Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you are all having a lovely day today. I am bringing you my book review for How To Seal Your Own Fate by Kristen Perrin, the second book in the Castle Knoll series.
Blurb/Synopsis:
Welcome back to Castle Knoll, the idyllic English village home to a surprising number of murderers.
Present day: Annie Adams is just settling into life in Castle Knoll when local fortune-teller Peony Lane shares a cryptic message only hours before being found dead inside the locked Gravesdown estate. Annie has no choice but to delve into the dark secrets of her new countryside home in order to find out just what Peony Lane was trying to warn her about, before her brand-new life comes crashing down around her.
1967: Teenage Frances Adams, Annie’s great aunt, finds herself caught between two men. Ford Gravesdown is one of the only remaining members of a family known for its wealth and dubious uses of power. Archie Foyle is a local who can’t hold down a job and lives above the village pub. But when Frances teams up with Archie to investigate the car crash that killed most of Ford’s family, it quickly becomes clear that this was no accident—hints of cover-ups, lies, and betrayals abound. The question is, just how far does the blackness creep through the heart of Castle Knoll? When Frances uncovers secrets kept by both Ford and Archie, she starts to wonder: What exactly has she gotten herself into?
As Annie and Frances investigate two new mysteries spanning decades, they’ll unlock the next level of secrets held in Castle Knoll’s dark heart.
My Review:
Okay, I went into this book not expecting much because I did not like the first book in the series, How To Solve Your Own Murder. I thought the first book in the series was too complicated just to put some extra ‘shocking’ twists in instead of focusing on what the characters would do in certain situations. Which, is not unusual for debut novels, and so I decided the second book sounded good and I thought I would give the series another go. I’m glad that I did because I actually, surprisingly, enjoyed this second book. I was more invested in the mystery side of it, I wanted to know why the victim had to die and why that day and more than that I actually thought the split timeline worked better in this second novel. As Annie figured out little bits, we the reader get a deeper snippet of the story through the diary flashbacks. The thing that most annoyed me in this book was the character of Annie’s Mum, if my Mum did any of the things she did, let alone all these things, I would probably never speak to her again.
Have you read this book? What did you think of it?
Happy Friday bookish people! How are you all today? I hope you are all doing well. Today I am bringing something a little bit different. If you have seen a lot of my posts you probably know that I am doing a PhD surrounding the topic of Cosy Crime and so I have had to read a LOT of it, especially recently. When I started my degree I thought, this will be fin I love Cosy crime, it’s my favourite style of murder mystery novel. And it still is, which is good at least. However, I have thoughts. And I thought it might be fun to share some of these thoughts and see what other people are thinking about the genre at the moment. If you are a cosy crime reader, let me know what you think of some of these books!
The Thursday Murder Club series by Richard Osman
Okay, I have a love hate relationship with this series. I didn’t mind the first book, I enjoyed the second book and then hated the third and fourth books so I have decided not to continue the series with number five when it comes out later this year. It’s difficult to explain what I don’t like about this series, I’m not overly keen on elderly characters as the sleuths because it is so overdone now but this series was one of the first to do it so that didn’t bother me so much with books one and two. I think one of the things that I dislike is that the tone, trying to stay cosy, goes too far into conversational and the people who are meant to be villains their voices are too similar to each other and to the ‘heroes’ of the story. There are also mentions of our main four characters, especially Elizabeth, being involved with these other things that really belong more in a thriller than in cosy crime in my opinion. As it has gone on these things have grated on me more and more to the point that after I have finished my PhD I will be unhauling the series.
The Miss Underhay series by Helena Dixon
Now, from a love/hate relationship to one of pure love. This series took over my life from the minute I picked up the first book. It follows Kitty Underhay, her Grandmother runs a hotel called The Dolphin in Torquay and the series is set in the 1930s England. (It’s actually set close to the area where I live so being able to recognise locations is really fun). When it starts we learn that Kitty’s Mother went missing when she was a child and has never been found. Then we meet Captain Matthew Bryant. Over the series Matthew and Kitty become involved in a variety of murder mysteries. If you are looking for something groundbreaking then this series is not for you but if you like something classic, with good twists and brilliant loveable characters then you will enjoy this.
The Marlow Murder Club series by Robert Thorogood
This series follows Judith – an older woman, Suzy – a dog walker, and Becks – the wife of the vicar and their lives in Marlow and how they meet and become involved in murder investigations. This is another series that I absolutely love, I do think as we are going into later books that it might start feeling a bit flat with the way the characters are, I don’t think we learn much more about them as the series progresses but at the moment I love it. They are intriguing and keep my interest which is good because I get bored easily especially with series. I like the connection between the characters and I think that is what keeps pulling me back to this series.
The Finlay Donovan series by Elle Cosimano
This series, well, I loved book one and then I found book two a drag to get through but then I loved book three so it is a bit up and down for me. I love the premise, a writer is accidentally overheard talking about her novel plot and gets hired to kill this woman’s husband. That was really different and intriguing and Finlay, the writer, is with respect, very chaotic and messy. Her life is falling to pieces and somehow she gets caught up in all these things while also holding a very interesting romantic subplot with a policeman no less. That ups the stakes drastically. It’s really just a very fun series that doesn’t take itself seriously. Sometimes the plots can be a little confusing but overall I enjoy it.
