Book After Book

Publication: 15th May 2024 – Storm Publishing

A government aide kidnapped, a French diplomat murdered, a killer to uncover…

When mystery writer Marius Quin and his sleuthing partner Lady Bella Montague are hired by a secretive stranger to find a missing civil servant, they immediately set to work. Ernest Castleton was taken at gunpoint days earlier, but with the help of his distraught fiancée, Marius and Bella uncover a vital clue. Ernest hid a cryptic letter in the British Museum, and it sends the intrepid duo on a trail that stretches from the centre of London all the way to the English coast.

The investigation takes on a new twist when they arrive at the home of the British Foreign Secretary only to find a French diplomat murdered in the Grand Hall of the palatial property…

But who pushed Monsieur Rochefort to his death, and what does it have to do with Ernest Castleton’s disappearance? Marius and Bella must choose from a nefarious spy, a double-dealing diplomat and any number of spoilt aristocrats if they wish to catch the killer. With the clock ticking and only twenty-four hours left before the suspects disperse, they must call upon their every skill to stop more innocent people from dying…

A fast, fresh and fun 1920s murder mystery which combines the feel of a classic spy novel with a twisting whodunit, The Castleton Affair will leave you guessing until the very last chapter.

AMAZON

The adventures of mystery writer Marius Quin and his friend / first love Lady Bella Montague continue as they embark on their third investigation. They are hired by a mysterious and quite sinister man to find Ernest Castleton, a civil servant working in the British Foreign Office, who was kidnapped a few days earlier. With the help of his fiancée and a few clues left in a book in the British Museum, Marius and Bella manage to find and rescue Ernest, only to find out that the truth is more complicated.

After managing to get invited to the country house of the British Foreign Secretary while he is hosting a French delegation for a super secret meeting, Marius (who must pretend to be Bella’s very boring fiancée) and Bella, try to uncover the truth, but they get involved in a murder investigation when one of the French delegates is found murdered. Will they find the killer before it’s too late?

I love this series. It is witty, entertaining, and full of twists, even though The Castleton Affair is a bit different from the previous two books. It’s more of a spy novel, with lots of intrigue, but I enjoyed it as much as the others.

Marius and Bella are a fantastic duo of detectives, but my favourite character remains Percy, Marius’s basset hound whose loyalties lay with whoever gives him food.

The story is very well-written and full of detailed historical facts. I enjoyed the subplot about Marius’s father’s mysterious disappearance and I am looking forward to reading more about it in the next books.  Conspiracies, deception, secrets, and twists kept me completely engrossed in this intriguing third book in the Marius Quin Mystery series (which can also be easily read as a standalone) and I am looking forward to the next one!

A huge thank you to Storm Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with a proof of the novel.

I’m a Welsh-Irish-Englishman originally from South London but now living in Burgos, a beautiful city in the north of Spain, with my French-Spanish wife and our two young children.

Writing has always been my passion. It was my favourite half-an-hour a week at primary school, and I started on my first, truly abysmal book as a teenager. So it wasn’t a difficult decision to study literature at university which led to an MA in Creative Writing.

I grew up in a crime-fiction-mad family and had made a few clumsy attempts at writing one over the years before coming up with the idea for my contemporary whodunits “The Izzy Palmer Mysteries”. My second series, the 1920s-set “Lord Edgington Investigates…”, has been a great success, with each of the books becoming a bestseller. I have a new series called “The Marius Quin Mysteries” coming in November 2023.

If you’d like to tell me what you think about my detectives, my writing or the world at large, I’d love to hear from you, so feel free to get in touch at www.benedictbrown.net where you can also download my free mystery novellas and join my readers’ club.

Publishing: 9th May 2024 – Usborne

When American teen Evan Bright came to live with her long-lost father – the actual king of England – she instantly became the most-hated member of the royal family. The vicious clickbait articles and backstabbing new relatives are tough enough, but now she’s facing much scarier threats.
First there are protesters outside the palace gates and creepy messages. But when an armed intruder accesses the grounds to attack Evan and her boyfriend Kit, she starts to believe that someone within the palace is plotting her downfall.

