With a title such as Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, the first in Benjamin Stevenson‘s Ernest Cunningham series of novels should draw in most mystery readers, but what made me stay along for the ride is the dark humor, clever storytelling, and unique tales.
These books feature the amateur detective and narrator Ernest Cunningham. The series includes titles like Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect, Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret, and the upcoming Everyone in This Bank is a Thief. The books are known for their “locked-room” mysteries, meta-humor, and direct address to the reader.
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone
Everyone in my family has killed someone. Some of us, the high achievers, have killed more than once. I’m not trying to be dramatic, but it is the truth. Some of us are good, others are bad, and some just unfortunate.
I’m Ernest Cunningham. Call me Ern or Ernie. I wish I’d killed whoever decided our family reunion should be at a ski resort, but it’s a little more complicated than that.
Have I killed someone? Yes. I have. Who was it? Let’s get started.
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone has been on my too read list for a long time, but never got the chance to get around to reading it. Damn, I was missing out. Benjamin Stevenson crafts a mystery novel with unique storytelling and clever dark humor.
Stevenson purposefully and honestly spoils parts of the story as the book moves along, but gives the tale a unique reading experience. It something I haven’t seen in books before and worked so well for me. It’s something special. The humor is ever present, while the mystery is still strong. Even though things were spoiled, on purpose, I still had a tough time figuring out the mystery until it was revealed.
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone is a truly unique mystery novel that had me hooked from start to finish. Stevenson’s clever humor and intelligent storytelling made this tale one for the ages. Bonus, it wasn’t till after I started reading did I realize it was a series books.
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone is available at bookstores everywhere from Mariner Books. The audiobook, narrated by Barton Welch, is available via Libro.fm!
Everyone on This Train is a Suspect
When the Australian Mystery Writers’ Society invited me to their crime-writing festival aboard the Ghan, the famous train between Darwin and Adelaide, I was hoping for some inspiration for my second book. Fiction, this time: I needed a break from real people killing each other. Obviously, that didn’t pan out.
But when one of us is murdered, the remaining authors quickly turn into five detectives. Together, we should know how to solve a crime.
Of course, we should also know how to commit one.
The pure excitement I had after reading Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, I was eager to jump into Everyone on This Train is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson. However, what we got in this follow up novel, to me, was trying to capture lightning in a bottle once again. While the story was well-written and the mystery was wonderful, I just felt it was an attempt to use the genius of the first story to get us sucked into another.
One of the things about Die Hard and 24 that always bugged me was John McLain and Jack Bauer’s ability to attract massive problems and have to save the world. This is what can kill a story for me sometimes, while I am a big fan of Die Hard and 24, it seems outlandish that a particular person can attract murder as much as Ernest Cunningham. But after suspending this belief, I had a good time.
Everyone on This Train is a Suspect was another classic locked door mystery with the special touch of Stevenson filled with dark humor, clever storytelling and a chilling mystery. While I will say the first book was much better, I had a fun reading experience with this one.
Everyone on This Train is a Suspect is available at bookstores everywhere from Mariner Books. The audiobook, narrated by Barton Welch & Megan Smart, is available via Libro.fm!
Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret
Benjamin Stevenson returns with a Christmas addition to his bestselling, Ernest Cunningham mysteries. Unwrap all the Christmas staples: presents, family, an impossible murder or two, and a deadly advent calendar of clues. If Knives Out and The Thursday Murder Club kissed under the mistletoe.
My name’s Ernest Cunningham. I used to be a fan of reading Golden Age murder mysteries, until I found myself with a haphazard career getting stuck in the middle of real-life ones. I’d hoped, this Christmas, that any self-respecting murderer would kick their feet up and take it easy over the holidays. I was wrong.
So here I am, backstage at the show of world-famous magician Rylan Blaze, whose benefactor has just been murdered. My suspects are all professional tricksters: masters of the art of misdirection.
My clues are even more abstract: A suspect covered in blood, without a memory of how it got there. A murder committed without setting foot inside the room where it happens. And an advent calendar. Because, you know, it’s Christmas.
If I can see through the illusions, I know I can solve it. After all, a good murder is just like a magic trick, isn’t it?
Okay, you got me. I am a completionist as well as a sucker for a holiday story when it comes to the Christmas season. So, Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson was a must-read. While I feel it doesn’t have the pure joy like reading the first novel, it was good to meet up again with Ernest Cunningham around the holidays and solve a mystery.
Again, Ernest Cunningham somehow attracts murder and again, he cleverly solves the mystery. This one around the holidays. While the Christmas season is not overwhelming included in this story, it is present…no pun intended.
Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret is a shorter entry into the Ernest Cunningham series, but one that packs as much of a punch. This holiday special of sorts furthers the series a bit, but doesn’t do it so much that it is required reading. But mix mystery, holidays, murder, and dark humor together and I am there for it almost every time.
Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret is available at bookstores everywhere from Mariner Books. The audiobook, narrated by Barton Welch, is available via Libro.fm!
Everyone in This Bank is a Thief
As it has been for years, I am a completionist. If I start a series, likely I am going to finish it. Even though the Ernest Cunningham series has been hit or miss for me, I had to jump into Everyone in this Bank is a Thief to see if it was a hit. I feel Benjamin Stevenson has redeemed himself and while not nearly as good as the first book, this book is a nice bookend.
I’ve spent the last few years solving murders. But a bank heist is a new one, even for me. I’ve never been a hostage before. The doors are chained shut. No one in or out. Which means that when someone in the bank is murdered, everyone is a suspect. Turns out, more than one person planned to rob the bank today. You can steal more from a bank than just money. Who is stealing what? Are they willing to kill for it? And can I solve the crime before the police kick down the door and rescue us?
While not all of these Ernest Cunningham books have been my favorite, they are all witty, clever, and uniquely written. This goes for Everyone in this Bank is a Thief as well. Stevenson has a splendid way of writing and crafting these tales to give off vibes that I haven’t seen in any other novels. Each of his books in this series has a similar feel, but with a unique story to go along with it. In this novel, Ernest is trying to solve a murder while caught in a bank heist, not something I expected to see Cunningham do when reading the other books.
Stevenson does a stellar job letting us think one way, only to toss us for a loop. I had a hard time figuring out the mystery up until the reveal. The conclusion was clever, as always, and the journey to get there was filled with twists, turns and more in what is not just a locked room mystery, but a locked bank mystery.
As I have said before, and will say again. I am glad not all books are written this way, but I am glad these books are. It’s fun to read something that is as honest and unique as the Ernest Cunningham stories, but could not read them everyday. Everyone in this Bank is a Thief was a great addition to the series, just ready for break, as lovingly as I can say that.
Everyone in this Bank is a Thief is a witty, clever, and unique locked bank mystery that has you guessing from start to finish. This, the fourth book in the series, was one of the better entries and glad I dove in.
Everyone in This Bank is a Thief hits bookstores everywhere on March 17, 2026 from Mariner Books. The audiobook, narrated by Barton Welch, is available for preorder via Libro.fm!
