Review: “Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect” by Benjamin Stevenson

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(Ernest Cunningham book 2)

🚂 In this sequel to “Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone” author Ernest Cunningham finds himself on a press tour in the Australian outback. The train is loaded with mystery novelists of all varieties — from forensic proceduralists to legal dramatists to psychological.

🚂 The author-narrator proceeds with what he calls a “fair-play mystery”. He is an extremely reliable narrator. He provides us with clear details ahead of time (e.g. I almost die in Chapter 28) but so many intervening events occur that all the clear clues are totally forgotten, and he will remind us with an “I told you so” when the time comes. Despite his reliability, and even spoon-feeding of clues, we will still fail to put the puzzle pieces together which is maddening because he doesn’t appear to be hiding anything.

🚂 An example of Stevenson’s witty turn of phrase, you can find these throughout ETTIAS. You know exactly what he means with this phrasing if you’ve ever been in a relationship.

🚂 If you enjoy the Ernest Cunningham books, you’ll appreciate the Anthony Horowitz Magpie series and Hawthorne series as well; both feature author-narrators.