First of all, what an amazing title! I was all in on this book from the second I read it.

This book follows Ernest (Ern) who is a writer of how-to guides for mystery/detective novels. He’s begrudgingly traveling to a ski resort for a family reunion - a family where he has been mostly disowned. When bodies start turning up murdered at the resort, he becomes suspicious of his own family, given most of them are carrying some dark secrets. Including Ern himself. Ern delves into the history of him family members and their complicated dynamics to help solve the murders.

The dark humor and wittiness of this book definitely had me laughing out loud at some parts. I enjoyed Ern’s commitment to being reliable and honest, as he has been taught to do in how-to guides.

I don’t want to ruin the ending, but it was definitely a twist I didn’t see coming. Even though Ern drops so many clues, I can’t believe I missed it!

Overall, a super fun, engaging read that’s perfect for anyone who loves a good detective novel with killer humor.

Publish date: January 17, 2023

Thanks to @netgalley, @marinerbooks and the author for access to this ARC.

This first person narrated mystery has it all. An extended family gathers at an isolated ski resort to await the arrival of their son/brother after being release from jail. Soon there is a dead body and the unraveling of mysteries both past and present. A funny, unique story.
A thanks to Benjamin Stevenson for this entertaining book and to the publisher and Netgalley for a copy of "Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone". in exchange for an unbiased review.

This mystery was witty, unique, and full of moments where the narrator broke the fourth wall to explain things directly to the reader, and I loved it!

Ernest is the outcast of the family after turning his brother in for a crime several years prior, but he is coerced into attending the family reunion at a lodge far from civilization. The book cleverly details the fact that every family member has caused a death at some point in their life, and each member gets a section explaining their situation. Ernest is the sole narrator, and he is full of snark and dry wit. He explains the rules of detective fiction and refers back to them throughout the story, reminding the reader that he is telling the truth as he knows it at the time.

The crime everyone is investigating during the reunion weekend is full of twists and turns, and I definitely did not figure out the ending on this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and Mariner Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone was a clever mystery, a little bit Agatha Christie, a little bit Anthony Horowitz, with a drily funny narrator. Ernest lays out the rules in the first few pages, and sticks to them while telling the story of how we got to the family reunion at a snowy ski resort in Australia. Overall, this was a fun mystery.

Absolutely loved this.
Mystery was complex, but still possible to follow.

Very voice-y and I enjoyed the meta elements where the narrator talks directly to the audience about the story.

“Everyone in my family has killed someone. Some of us, the high achievers, have killed more than once.” How can you not be completely intrigued by a novel that starts with those two sentences?! This was an incredibly fun and entertaining read, and one that I’ll be recommending to all of the mystery-lovers in my life!

Ern Cunningham is a self-published author of how-to guides for writing crime novels. He’s super snarky, clever, and self-aware, and he’s here to tell us about his family of killers (intentional or unintentional), without holding anything back. When the novel begins, we learn that Ern has been ostracized by most of his family for years, but ends up reluctantly attending a family reunion at a snowy resort in the mountains for reasons we learn as the story progresses. It doesn’t take long for the dysfunctional Cunningham family to find themselves snowed-in in a locked room-type plot, and before long the body count starts rising and the story takes off.

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone is such a unique gem of a story within the mystery genre, and I absolutely loved it! Ern was a perfect narrator - he honestly and reliably (as he makes it a point to tell us) smashes the fourth wall and shares his internal commentary along the way, but at the same time leaves you yearning to know more about him and what he’s thinking next. The unpredictable plot kept me guessing, and the dark sense of humor kept me laughing out loud more than once. I will admit that I did get just a teensy bit confused by the large-ish cast of characters mid-way through, but a few quick flips back and forth easily got me back on track. The misdirection throughout the story was perfect, and I was completely satisfied at the end.

This book was twisty, smart, creative and just brilliantly executed! It was just so much darn fun to read, and certainly one that I’ll be recommending to many different types of readers for the sheer entertainment value it brings.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Benjamin Stevenson and Mariner Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book is a great "classic" mystery! I completely enjoyed Ernest and how he would break the fourth wall. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys classic mysteries. If you enjoyed The Appeal or Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap you will love this one. It will be on my book club's reading list.

Please excuse me as I recommend this book to everyone I meet for the rest of my life !

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone is smart, witty, and wickedly fun. Ern absolutely shatters the fourth wall and makes the reader his confidante as he navigates a family reunion turned deadly. This mystery is elaborate in all the best ways, with the perfect amount of rewarding "aha!" moments as the puzzle pieces come together. Stevenson combines classic Golden Age Mystery elements with a darkly humorous and unique take on murder mysteries to create what may very well be my favorite read of 2022. AND as an added bonus, this book has so many complex clues leading up to the end that I think it will have great reread value, which is not often how I feel about whodunnits.

