From the first page of “How to Solve Your Own Mystery,” I was hooked. Frances and her two best friends go to a fair in their small, picturesque town in the English countryside. An unusual fortune foretold at the fair by a “fortune teller” about Frances’s eventual murder changes the trajectory of young Frances’s life. She becomes obsessed with her fortune and determined to figure out who wants to murder her. This obsession lasts her whole life until, in her seventies, she is, in fact, murdered.

The story is told in two timelines. In the present we see through the eyes of Annie Adams how she was raised in a huge house in the posh Chelsea neighborhood of London with her eccentric mother. Her mother is an artist whose early success was then followed by many lean years. They still live in the Chelsea house together as Annie recently lost her job and is determined to finish writing a novel. Her mother has an important art show coming up, and to help her clear out the basement to make way for an art studio, Annie organizes the removal of many pieces of luggage and trunks and has them sent to her Great Aunt Frances at her country estate in Castle Knoll. Great Aunt Frances owns the mansion they live in.

Subsequently, Annie receives a letter inviting her to a meeting with her great aunt and her aunt’s lawyers to discuss “the responsibilities that will come with being sole benefactor of her estate and assets.” Annie is shocked that her mother was removed from the will, but given the wording of Frances’s fortune, “daughters are the key to justice, find the right one and keep her close,” Frances must have decided that Annie is the “right” daughter. Frances never had children of her own, and Annie’s mother Laura is Frances’s niece, her brother’s child.

So Annie travels to picturesque Castle Knoll for the meeting. But she never gets to meet Great Aunt Frances alive. Frances calls her lawyer just as the meeting is supposed to start to explain that her car isn’t working and they should come to the estate. But when they arrive there, Frances is dead. The autopsy shows that she was, indeed, murdered. She leaves behind a room filled with files and murder boards and all the notes and information she has dug up on practically everyone in Castle Knoll in her determination to find out who would kill her.

Annie deeply regrets not getting to know Frances while she was alive. Frances’s detailed notes clearly show she was a woman of determination, and the diary she left behind, which gives us a glimpse into the year after she got her fortune told, explains the events of 1966. Frances also has a surprise in store for those, including Annie, who expect to inherit the grand estate. Annie must solve the mystery of who murdered Frances. If her murderer is not found within a week, then the estate will be torn up and developed, and all the monies will go to the crown.

The clues and the misdirections are brilliantly created. The fact that Perrin has two timelines to work with in order to sprinkle the information and tidbits that eventually lead to Annie unmasking the perpetrator could easily become confusing. But she manages to adroitly balance the information coming at us in both timelines, as she makes us admire both female main characters. The juxtaposition of many of the characters as irresponsible teenagers in 1966, as compared to their staid senior citizen personas in Annie’s timeline is clever, but also touching. It’s a reflection of the truth that who we are as very young almost-adults does not define the people we become.

And one of the tragedies in the story is the disappearance of Frances’s good friend Emily. Frances, Emily, and Rose had been inseparable growing up. In addition to investigating her future murder, Frances has been trying to solve the mystery of Emily’s disappearance. In order to solve Frances’s murder, Annie must also delve into what happened to Emily. The clever conclusion is surprising, but we see that Perrin did indeed brilliantly lay the framework to allow us to determine the identity of the villain had we just been perceptive enough. I was not.

I’m definitely debating using this book for a book club read as it could lead to some very thoughtful discussions regarding family and moral character. Can any random “fortune” we might be told be twisted to encompass what happens in our lives? What did receiving that fortune do to Frances’s ability to live life to the fullest? And also there is the question about how life in England is both similar to and different from life in America, especially in the small, rural towns. This book is so enjoyable that I found myself doing what I haven’t done in a while, taking it with me everywhere so I could read even just another page or two. Apparently this is the first in a series, “Castle Knoll Files,” so there will be more exciting mysteries to solve.

Can’t wait!

This review was first posted on Bookreporter.com.