Welcome to Litsy!

8-17-25: My 55th finished book of 2025! Fabulous debut novel! Told in present day by Annie and through journal entries from the mid 60s from Annie‘s great aunt Frances. In 1965 a fortune teller gives Frances a terrible premonition. Due to tragic events some time later, Frances will forever believe that someday she will be murdered. Annie must learn from these entries how to solve multiple murders. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️📖#️⃣5️⃣5️⃣

I'm looking forward to this one. In June, Lucas and I found ourselves in Salem, MA and he asked if I wanted to check out a psychic on some random street corner that we walked past. I told him there was no way because I'd put too much stock into whatever they told me, good or bad. I'd 100% become Frances from this book who is told she'll be murdered then spends the next 60 years taking notes on anyone she meets just in case they kill her. 😅😂

Enjoyed this! English countryside, interesting mystery and characters, and enjoyable storytelling (audiobook). Diving straight into the sequel.

Loved it! Murder mystery in the English countryside - plus the culprit wasn‘t who I thought it was and I love when that happens. Will read the next! 😊

Enjoyed following the mystery and putting the pieces together

That was a fun listen. One murderer was a surprise to me and another was not. I liked the way it ended as well. Pretty chilly today. #audiowalk

I still haven‘t figured out the murderer here, but this has been an enjoyable read so far. Took a tad bit of a turn that I wasn‘t expecting, but that‘s okay. I love to watch the windsurfers when they are out on the bay. They look like they‘re having so much fun. #audiowalk

Chapter 16 and I‘m really just now getting to the part where the amateur detectives start sleuthing. That‘s okay — I haven‘t been bored. Beautiful day for a walk, but I was slower than usual. My azaleas are really blooming now. #audiowallk

Making the most of my Sunday, by doing very little 😏

I started this today as my #audiowalk book. The premise is interesting, so I‘m hoping for a good listen. That polar bear was not there the last time I walked that trail. The water heater was, but today I started wondering why it‘s there.

Using the allure of a libby hold popping up to try to pull myself outta bed this morning. It's half working.

This was an interesting mystery with a lot of different storylines to keep you guessing. Annie is suddenly added to her Great Aunt Frances' will, and Annie's mom is removed. When Annie travels to Castle Knoll for a meeting with her great aunt, she must solve several mysteries and a murder.
#LitsyLoveReads
#ISpyBingo @TheAromaofBooks

Premise: A young woman at loose ends is forced to solve the mystery of her paranoid great aunt‘s murder in order to receive a life-changing inheritance and keep a small town safe from developers.
Cont

“All signs point to your murder.” Good, solid mystery with a likable protagonist. Good hook, slow middle and then a fast action-filled wrap-up at the end. Overall, very enjoyable!

Thank you @Sharpeipup for the recommendation. I will be reading some of your other suggestions!

For a murder mystery, this was actually a lighthearted read. I found it quite enjoyable, especially due to the quality narrator. While I'm normally not a mystery novel reader, this one was so charming that I plan on reading more in the series.

#TBRTheBookwormRevolution
#TBRStartofanEra -- Champagne Problems: Read a book with a rich MC
#TBRJanuary
#TheBookwormRevolution

Finally, holidays are over and quiet has descended on the house. Ready to read! Great start to this mystery with “Your future contains dry bones”. I am all in!

In fairy tales, when a witch tells you your fate, you listen.

Here are a few facts about me!
I am married, have grown kids, and a very old Sheltie.
I work with kids with diabetes.
I 💕 to knit and crochet.
I am a gamer and I currently play Splatoon 3.
I have a lot of Christmas earrings.
In the 4th grade my teacher was reading The Book of Three to us in class. I asked her after class “where did you find these amazing stories? she said, the library of course. Never looked back!

I am super excited about the list of fabulous reads from @Sharpeipup . They all looked so good that I am starting at the top! Thanks to #auldlangspine2025 for organizing🩷🩷📖🩷🩷

1. How to Solve Your Own Murder
2. Unreasonable Hospitality
3. Grown Woman Talk
4. The Paris Novel
5. The Wedding People
6. Ghostland: American History of Haunted Places
7. Out on a Limb
8. To Have and to Heist
9. American Sirens

Cheers!

Well-fleshed out characters, a few 'good guys' to get invested in, twisty, dramatic, a bit too close to thriller tropes I don't enjoy, such as a liberal helping of awful people doing awful things, or awful things happening to people, or people who've had awful things happen to them doing unlikeable things. A bunch of juicy scandals, for those who like that sort of thing, and a dual timeline with various mechanisms to draw out the tension. 1/?

💙🧡💜💛 Current reads colourway, heavy on the blues, and the mystery!

I thought this was a fun murder mystery with maybe just a few too many characters, but somehow I stayed tuned into the ones that matter as the story resolved. Knowing this is 1st in a series I was expecting a cliffhanger but to my delight Book 1 was fully resolve which curiously makes me wonder more about the direction of the next book.

This is a cute basic mystery. This was my IRL book club pick for October.

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

#BookSpin #DoubleSpin #BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

Settling down on the sofa with my #currentread and leftover birthday cake is one of my favourite things to do! 🎂📚
Margarita from yesterday. 🤷🏻‍♀️

This was entertaining and somewhat clever. I'll probably read the next in the series.

This book had everything I like in a murder mystery. It was a double mystery with one being a cold case. I liked how it went back and forth to the past. I also enjoyed all the character development from both eras and how they‘d changed. It‘s set in a small English village and includes inheritances, fortune telling and a time limit to solve the whodunnit. It was enjoyable and light. It read delightfully like a traditional British murder mystery.