HUGE thank you to Mariner Books and Netgalley for providing a digital copy of Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone in exchange for an honest review. This book will hit shelves January 17 2023, and I know I'll be scooping up a copy for myself 😁

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

What can I say? I loved it! Normally I struggle to rate murder mysteries high unless they keep me really intrigued. This one though -- this was hilarious. Mind you, I don't find murder hilarious normally. It's just -- this whole book was something else. It has dark humor to it but it works well with this book. This book is full of murder and twists and turns. The story plays out over a weekend during a family reunion at a ski resort in Australia. Ern, the main character and narrator of this book informs us that everyone in his family has killed someone. Sort of. It's complicated as he says.

What's great about this book is that the past murder(s) Ernest relates to us via knowledge he has gained over the years and the weekend. Or when he was involved. As he says, he is following the rules for solving a murder.

The pace of the book was excellent, it kept me engaged and I did not want to put the book down at all. I love being invested in a story and I was VERY invested in how this was going to turn out. I loved the family dynamic in this book, and I felt that it helped add tension to the story; especially because family was the main focus of this book. To add, the plot and the way it was woven through the book was entertaining, I never knew what was going to happen next (except that there was going to be a bunch of murders, that was made clear from the start.)

I will say not as many people ended up dying as I thought.

The way everything came together in the end worked for me, and I felt the pay off was excellent. But I also wonder if that is because we knew what was going to happen.

Overall, absolutely adored this book!

I feel in love with the cover and was really looking forward to reading this book. I felt that the author had an interesting concept but I also was unable to properly execute it. It felt clunky and the characters were underdeveloped. I really struggled to get through this book unfortunately and it was really difficult for me to finish.

I loved this book from start to finish. I primarily read mysteries and sometimes they can get so heavy. This book kept things light and made me laugh. I wasn't familiar with the author before reading this book but I will be keeping my eye out for more from him in the future. I appreciate the characters and how Stevenson describes them. This book was great. I will be recommending it for our mystery book club at my library.

Holy Agatha Christie meets James Conan Doyle meets Knives Out meets Clue meets a snarky unreliable, (but is he reliable if he tells you he is?) but laughable, likable narrator in this laugh out loud mystery thriller!

Let me set a stage (maybe not THE stage as you’re just going to have to read this for the whole stage!)

You have the typical, mandatory, family reunion - complete with those oh so loved spreadsheets to fill in- that is being hosted in a way out of the way, and very high, snowy mountain ski resort. Ernie, your fabulous narrator, is late to everything, including the reunion, causing much uproar in the family, but the reunion is not set to start until the next day when Ernie’s brother Michael will be arriving… from being released from prison. Why was he in prison? Just ask Ernie! But wouldn’t you know, on the snowy slopes a dead body is found with blackened face and tongue but no burning in or around the snow. Do we sense a bit of a mystery here? Who is sent to respond to the murder is no other than an officer the family is convinced is brand new and doesn’t know how to even be an officer. Now this is where things really start to take off.

You have murders. You have copy cat murders to the infamous Black Tongue Killer (oooohhhh boy now we’re getting twisted!) You have family feuds and snarky remarks abound (sounds right for a family reunion) and of course you have Ernie trying to figure out “who dunnit” which causes an avalanche of giggles, accusations, crazy hijinks and the best murder investigations ever.

I don’t know about you, but I LOVE a book that contains a narrator that talks to you, the reader, all the way through!

Once you start into this gem of a novel, you will barrel ahead faster than a run away ski down a black diamond slope. Divided into chapters highlighting each member of the family and their … highly unfortunate killing circumstances… makes this book fly by. I read this in one sitting, staying up all night and equally bouncing to see the ending and cringing at thinking my time at this reunion was coming to a close. I will say the chapter on his wife was my favorite. He simply tells you “I don’t want to talk about that.” Oh boy. This Aussie crime fiction is to die for!

I can’t recommend this highly enough and suggest you go ahead and pre-order this treat for release day of Jan. 17, 2023. Do yourself a favor and start your new year, new reading books off with a bang!

Thank you so much to #NetGalley, the publishers and author for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinions.

My full review will be posted on all my social media sites, blogs and retail sites upon publication day!

Ernest Cunningham is an author who helps other authors. Much like his admired predecessor, Ronald Knox, Ern writes "rules" for other authors to follow when they are writing detective and other types of fiction. His books are available for download on online platforms. He begins his book with Knox's "10 Commandments of Detective Fiction" from 1929 and informs us that he is planning to follow these rules as he outlines how everyone in his family is a killer.

