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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Published Jan 2, 2024

384 pages

Average rating: 7.04

902 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

What Bookclubbers are saying about this book

✨ 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...

Rhi.Elo
Mar 23, 2026
9/10 stars
Really enjoyed. A new perspective on writing murder mysteries. An easy read which kept me thinking to the end.
cyktrussell
Feb 27, 2026
6/10 stars
Mostly harmless.
RobinT
Feb 21, 2026
9/10 stars
Funny and fun mystery
Gias_BookHaven
Dec 30, 2025
8/10 stars
Dark, witty, challenging and compelling. I co-read with the audiobook and at times I found the audiobook made things too confusing with all the details, comments and side notes the author includes in the narrative. Likewise, Ern can become annoying if you read this book in a short sitting like I did. 

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.  
Bosky
Dec 30, 2025
6/10 stars
3.0 stars. Not a bad book. Not sure that I'll ever read another book by this author. I will watch the HBO series when it comes out. I get that this is supposed to be a quirky, funny, murder-y book with lots of moving pieces that is supposed to come together at the end. Kinda Knives Out-ish. Some parts great, and others didn't resonate.

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