They say what doesn’t kill you will make you stronger…but what if it’s the royal family who wants you dead?

AMAZON

WATERSTONES

I expected Royal Scandal to be as good as the first book, Royal Blood, but it’s even better. I don’t know how many times I gasped in surprise or held my breath while I was reading. The twists, the surprises, and that shocking mind-blowing ending that has me already counting down the days until the next book will come out.

In Royal Blood, the entire world found out that seventeen-year-old Evangeline Bright is the illegitimate daughter of the King of England. Now, everyone seems to have accepted Evan’s presence in Buckingham Palace, she has established some kind of relationship with her step-sister Maisie, the future queen, and she’s found love with the queen’s nephew, Kit. She is looking forward to spending Christmas with her new family, but, of course, things will be far from easy. First of all, on their arrival at Sandringham, there is a group of angry protesters outside the gates. And, then, Prince Benedict, who caused her so much trouble and almost got her arrested for murder in the first book, makes his return and Evan is sure he out for revenge. Add a gossip website that seems to know everything that is going on in the royal family, strange voices that make her doubt about her mental health, and the fact that Kit may be hiding something from her, Evan has sure a lot on her plate…

Action-packed, thrilling, and entertaining, I can’t recommend this novel (and this series enough). I love the author’s writing, which keeps me completely immersed, and Evan is a fantastic protagonist: she would do anything to protect the people she loves and often this leads her into dangers that kept me on the edge of my seat. I surely didn’t expect that surprising ending and I cannot wait to see what is coming next!

A huge thank you to Usborne and NetGalley for providing me with a proof of the novel.

Aimée Carter is a graduate of the University of Michigan and the award-winning author of more than a dozen books, including the Goddess Test series, the Blackcoat Rebellion series, and the Simon Thorn series for middle-grade readers, now a #1 internationally bestselling series under the title Die Erben der Animox.

Publication: 9th May 2024 – Orion

Sometimes finding your place in the world is the greatest puzzle of all…

Clayton Stumper is an enigma.

He might be twenty-five years old, but he dresses like your grandad and drinks sherry like your aunt.

Abandoned at birth on the steps of the Fellowship of Puzzlemakers, he was raised by the sharpest minds in the British Isles and finds himself amongst the last survivors of a fading institution.

When the esteemed crossword compiler, Pippa Allsbrook, passes away, she bestows her final puzzle to him: a promise to reveal the mystery of his parentage and prepare him for his future.

Yet as Clay begins to unpick the clues, he uncovers something even the Fellowship have never been able to solve – and it’s a secret that will change everything…

AMAZON

WATERSTONES

The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers is a delightful debut novel. I enjoyed the characters and their stories, the puzzles to solve (although I can’t say I was able to solve any of the puzzles), and the different timelines that made for an engrossing read.

The story is told from two different perspectives. Clayton Stumper is twenty-five-years old but, based on his clothes and his tastes, you wouldn’t know it. He was raised by the Fellowship of Puzzlemakers after he was found by its founder, Pippa Allsbrook, right after his birth. He doesn’t know anything about his biological parents and, even though he found a family in the members of the Fellowship, he always wondered. After Pippa’s death, Clayton finds out that she left him a series of puzzles that will lead him to the true identity of his parents. All he has to do is follow the clues that will take him first to London where he meets an old friend of Pippa and finds a new one for him. And, as we follow Clayton on his quest towards the truth, we also learn about Pippa, how she founded the Fellowship of Puzzlemakers, about the challenges, the dreams, the secrets, and the relationships that form and grow over the years.

I liked how the narrative alternates between two timelines and I loved the character of Pippa, a strong woman who always knows what she wants, and the character of Clayton, who never felt like he belonged, but now has the chance to find what he’s been looking for. 

An emotional and entertaining read, The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers is a story that is very easy to love!