The various members of the Cunningham family have been gathered at a ski resort in order to welcome home brother Michael, who has just been released from prison. Michael was sent to prison after Ern called the police and testified that Michael showed up with a dead body and asked Ern for help in disposing of it. Their mother, Audrey, has never forgiven Ern for siding with the police over his own brother (as she sees it). It is an especially painful betrayal, as the father of the family, Robert, was killed by a police officer in an apparent robbery gone bad. Not long after everyone arrives, a dead body is discovered outside the resort, but no one recognizes the dead man. It soon appears that he is either the latest victim of the dreaded serial killer The Black Tongue -- or a determined copycat. Either way, the remote location of the resort and the impending "bad weather' mean that the family is likely trapped with a killer.

The book is divided into chapters named for various family members (My Mother, My Stepfather, My Aunt, etc.) as Ern details how each person fits the title of the book and is responsible for killing (or at least attempting to kill). He often steps outside the story to point out various foreshadowing, hints that the reader should take note of, and other ways he's following Knox's detective fiction rules.

That idea that the reader can solve the story because all the clues have been given throughout the story is an interesting idea, but just impossible with this book. The various threads are brought together and explained at the end of the story, but before that, the "clues" are so convoluted and odd that it's nearly impossible to follow. The story all goes back to the death of the father in the story and what he was involved in (back when the boys were small), but it involves criminal gangs, police double crosses, ransoms, "pictures of the crime" and other outlandish plot points that don't make any sense and are beyond confusing. Yes, everything makes sense at the end, but I wonder how many people will stick through all the mess to get there. I am not sure how the book is meant to work as an ebook -- there are hyperlinks when the author mentions things he said back in chapter 4 (for example) that take you back to the relevant point when clicked, but he also references "page numbers" quite frequently, and there are no page numbers in an ebook (at least my ereader doesn't display them).

I really enjoyed "Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone" by Benjamin Stevenson, who is a new author to me. That title & the first couple of sentences - oh my!! Great MC (a reliable or not, narrator) in Ernest, a mystery writer who loves the "Golden Age" and his very "unlucky" family. The novel is a bit over the top and very, very entertaining, especially if you enjoy dark humor - highly recommend, especially for mystery fans. My sincere thanks to the publisher and Net Galley for the complimentary DRC - rating & opinions are my own.

This book takes place in an isolated setting where guests face a whodunit mystery as bodies pile up around them, similar to Agatha Christie's 'And Then There Were None.'

It also has the flavor of the movie Knives Out, in which an over-the-top dysfunctional family is somehow involved in the murders referenced above. Generational secrets are revealed as the family attempts to figure out who is responsible.

The format is written in hindsight by a survivor of the ordeal, Ernest. He is in the process of working on his memoirs of the weekend and will often stop the story to address the reader directly. He is snarky and witty and slightly traumatized. For such a dark subject matter, the tone is light with a humorous undertone.

This was one of the better books I've read so far this year. I've been underwhelmed by thrillers lately, and this had a thriller vibe, but with a flare that made it feel fresh and new. I really enjoyed it.

*I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review; thanks to publisher and/or author for the opportunity*

“Do you promise that your detectives shall well and truly detect the crimes...”

I requested Everyone in my Family Has Killed Someone, by Benjamin Stevenson, after seeing it described as “Knives Out… meets Agatha Christie…” I know those are buzzwords, easy go-toes for a review, even! But I don’t think a more suitable description is possible: This novel really reads like Knives Out on paper: the tone, the irreverence, the family ensemble, the humor; while also having all the makings of a classic whodunit —dramatic final reveals and all!—, coupled with an extremely original narrator and narration. In short: I had a blast.

At some point in this novel, the narrator says that —and I’m paraphrasing here— even just knowing that a plot-twist exists can spoil it for the readers. I believe this to be truest for thrillers and mysteries, which I read with a 50/50 mentality: half expecting to be surprised, half wanting to solve the murder myself. But whether you want to solve it, or be surprised, I believe you should come into this book with as little knowledge as possible. So, as summary? I will only tell you what the blurb does.

The book follows Ernest Cunningham to a family reunion at a ski resort. There’s just a problem or, really, a few: Ernest is quick to point out that everyone in his family has killed someone. Some of these "murders” were accidental, some intentional, and some were just tragedies. Which are which? As the family comes together, and a riot of mysteries and secrets intertwine, we slowly discover the answers.

The whole book breaks the fourth wall, with Earnest speaking to the reader directly. This was my favorite part of the whole novel —Ernie’s ongoing conversations with us—, and it made everything feel more original than it probably was. I must say that if you are a fan of traditional narrations, you might find the novel too tedious.

Besides the narration, Ernest himself is a delightful lead, and his insistence on being reliable was amusing (never trusts a narrator that thinks himself reliable, after all). He came across as a fully formed character, very nuanced, with flaws and virtues and believable motives. The rest of the ensemble wasn't as fleshed-out, some of their traits too pointed, like looking at a cartoonish portrait. But it worked: I found myself helplessly charmed by the family, while being extremely suspicious of everybody throughout. Additionally, I wasn’t expecting the book to have such candid explorations of families, relationships, loyalty, what we are willing and unwilling to do for those we love... but these heartfelt scenes were my favorites.