Frances has always believed she would be murdered due to having her fortune read as a teen. In the present day, Annie receives a legal letter requesting a meeting with her great aunt Frances who is murdered right before the meeting. The will pits Annie against another relative & the police to solve the murder w Frances' estate being disposed of in different ways depending on who succeeds. I like Annie & Frances (from her diary) &

This was an enjoyable read. I think I set my expectations a bit high when I saw comparisons to Knives Out 😋 but it was a good murder mystery ⭐⭐⭐

As a teen, Frances Adams has her fortune told - and it predicts that she will be murdered. For the next sixty years, she tries to prevent her own murder, unsuccessfully, leading her great- niece to step in and find Frances‘ killer.
It‘s a dual- timeline format, which I don‘t generally like, but as Frances‘ past is recounted through her diary, it worked a bit better for me than these usually do.
+10 points for crows on the cover 🐦‍⬛ 🐦‍⬛ 🐦‍⬛

I think I went in to this one with too high expectations; it was compared to Thursday Murder and Knive‘s Out and this book just wasn‘t as engrossing as those two for me. That said it was a decent murder mystery with lots of family history to unravel. #aardvark

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

A fun Agatha Christie-esque murder mystery with an intriguing premise! I would have liked if the characters had been more fleshed out, but I thought both timelines were engaging and I enjoyed puzzling things out with the protagonist. #Aardvark #AardvarkBookClub

Listening to audiobook and enjoying.

4⭐️ I enjoyed this fast paced mystery with two female protagonists. One living and one deceased but very much a part of plot workings. I had a hunch on the ending but it isn‘t obvious. I would have liked more character development but perhaps that‘s the author‘s plan as it seems this is to be a series? It‘s a nice summer read that I‘d recommend getting from the library. It falls into the pleasant read but not a keeper category for me.

Annie's great aunt Frances was a tad eccentric, living much of her life under the impression she would be murdered after her fortune was so told when she was a teenager. And then... She is. Annie and others are in a race to figure out whodunit, and the winner gets Aunt Frances's money. A quirky mystery in a small town drawing comparisons to Knives Out. Not perfect, but a good read.

1. I loved the library as a kid. The smell, the big tables, plastic covered books, allll of it!!!
2. Amazon, Kindle, Sam‘s, thriftbooks, and always make it a point when I‘m traveling to see if there‘s a local bookstore.
3. Working on How to Solve Your Own Murder. Mother‘s Day treat from my youngest.💗💗
Another fun one @Eggs 📚🤎

1965: Frances attends an English country fair to get her fortune told. She‘s told she will be murdered. Thus launching her into a nearly 60 year investigation into a crime yet to be committed.
Present Day: Her grandniece Annie is summoned to meet with Frances. Only to find Great Aunt Frances is dead and now Annie must solve the murder with many villagers having motive.

What an intriguing blurb that had me scooping this off the library shelf!

This was a very low pick for me. I was not expecting a cozy mystery and ultimately that‘s what threw me off. The plot was good but the character interactions were just cheesy to me and the ending oozed cheese as well. I‘m just not a cozy mystery fan I guess. In all the story was ok and will potentially become a series but for me I‘ll be one and done!

Entertaining who-dun-it why the added twist of the person who solves it gets the inheritance. This has two mysteries to solve which makes the reader go back to 1967 via diary entries and the present day murder. It kind of reminded me of Scooby-Do.

This was fun. Annie is to meet her great-aunt for the first time. But just before the meeting aunt Francis is murdered. Annie, being a writer of murder mysteries, jumps in to solve the murder. What she finds out is connected to a fortune Francis was told at age 16, which predicted Francis's murder and had haunted her all her life. It seems Francis had solved her murder and paid for it by being killed. (yes, I'm wording it like this on purpose).
⬇️

I think I'm coming to the conclusion that I don't really like cozy mysteries. Or maybe this one was too cozy? Something about this I just didn't connect with. 2 5/5

This was a cozy mystery with 2 timelines-modern characters solving an old mystery & old diary plays a huge part. I am not sure why there is SO much buzz though-it was good enough I have no regrets reading it, but am very glad I libraried & did not buy. The past characters were most interesting so would only continue if becomes a series if focus again on past.
If you like TONS of red herrings, this is for you! This will not strain your grey cells.

This was so good! I was so lucky to get a library audio loan! It was a skip the line loan. I think I listened to this in 1 or 2 days.

I‘ve been waiting for this one to be released for a while, so glad I quickly got to pick it up. Loved it.

Set between 2 different time periods. 1 is through journal entries.

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.

#aardvarkbookclub #jointoday

A very fun cozy mystery. I hope this becomes a series because I‘d love more of these characters! 4⭐️

This is almost a cozy type mystery that is may be the first in a series. There are a lot of characters and two time lines, with some complicated plotting, and yet is was a very enjoyable read. There is also a hint of a romance to come in future books and I would be happy to read about the further adventures of the main character of Annie. In addition, the setting of the town of Castle Knoll is wonderfully depicted and part of the enjoyment. 4/5

I found it very easy to escape into this story. I enjoyed going back and forth in time to see the characters and how they had developed from then to now. The English village settings of Castle Knoll and Gravestown Hall were perfect.

You can read my full review here. https://www.escapewithdollycas.com/2024/03/14/how-to-solve-your-own-murder-a-nov...

This was an intriguing dual timeline mystery (1965 and present day), apparently the first in a new series, that revolves around a wealthy woman, Frances Adams, who beginning as a teenager, spends her entire life trying to escape her foretold death (by an English country fair fortune-teller) only to be murdered at her estate almost 60 years later.
Annie Adams, Frances‘ great-niece, is summoned to the village of Castle Knoll to meet her reclusive 🔻