A huge thank you to Orion and NetGalley for providing me with a proof of the novel.

Samuel Burr is a TV producer who has worked on popular factual shows including the BAFTA-nominated Secret Life of 4-Year-Olds. Samuel’s writing was selected for Penguin’s WriteNow scheme and in 2021 he graduated from the Faber Academy. He previously studied at Westminster Film School.

Publication: 30th April 2024 – Quercus Books

Fake spirit medium Gretchen Acorn may be a fraud, but she’s a benevolent one. So when her client asks her to help a friend who’s struggling to sell his apparently haunted goat farm, who’s Gretchen to say no?

It turns out said farmer isn’t quite as Gretchen imagined. Charlie Waybill is young, hot as hell, and extremely unconvinced by Gretchen. And things get even worse for Gretchen when she finds herself face to face with Everett: a very real, very chatty ghost.

Everett wants Gretchen to help save Charlie from the family curse that’s left him haunting Gilded Creek since the 1920s. Now Gretchen has one month to win over the sceptical farmer. And as they grow closer, Gretchen realises the only way to pull off the greatest con of her life might be to finally risk her heart.

AMAZON

WATERSTONES

The protagonist of this fantastic story is Gretchen Arcon. Gretchen is a fake medium because, of course, she can’t talk to the dead, but she feels she is doing something good if it helps grieving people move on, even if, in exchange, they give her lots of money. When her best client offers her a large fee to help her bridge partner, Gretchen is happy to help. All she has to do is to investigate strange events that seem to prevent the sale of his farm. However, when she arrives at Gilded Creek, there are quite a few surprises waiting for her. First of all, Charlie Waybill is not the old farmer Gretchen was expecting, but a handsome young man who scowls a lot and who doesn’t believe she can’t talk to the dead. Then, there is really a ghost in the farm who scares away potential buyers. His name is Everett and he’s been cursed to never leave the farm since the 1920s. And, he reveals that if Charlie manages to sell and leave the farm, he will be destined to the same family curse. Gretchen needs to convince Charlie to not sell the farm, but he is stubborn and he doesn’t trust her. So, not only she has to earn his trust and convince him that the curse is real, but she also must face the past that still haunts her and makes her keep people at a distance.

I must admit that I had a bit of a slow start, but, as the story progressed, I really started to enjoy it and I didn’t want it to end. Happy Medium is fun, engaging, and witty. I loved the easy relationship between Gretchen and Everett, who was my favourite character. How not to love a chatty and honest ghost who watches too much television? The romance is also well-developed: an enemies-to-lovers, grumpy-vs-sunshine love story that kept me completely immersed.

Sarah Adler is definitely an author I will keep reading. She created an heart-warming and satisfying story of romance, family, and friendship that kept me entertained for hours!

A huge thank you to Quercus and NetGalley for providing me with a proof of the novel.

Sarah Adler writes romantic comedies about lovable weirdos finding their happily ever afters. She lives hers in Maryland with her husband and daughter and spends an inordinate amount of her time yelling at her mischievous cat to stop opening the kitchen cabinets.

Twitter @sarahadler
Instagram @sarahadlerwrites
Website sarahadlerwrites.com

Publication: 28th March 2024 – Zaffre

You can choose your home, but you can’t choose who lives next door . . .

Twenty-five-year-old Kat Bennett has never felt at home anywhere, especially not in crumbling Shelley House. The other residents think she’s prickly and unapproachable, but beneath her tough exterior, Kat is plagued by guilt from her past and looking for somewhere to belong.

Seventy-seven-year-old Dorothy Darling has lived in Shelley House for longer than anyone else, and if you believe the other tenants, she’s as cantankerous and vindictive as they come. Dorothy may spend her days spying on the neighbours, but she has a closely guarded secret herself – and a good reason for barely leaving her home.

When their building faces demolition, sworn enemies Kat and Dorothy become unlikely allies in their quest to save their historic home; and even less likely detectives when they suspect that foul play is coming from within Shelley House . . .

