Title: HOW TO CHEAT YOUR OWN DEATH – Castle Knoll Files #03
Author: KRISTEN PERRIN
ISBN: 9781529445688
Publisher: Quercus
Pages: 325
Source: Johanthan Ball Publishers
Some secrets are deadlier than others
1968: Frances Adams is loving her new London life, and she’s stepped into a world of glamour thanks to her new friend, Vera Huntington–a magnetic socialite as mysterious as she is provocative. Vera dances around London like she owns it, taking Frances with her.
Present day: When Annie Adams heads to London to visit her famous artist mother, Laura, the last thing she expects to find is a dead body. Least of all for it to be Laura’s new protégée, left in an alley with her heart surgically removed from her chest.
Annie is no stranger to murder–after all, she’s solved a few already. And something about this case feels familiar. She’s read about one just like it in the journals of her late great aunt Frances, whose friend Vera was killed in the 1960s in the exact same way.
As Annie investigates, threats pile up on Laura’s doorstep, and it soon becomes clear that she’s next. With her mother’s life on the line, can Annie find the killer before it’s too late?
Official Summary
16 June 2026
I bought the first two books in the Castle Knoll Files series simply because they were pretty. Yes, I admit it—I absolutely judged these books by their covers. Regular visitors to my blog will know that I loved book one and awarded it five stars, while book two didn’t quite work for me and lacked some of the magic that made the first instalment so memorable.
In all honesty, I would probably have given up on the series after book two. However, I received a review copy of book three from Jonathan Ball Publishers, and I am very glad I did. I’ll say it upfront: this book saved the series for me. In fact, I am now eagerly awaiting the release of book four.
Once again, the inclusion of extracts from Frances’ diary makes this a wonderfully engaging dual-timeline mystery. Moving seamlessly between the 1960s and the present day, the story weaves together past and present as another crime unfolds.
This time, Annie returns to London to visit her mother, Laura, only to find herself confronted with a dead body and haunted by the prediction of her fortune. The change of scenery from Castle Knoll was refreshing, and the introduction of new characters gave the story a fresh energy that made it difficult to put down.
One of the highlights for me was getting to know Laura better and uncovering more of Frances’ fascinating history. Laura is a delightfully eccentric character, so immersed in her art that she often seems completely disconnected from the world around her. She is far more unconventional than your average artist, and as the story progresses, the reasons behind her behaviour begin to make perfect sense. Let’s just say that Laura has a few secrets of her own.
The dual timelines continue to be one of the series’ greatest strengths. I found myself equally invested in both storylines, eager to uncover how the events of the past would connect to the mystery in the present.
I was also convinced that Annie and Crane would finally get together in this instalment, but it seems we’re not quite there yet. That said, the ending strongly suggests that Crane’s fortune will play a major role in the next book, and I am very curious to see where the author takes that storyline.
I’m incredibly glad I continued with this series and didn’t abandon it after book two. This instalment reminded me of everything I enjoyed about the first book: the clever mysteries, the engaging characters, and the irresistible blend of secrets, fortunes, and small-town intrigue. I am officially invested once again and very much looking forward to book four.
Also by Kristen Perrin
HOW TO SOLVE YOUR OWN MURDER
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 prediction: 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.
HOW TO SEAL YOUR OWN FATE
Present day: Annie Adams is just settling into life in Castle Knoll when local fortune teller Peony Lane crosses her path and shares a cryptic message. When Peony Lane is found dead only hours later inside the locked Gravesdown Estate, Annie quickly realizes that someone is out to make her look guilty while silencing Peony at the same time. Annie has no choice but to delve into the dark secrets of Castle Knoll in order to find out just what Peony Lane was trying to warn her about, before the new life she’s just begun to build comes crashing down around her.
1967: A year has passed since her friend Emily disappeared, and teenage Frances Adams 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 claimed the lives 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?
About the Author
Author bio from the author’s site
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. Her debut murder mystery, How to Solve Your Own Murder, is the first book in the Castle Knoll Files series and has been translated into more than twenty languages. The book was also a Good Morning America Buzzpick, was featured on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, and has been a New York Times, Indiebound, USA Today, and Der Spiegel bestseller. She lives with her family in Surrey, England, where she is hard at work on more books in the series.
Thank you, Jonathan Ball Publishers, for this review copy. I am so glad I continued reading this series instead of giving up on it. I cannot wait for book four. Have you been following the series? Please share your thoughts. Leave a comment below. Until next time…. Happy Reading.
