Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone. Benjamin Stevenson. 2022. 384 pages. [Source: Library]
First sentence: 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, and when I was faced with writing this down, difficult as it is with one hand, I realized that telling the truth was the only way to do it. It sounds obvious, but modern mystery novels forget that sometimes. They've become more about the tricks the author can deploy: what's up their sleeve instead of what's in their hand.
Preview of my thoughts: I WAS HOOKED by the opening sentences. So onto my library's hold list I went. It took its own sweet time to get into my hands, but it was so worth the wait! I enjoyed this one so much.
Premise/plot: This one is written in first person. Ernest Cunningham is the narrator. He's an author who writes books about how to write books. The novel starts out with him sharing Ronald Knox's 10 Commandments of Detective Fiction. They are as follows:
1. The criminal must be someone mentioned in the early part of the story, but must not be anyone whose thoughts the reader has been allowed to follow.
2. All supernatural or preternatural agencies are ruled out as a matter of course.
3. Not more than one secret room or passage is allowable.
4. No hitherto undiscovered poisons may be used, nor any appliance which will need a long scientific explanation at the end.
5. Author's note: Culturally outdated historical wording redacted. [If you should be curious and want to seek out why Stevenson decided to skip over commandment five.]
6. No accident must ever help the detective, nor must he ever have an unaccountable intuition which proves to be right.
7. The detective must not himself commit the crime.
8. The detective must not light on any clues which are not instantly produced for the inspection of the reader.
9. The stupid friend of the detective, the Watson, must not conceal any thoughts which pass through his mind; his intelligence mus be slightly, very slightly, below that of the average reader.
10. Twin brothers, and doubles generally, must not appear unless we have been duly prepared for them.
The premise of this one is that the Cunningham family is having a reunion at a ski resort (in the middle of a big storm, it turns out). A Cunningham extended-family reunion. The family is not known for getting along; Ernest Cunningham is on the outs with his family for testifying against his brother at his murder trial. But this reunion is set to celebrate his brother, Michael, getting released from prison. But this reunion may just turn deadly...
This one features plenty of flashbacks as Ernest reveals just how everyone in his family has killed someone....
My thoughts: The narrator won me over. It has DOZENS of twists and turns. Plenty of reveals. And plenty of twists lurking in those reveals. By the end, it's been quite a dance. In case you couldn't tell, this one has a dark sense of humor. But if you enjoy dark/dry humor....then this one has plenty to satisfy. I liked seeing how everything unfolded.
GoodReads says this is "Ernest Cunninham #1." Could it really be the first in a series??????? Just checked and apparently there is a second book coming called EVERYONE ON THIS TRAIN IS A SUSPECT. Squeal!!!! Isn't that a great title!!!!!!
© 2023 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
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