story been stronger, I might’ve not been so harsh on the rest of the book’s weaker elements. However as it stands, I’m not sure who this book is really for. The murder mystery is too mediocre to recommend for fans of the mystery genre but the huge cast of characters, their relations to each other, and split timelines are too complex and confusing for the casual comfy reader. In my opinion, the character work and dialogue are too weak for those who would empathize with Annie or Frances (not that I can see that happening as Annie suffers from the dumb amateur investigator to such an extreme, no wonder everyone writes her as a fool) yet the story gets progressively more absurd for those just interested in the plot. Apparently this novel is the start of Perrin’s Castle Knoll Files series, though it’s yet to be announced whether the next book will be a direct sequel or the series will take an anthology approach. Either way, I will not be joining (unless the potential cinematic adaptation heavily edits the source material).