AMAZON

WATERSTONES

Shelley House is the only mansion left of the original houses built on Poets Road, in the village of Chalcot, more than a century ago. Once a beautiful mansion, now it’s in constant need of repairs that the landlord keeps ignoring. The residents are a group of people with not much in common who barely acknowledge each other, but when they face eviction, they come together to save the building they call home, especially two women.

Dorothy Darling is the oldest resident of Shelley House, having been living there for more than thirty years, and every day she checks that everything is in order, recording the comings and goings of the other residents in her diary. She has her routine which includes making sure that the post is sorted, that the trash is in the correct bin, and, above all, that she doesn’t have any kind of relationship with the other residents.

Kat Bennet is the newest resident. Chalcot is the only place where Kat Bennet had ever felt at home, until she was ten years old. Since then, she’s been moving around, never finding a permanent place to stay. Back after fifteen years, she is renting a room from Joseph Chambers and his adorable dog Reggie, in the flat right in front of Dorothy’s, but she has no intention to stay long, just a few weeks until she figures out what to do next. 

Dorothy and Kat couldn’t be more different and yet so similar. Dorothy has lived in Shelley House for more than thirty years and has no intention of ever leaving, even if the building collapses around her. For Kat her stay at Shelley House is only temporary, just a few weeks, and she is ready to leave without a notice. Both are haunted by a past that it’s slowly revealed and that keeps them from forming any kind of relationship with anyone, but the demolition of the building and a cute Jack Russel may change that.

I really enjoyed Nosy Neighbours. While stopping the eviction from Shelley House is at the centre of the story, there is so much more to keep you engrossed. The personal lives of the residents, the sense of community, the friendships and the love stories, and a cast of wonderful and relatable characters that keep you entertained from beginning to end. Beautifully-written, heartwarming, and humorous, I can’t recommend this book enough!

A huge thank you to Zaffre and NetGalley for providing me with a proof of the novel.

Freya Sampson is the USA Today bestselling author of The Last Library and The Girl on the 88 Bus. She studied History at Cambridge University and worked in television as an executive producer, making documentaries about everything from the British royal family to neighbours from hell. She lives in London with her husband, children, and cats. Nosy Neighbours is her third novel.

Publication: 11th April 2024 – MichaelJoseph

WELCOME TO DEADHART. ALASKA. POPULATION 673. LIVING.

In a small Alaskan town, a boy is found with his throat ripped out and the blood drained from his body.

The brutality of the murder of chillingly echoes a killing from twenty-five years ago.

Out-of-state detective Barbara Atkins is brought in to assist the sheriff, Jensen Tucker, who investigated the original case.

However, the inhabitants of Deadhart believe they know who is responsible: one of the nearby vampyr colony who live in an old mining settlement deep in the mountains.

Barbara is under pressure to authorize a cull of the entire colony.

But the evidence doesn’t stack up, people are lying, and the more Barbara and Tucker delve into Deadhart’s history, the darker the secrets they uncover.

As the snow thickens and the nights grow longer, another teenager goes missing and body parts are found.

Time is running out for Barbara and Tucker to find the truth.

Are they hunting a cold-blooded murderer, or a bloodthirsty monster?

And which is more dangerous?

AMAZON

WATERSTONES

The Gathering is the incredible new novel by C. J. Tudor, who never fails to keep me glued to the pages. Set in a world where humans and vampyrs try to cohabit, it’s a story of murder, secrets, suspicions, discrimination, fear, and hate.

