Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone: A Clever Take of the Classic Murder Mystery (The Ernest Cunningham Mysteries, 1)
Knives Out and Clue meet Agatha Christie and The Thursday Murder Club in this “utterly original” (Jane Harper), “not to be missed” (Karin Slaughter), fiendishly clever blend of classic and modern murder mystery.
“A witty twist on classic whodunits… Stevenson not only 'plays fair,' he plays the mystery game very, very well.” -- Maureen Corrigan, Washington Post
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
My brother
My stepsister
My wife
My father
My mother
My sister-in-law
My uncle
My stepfather
My aunt
Me
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✨ Summarized by Bookclubs AI
Readers say *Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone* is a fast-paced, witty cozy mystery blending a dysfunctional family reunion with dark humor and...
With that said, I found the story interesting and compelling enough to power through. And I would be interested in reading the second book in this series. Being familiar with a number of how to write a mystery rules, there were a few things I could pick up on and guess. But it was nice to know that even if I guessed correctly about some of those things, it did not ruin the book or the overall mystery for me.
This book holds a lot of humor and it was darker than I believe I was anticipating. The big twists in the narrative were shocking but not so shocking that they were unbelievable or too superfluous. It would take a member of this crazy family to stick through all this nonsense because if it were me, I would have gracefully bowed out.
In this book, we meet Ernest Cunningham, our MC and narrator, as he writes about the events that took place during a family reunion at a snow-covered Australian ski resort. We also meet other members of the Cunningham family, related by blood, marriage, or step. And then there are the people who will die over the weekend, a family secret, and a big revelation at the end.
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone came with a lot of highs and lows for me. The title of the book seemed intriguing, and all the hype around it made me pick it up. But did it live up to my expectations? I’d say not quite. I finished this book out of mere curiosity—wanting to see how the mystery would unfold in the end and who the murderer would be.
The book definitely started off on a high note, but around the 40-50% mark, it became confusing and dropped significantly. Characters seemed to pop up from everywhere, and the family's backstory wasn’t even clear. The author breaks the fourth wall, directly communicating with us, the readers, and keeping us in the loop about everything happening in the story. For example, we know when and in which chapter someone is going to die or be murdered. However, that wasn’t the problem for me. My issue was that when these deaths or murders occurred, they weren’t shocking, didn’t surprise me, and felt very predictable as a reader. If there is such a revelation at the beginning, the author ought to make it exciting enough to fully engage the reader. The book does end on a high note with big revelations and each family member coming clean. However, the ending felt a bit repetitive and slightly too long.
Another tiny aspect that didn’t sit right with me was the author's inconsistency in addressing his characters. In some chapters, he used their real names, while in others, he referred to them by their relation to the MC, which became a bit confusing. I personally didn’t find this book humorous; however, I did manage a chuckle here and there.
All in all, I wouldn’t say I thoroughly enjoyed this book. However, it was a different and cleverly written one.
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