Everyone in my Family Has Killed Someone feels like an instant classic: deviously clever, full of wit and twists and, surprisingly, given the growing pile of bodies across its pages, e(a)rnestly —ha!— hopeful.

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Trigger warnings (beware! These might be spoiler-y!): genre-typical violence; mild blood and gore; descriptions of asphyxiation; child death; suicide.

This one caught my eye straight away, both because of the fantastic cover and the blurb, replete with its references to one of my favorite movies, Knives Out, and locked room mysteries. I liked the quirky breaking of the fourth wall in the beginning. There were a lot of snarky sides that I found enjoyable. And I'm as big fan of A Dysfunctional Family story as anyone could be, but all of those fun and quirky bits only really work if they are in support of an underlying plot or storyline, and I must confess that that's where this one was lacking for me...

I felt like the story was all over the place. There were so many characters lying and hiding things and trying to be more important than they really were. It felt very jumbled together, like it was trying very very hard to be clever - and I felt like I was working very very hard to follow it, but to no avail. Then when things were all revealed and wrapped up at the end, all that effort felt somewhat wasted because the story just wasn't as clever as the buildup - and effort - led me to think it was going to be.

I guess I just wasn't the right reader for this one..

What a quirky little locked-room style mystery. Technically, there was no locked room (well, there was, but it wasn't locked for long, and not everyone was locked up together), but rather a snowed-in Australian resort that hosted an ensemble of characters. As you can tell by the title, everyone in the family has killed someone, and the stories and links between them are revealed throughout the book.

What I enjoyed most was the style of the writing. I believe it would be classified as direct address/first person, with the narrator speaking directly to the reader, and acknowledging himself as the writer, and us as the readers.
"I woke to a hammering at my door. Of course I did. You've read these kinds of books before."
"I had to be standing on the roof to get a single bar of reception, and even then it was hit or miss. Which I'm well aware is, like, a thing in these books. You'll just have to get over it,"
"I honestly would have included this earlier, but I thought if one more anecdote delayed ... (not included to avoid a spoiler) ... you might have thrown the book at the wall. And fair enough."

The book had an ensemble cast. I was JUST able to keep everyone straight, but there were moments in the book when my brain needed a one-second refresh. One challenge with the ensemble cast - and perhaps the author's writing style - was that there were multiple times when I did not know who was talking. A paragraph would start with dialogue, but because there were so many characters involved in each scene, sometimes I had to re-read to figure out who was saying what. This is not a typical challenge for me.

Despite numerous deaths, the book definitely had a humorous tone. I know that sounds bad to admit, but if you find these entertaining, you will likely agree.
"The wind was cruel; it found every crevasse in my clothes, invaded and patted me down like I owed it money."
"As far as alibis for consummation go, graverobbing was a pretty good one."
"I was reminded again that I'm only the protagonist by virtue of me writing this down, not because of aptitude."
"The policeman ... ,revealing his observational skills to be at the low end of the scale between Blindfolded and Sherlockian."

I can very much envision this as a play - lots of fairly even character parts and perhaps minimal set changes. However, as a non-playwright and non-director, take that thought with a grain of salt!

There were moments when I struggled to keep all the pieces and clues straight and at the top of my brain. That may reveal more about my newness to adult mysteries than the story itself.

Fun read, and I appreciate receiving the ebook from Netgalley.

Interesting concept but I felt it was poorly executed. I struggled to get through this book and it felt like a chore reading it. Thanks to NetGalley and Mariner Books for the ARC.

I have seen this book all over bookstagram and I am happy to say it has lived up to the hype! This book was amazing and hands down one of my favorite books of 2022. Even though I have a digital copy, I'll be buying a hard copy to re-read at a later date.

The title really grabbed my attention from the start, but it was Ernie's narration that really sold this book for me. Ernie was such a fantastic character. The way he told the story had so much humor and he poked fun at how thriller novels are written (he writes how-to books on how to write a thriller). He divulged enough information for it all to be important, told us that information was important, and then later circled back to it. It was just such clever writing and done in such a great way that you knew a lot of thought went into the writing of this book. He reminded me a lot of the detectives on Knives Out (I know, another reference to this movie, but it's so true) or Robert Downey Junior's Sherlock Holmes.

It was so much fun to dive into this book and try and figure out how each member of the Cunnigham family has killed someone. I won't say anything more about this, as each family member's back story is slowly revealed throughout the novel, but it was just so well done.

If I haven't already given you enough reason to go read this book, I'll just come out and say that you need to go read this book! If you love a good whodunnit book, this one will be perfect for you!