Why we’re excited
A film company comes back to Castle Knoll fifty years after its first shoot ended with a screenwriter's fatal fall. Annie Adams has her great-aunt Frances's 1970 diary to guide her, but this time Frances may be holding something back.
This is the fourth Castle Knoll mystery from Kristen Perrin, after How to Solve Your Own Murder opened the series. Newcomers would do better starting with that first book, since the diary device and family history build across volumes. Readers who enjoy dual-timeline puzzles with a village setting have reason to look forward to it.
On our most-anticipated list since 22 October 2026. See all the most anticipated books →
What to know about How to Bury Your Own Secrets
How to Bury Your Own Secrets is Book 4 in the Castle Knoll Files series. New readers should begin with Book 1, How to Solve Your Own Murder (we have reviewed it). The book just before this one is How to Cheat Your Own Death. We have reviewed 2 of the series so far.
We have reviewed 2 of Kristen Perrin’s books, with an average score of 4.0 out of 5. Our favourite to date is How to Seal Your Own Fate (4★).
From the publisher
The brand-new book in the award-winning, NYT bestselling Castle Knoll Murder Mystery series, in which Hollywood comes to Castle Knoll, and Annie Adams and her great-aunt Frances team up across decades to solve two interlocking murders
1970: The cast and crew for the supposed film of the year descends on Castle Knoll to begin production, and the influx of famous faces has the town abuzz. Newly married to the Lord of Gravesdown Hall, Frances Adams can’t help but get swept up in the glamour of it all. That is, until the lead actress has a breakdown, sabotage plagues the set, and rumors of hastily covered-up scandal abound. When the screenwriter tragically falls to his death from the cliffside paths, production is finally shut down. It’s obvious that the film is cursed.
Present Half a century later, the same film company is returning to Castle Knoll with fresh funds and a new cast and crew. Annie Adams knows the dark history of the previous production and is on her guard. When a body turns up in Castle Knoll cemetery, her instincts are proven right. She has long stopped believing in coincidences, so when her investigation uncovers links to the cold case that’s haunted Detective Rowan Crane for years, she knows she’s got to find the culprit before they strike again, and this time much closer to home.
Luckily, Annie is not easily rattled, and she’s got a secret weapon that puts her one step ahead of the mastermind at the center of this devious her great-aunt Frances’s diary from the spring of 1970. But this time, Frances proves an unreliable narrator. Annie must figure out what exactly Frances is hiding in those pages, and who she felt was worth protecting, in order to stop history from repeating itself.
Description supplied by the publisher.
We haven’t read How to Bury Your Own Secrets yet. When our review goes up, it will replace this page.