Twenty-five years ago, the small town of Deadhart, in Alaska, was shaken by the horrific murder of a teenager. The townspeople suspect the colony of vampyrs who live nearby and take matters in their own hands, killing and chasing away the colony. Now, the vampyrs have returned and when another teenager is found dead, apparently in the same way as the murder twenty-five years before, the townspeople are out for revenge. Enter vampire anthropologist and detective Barbara Atkins whose role is to confirm whether the vampyrs are responsible for the murder and authorize the “cull” that would sanction the massacre of the colony. Teaming up with the former detective that investigated the first murder, now a recluse, Barbara needs to find out the truth before a war between humans and vampyrs breaks out and more blood is spilled, but the truth is more complex and sinister than she expects…

The Gathering is twisty and full of suspense from the first to the last page. The setting is very evocative: a small town where darkness is a constant companion during the winter months and easily cut off from the rest of the world. The characters are intricate and full of secrets. There are different points of views, but the main character is detective Barbara Atkins. Raised by an abusive and racist father, she is determined to remain impartial during the investigation and follow the rules, despite the town’s pressure for her to approve the cull.    

Gruesome, chilling, dark, and gripping: that’s how I would describe The Gathering. I was on the edge the entire time I was reading and it’s not for the fainthearted, that’s for sure. Highly recommended!

A huge thank you to MichaelJoseph and NetGalley for providing me with a proof of the novel.

C. J. Tudor’s love of writing, especially the dark and macabre, started young. When her peers were reading Judy Blume, she was devouring Stephen King and James Herbert. Over the years she has had a variety of jobs, including trainee reporter, radio scriptwriter, dog walker, voiceover, television presenter and copywriter.

She is now the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Chalk Man, The Taking of Annie Thorne, The Other People, The Burning Girls and The Drift. All of her books are in development or optioned for TV, and The Burning Girls debuted on Paramount Plus in 2023. She is also the author of a short story collection, A Sliver of Darkness.

I can’t tell you how excited I am to take part in the cover reveal for A LADY OF CONSCIENCE, the fifth book in the Somerset series by USA Today bestselling author Mimi Matthews.

I read and adored all the first four books in the series and I am really looking forward to reading James and Hannah’s story!!!

A LADY OF CONSCIENCE releases July 30, 2024 and it’s available to pre-order at your favourite online retailer now. 

A Victorian bluestocking with a passion for lost causes attracts the unwilling attention of a frost-hearted viscount during her tumultuous debut season in Bath in USA Today bestselling author Mimi Matthews’s fifth book in her acclaimed Somerset Stories series.

West Country beauty Hannah Heywood may be quiet with fashionable strangers, but when it comes to animals in need, she has no trouble finding her voice. Newly arrived in Bath for her very first season, all she desires is to find one like-minded gentleman. A man of warmth and compassion, as sensitive to animals as he is to people. But if such a man exists, he dare not approach her. Not with the tall, blond, and menacing Viscount St. Clare standing in the way.

James Beresford, Viscount St. Clare has often been described as a sentient block of ice. A man so cold and dispassionate, he would never suit a young lady of Hannah’s disposition. And she would certainly never suit him. Focused on repairing his family’s infamous reputation, James requires a diamond of the first water. The daughter of a duke or a marquess, at least, not a simple country girl with a passion for four-legged creatures.

And yet, there’s something about conscience-driven young Hannah that draws James, first to Bath, and then into one increasingly hare-brained scheme after another. She confounds him at every turn, subverting his expectations and threatening to do what no lady has succeeded in doing before—thawing his ice-cold heart.

And now let’s take a look at the gorgeous cover:

https://www.mimimatthews.com/books/somerset-stories/a-lady-of-conscience/ 

Publication: 2nd April 2024 – Headline Eternal

Nora Mackenzie’s entire career lies in the hands of famous NFL tight end Derek Pender who also happens to be her extremely hot college ex-boyfriend. Nora didn’t end things as gracefully as she could have back then, and now it’s come back to haunt her. Derek is her first client as an official full-time sports agent and he’s holding a grudge.

Derek has set his sights on a little friendly revenge. If Nora Mackenzie, the first girl to ever break his heart, wants to be his agent, oh he’ll let her be his agent. The plan is simple: make Nora’s life absolutely miserable. But if Derek knows anything about the woman he once loved-she won’t quit easily.