The Windsor Knot series by S J Bennett
This series is very interesting because it follows elderly characters like is the trend in cosy, but in this series that elderly woman is Queen Elizabeth II of England and members of her staff. It is another series where overall I enjoy it but the individual books can be hit or miss for me. I enjoy it’s uniqueness but it is middle of the road for me, I couldn’t tell you much about the books after six months from reading them.
The Dog Sitter Detective series by Antony Johnston
This series follows another older lady, named Gwinny, who is an actress that was big in the day but now has faded into the background but struggling for money she has had to get more roles again. As a character I don’t mind Gwinny, she dog sits hence the name, she’s independent, curious and frankly, finds trouble no matter where she goes. The romantic subplot that shows up here is not one that I am interested in and I’d prefer if the series didn’t have it but I can overlook it for the plots. So far there has been a rockstar on a canal boat, a theatre play and a film set murder and I enjoyed all of them. It’s not a favourite series but it is a fun, easy read.
The Vera Wong series by Jessie Q Sutanto
This series follows Vera Wong, a lady who owns a tea shop and comes downstairs one morning and finds a man murdered inside her shop, believing the Police aren’t doing their job she decides to investigate for herself. I liked the brazenness of the main character, Vera and I also liked the element of found family that develops in this book but I think there were some aspects that weren’t memorable so again it is a middle of the road series but I am looking forward to reading the new book in the series.
The Castle Knoll series by Kristen Perrin
This series is interesting. I actually have unhauled the first book because I didn’t like it but then I bought the second book because it sounded a lot better, so when I read that we will see what it is like. But for now lets talk about book 1, How To Solve Your Own Murder. It follows the Granddaughter of a woman who was told many years ago by a fortune teller that one day she will be murdered and she spends the rest of her time watching everyone and then when the novel begins her Granddaughter arrives at her house and finds her there, murdered. There’s also some flirting with the local policeman that somewhat disappointingly doesn’t come to anything in the first book but I am hopeful that there will be in the second book. The thing I didn’t like about this first book was that most of the plot progression came about in letters from the past, which I enjoyed reading but it felt like there wasn’t enough substance in the present day parts of the novel.
The Three Dahlias series by Katy Watson
This is one of my favourite cosy mystery series. It follows three generations who have played the character Dahlia Lively – Caro, Rosalind and Posy. In the first book you see the characters meet and form a team without knowing it and I love the way their characters interact with each other but keep their own distinct personalities. The mysteries are incredibly bingeable as well, twisty and well written. I can’t describe how good these books are. You get the perfect balance between plot and character.
Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you’re all having a good day today.
Today I am bringing you my book review of How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin. Have any of you read this book? What did you think of it?
Blurb/Synopsis:
For fans of Knives Out and The Thursday Murder Club , an enormously fun mystery about a woman who spends her entire life trying to prevent her foretold murder only to be proven right sixty years later, when she is found dead in her sprawling country estate… Now it’s up to her great-niece to catch the killer.
It’s 1965 and teenage Frances Adams is at an English country fair with her two best friends. But Frances’s night takes a hairpin turn when a fortune-teller makes a bone-chilling One day, Frances will be murdered. Frances spends a lifetime trying to solve a crime that hasn’t happened yet, compiling dirt on every person who crosses her path in an effort to prevent her own demise. For decades, no one takes Frances seriously, until nearly sixty years later, when Frances is found murdered, like she always said she would be.
In the present day, Annie Adams has been summoned to a meeting at the sprawling country estate of her wealthy and reclusive great-aunt Frances. But by the time Annie arrives in the quaint English village of Castle Knoll, Frances is already dead. Annie is determined to catch the killer, but thanks to Frances’s lifelong habit of digging up secrets and lies, it seems every endearing and eccentric villager might just have a motive for her murder. Can Annie safely unravel the dark mystery at the heart of Castle Knoll, or will dredging up the past throw her into the path of a killer?
As Annie gets closer to the truth, and closer to the danger, she starts to fear she might inherit her aunt’s fate instead of her fortune.
My Review:
Well, what to say about this book. As I am writing this I have literally just finished reading it. For me it was one of those books that are okay, they are easy to read but I couldn’t fall into the book and become absorbed by the story. It was an average read.
In this book we follow Annie, who has been called to her Great Aunt Frances’ house, she has never met her but the meeting is to discuss changes to her will and then when they get there it turns out that Frances has been murdered, just as a fortune teller told her she would be when she was a teenager.
I loved the premise of this book, I thought it was very interesting how you could live your life afraid of the fortune you received as a teenager and there was a competition to do with the inheritance but the execution wasn’t what I was hoping it would be.
I thought Annie was a fun character to follow, she was thrown into the deep end head first and you could feel that in her POV and that was nice because it felt like you were learning along side her instead of her knowing things that you as the reader didn’t. Overall, there were parts I enjoyed to the book but I was starting to become bored with the story towards the end.
Happy Friday bookish people! I hope you’re all doing well. We are getting into the summer months, the warm weather and longer days make it the perfect time for enjoying escaping into the worlds in our books so today I am sharing with you my June TBR!
Home | The Blind Scribe 