The novel How to Solve Your Own Murder stuck with me long after I read it. It set a high bar for what a complex but cozy page-turner could be. Naturally, I was eager to read Kristen Perrin’s sequel, How to Seal Your Own Fate, and it did not disappoint.
Annie Adams is trying to get relaxed and settled into her new home: a large estate she inherited from her Great-Aunt Frances, nestled in a lovely little English village. This seems like it would be an easy task, but Annie finds herself once more haunted by figures and mysteries from the town’s past. She meets Peony Lane, the fortune teller whose ominous prophecy became the subject of her great-aunt's lifelong obsession. Not long after their meeting, Peony is found murdered on the estate. Annie becomes the prime suspect, and she has to unravel more dark secrets from the 1960s while also figuring out who killed Peony and is framing her for it.
Perrin, again, does a great job of leveraging the dual timeline structure. The alternating chapters help the writing for both mysteries stay engaging with steady pacing. Before starting the sequel, I wasn’t sure how much more there could be to Castle Knoll’s secrets after all that was revealed through the story of Frances. However, the town remains wrapped by the tendrils of its past, leaving plenty for Annie to uncover while the stakes and urgency are heightened with her needing to prove her own innocence – and quickly.
Fans of the first installment, How to Solve Your Own Murder, will enjoy this follow-up. Readers of other cozy mysteries by authors like Alan Bradley, Richard Osman, and Jess Kidd should also pay a visit to Castle Knoll. Plus, How to Seal Your Own Fate makes for a great rainy weekend read. |