Instead of giving in, Nora starts a scheme of her own. But then a wild night in Vegas leads to Nora and Derek in bed the next morning married. With their rule book out the window, could this new relationship be the thing to save their careers?

AMAZON

WATERSTONES

I am addicted to Sarah Adams’ novels: the writing is immersive, the story is always funny, engaging and romantic, and the protagonists are fantastic. The Rule Book is her latest novel and probably my favourite.

Told by both protagonists’ point of view, this is the story of Nora and Derek. They first met in their senior year in college and fell madly in love. Then, one day, Nora broke both their hearts and they haven’t seen or talked to each other ever since, until, eight years later, they meet inside a meeting room: Derek is a NFL football player preparing to go back to the field after a bad ankle injury, Nora is his new agent. Desperate to prove herself to her male workers, Nora needs Derek as a client, but he still hasn’t got over his heartbreak and has no intention to spend any time with her. So, they come up with a series of rules that will allow them to work together and keep their hearts intact. But then, one morning, they wake up in Las Vegas with a hangover and married and, to avoid bad publicity, they agree to pretend their marriage is real with a honeymoon in Cancun. Of course, old feelings resurface, forcing them to face their past and make decisions for their future.

I had so much fun reading The Rule Book. Nora and Derek are adorable together and I loved seeing their relationship develop. Nora, especially, is an amazing character. She is funny, smart, and determined and I loved her colourful lifestyle and humourism. Every day, she has to work to prove her worth in an all-male environment, not letting sexist comments and jabs stop her from reaching her dream.

If you are looking for romance, fun, strong female characters, and adorable and tough male characters, then I can’t recommend The Rule Book – and Sarah Adams’ novels – enough!

A huge thank you to Headline Eternal and NetGalley for providing me with a proof of this fantastic novel.

Sarah Adams was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee. She loves her family, warm days, and making people smile. Sarah has dreamed of being a writer since she was a girl, but she finally wrote her first novel when her daughters were napping and she no longer had any excuses to put it off. Sarah is a coffee addict, a British history nerd, a mom of two daughters, married to her best friend, and an indecisive introvert. Her hope is to always write stories that make readers laugh, maybe even cry – but always leave them happier than when they started reading.


To learn more, visit: www.authorsarahadams.com or follow Sarah on Facebook and Instagram: @authorsarahadams.

Publication: 28th March 2024 – Michael Joseph

April and Eddie have taken a wrong turn.

They’re on a long dark road, late at night, and they see a woman up ahead, clearly in trouble.

They stop and pick her up. It’s only once she’s in the car that they see the blood.

And then they see the headlights, and at last, the woman speaks, her voice faint. “I’m sorry, he’s coming.”

While April and Eddie are able to escape – this time – their terrifying adventure is only just beginning.

The hitchhiker’s injuries prove fatal, and the couple are trapped in the small town of Coldlake Falls, prime suspects in the eyes of local police.

It turns out that this isn’t the first victim to die on this stretch of road, and it isn’t the first time that survivors have seen something that can’t be explained.

But to get out of town, April and Eddie are going to have to drive down that haunted stretch of road one more time…

Ingeniously plotted and heartstoppingly terrifying, are you ready to uncover the secret of Murder Road?

AMAZON

WATERSTONES

April and Eddie have just got married. They are on their way to a resort by the lake for their honeymoon, but, somehow, they took a wrong turn and found themselves on a deserted road in the middle of the night. As they try to figure out where they are, they notice someone walking on the side of the road. They ask the young woman if she needs help and they soon realize that she has been stabbed and a car is following them. They manage to take her to the nearest hospital, but she dies soon after and now the police considers them suspects. When they discover that she is not the first person to be killed on that road in the last few decades, April and Eddie decide to start to investigate on their own. And the series of mysterious murders on a remote road in the span of decades is not the only thing that kept me on the edge of my seat. April is hiding her own secrets, a twisty and intriguing past that is slowly and shockingly revealed.

I don’t usually read thrillers with paranormal elements, but for a Simone St. James’s novel I always make an exception. I love her writing and Murder Road is yet another chilling, dark, and gripping novel. An isolated road in the middle of the night, victims that no one is going to look for, a possible serial killer, a couple whose honeymoon is ruined before it’s even started and determined to find out the truth. Who was the young girl who was killed and how did she end up on the side of the road in the middle of the night? Is there a serial killer who has been killing for more than 20 years or none of the murders are connected? I couldn’t put it down!

A huge thank you to Michael Joseph and NetGalley for providing me with a proof of the novel.

Simone St. James is the New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Cold Cases and The Sun Down Motel. She spent twenty years behind the scenes in the television business before leaving to write full-time.. Her debut novel, The Haunting of Maddy Clare, won two RITA Awards from Romance Writers of America and an Arthur Ellis Award from Crime Writers of Canada.
Simone spent twenty years behind the scenes in the television business before leaving to write full-time. She lives just outside of Toronto, Canada with her husband and a spoiled rescue cat.

Publication – 26th March 2024 – Quercus Books

Frances always said she’d be murdered.
She was right.

In 1965, seventeen-year-old Frances Adams was told by a fortune teller that one day she’d be murdered. Frances spent the next sixty years trying to prevent the crime that would be her eventual demise. Of course, no one took her seriously – until she was dead.

For Frances, being the village busybody was a form of insurance. She’d spent a lifetime compiling dirt on every person she met, just in case they might turn out to be her killer. In the heart of her sprawling country estate lies an eccentric library of detective work, where the right person could step in and use her findings to solve her murder.

When her great-niece Annie arrives from London and discovers that Frances’ worst fear has come true, Annie is thrust into her great-aunt’s last act of revenge against her sceptical friends and family. Frances’ will stipulates that the person who solves her murder will inherit her millions.

Can Annie unravel the mystery and find justice for Frances, or will digging up the past lead her into the path of the killer?

AMAZON

WATERSTONES

I can’t express how much I loved and enjoyed this novel. It’s a gripping and smart debut that kept me completely captivated and that deserves five stars and more.

The protagonist is Annie Adams. Recently made redundant, she’s dedicating her time writing her first novel while living with her mother in her great-aunt’s house in Chelsea. Annie has never met her great-aunt Frances, but she’s heard all about her and the fortune she was told when she was 17 years old predicting her own murder. Frances then spent the next sixty years trying to figure out who her murderer could be, living in a constant state of fear and paranoia. 

Annie is taken by surprise when she is summoned to Castle Knoll, Frances’ estate, to discuss a change in her will. And things become more intriguing after Frances is found murdered in her own home and her will states that the entire estate will be left to the person who will solve her murder within a week. Her competition is Saxon, Frances’ nephew on her husband’s side, who believes that the estate should be rightfully his, and detective Crane, who partners with her to share information about the case.

Annie is convinced that Frances’ murder could be linked to the disappearance of her friend Emily sixty years earlier and never solved. As Annie reads Frances’ diary, she gets to know her great-aunt and she is determined to seek justice for her. A big estate, a long list of suspects, a toxic friendship, and a village full of secrets keep Annie busy as she receives death threats and the clock is ticking to solve the murder.

How to Solve Your Own Murder is a fast-paced and unputdownable debut and I can’t wait for its sequel and more adventures and murder-solving for Annie!!!

A huge thank you to Quercus Books and NetGalley for providing me with a proof of this fantastic novel.

Kristen Perrin is originally from Seattle, Washington, where she spent several years working as a bookseller before immigrating to the UK to do a Masters and PhD. She’s passionate about books and loves working on projects that have a mystery at their heart. Her debut murder mystery for adults, HOW TO SOLVE YOUR OWN MURDER, is released in March 2024 and will be translated into over 18 languages. Her middle grade series, ATTIE AND THE WORLDBREAKERS is available in German, Polish, and Dutch. She lives with her family in Surrey, where she can be found poking around vintage bookstores, stomping in the mud with her two kids, and collecting too many plants.