Everyone on This Train is a Suspect is reminiscent of an Agatha Christie story but told in the first person and with more than a touch of humor. It's a locked room - well, a train crossing the interior of Australia - mystery taking place during a mystery writers conference (yes, held on the train, which I found hard to envision). I did not read Stevenson's first book, which might have helped me understand some of his references to it, but in the end I don't think it mattered. This novel is a smart mystery with enough red herrings to keep the reader guessing despite the clues the narrator offers throughout the story. Readers in search of a "light" read with some meat on the bone will be pleased by Everyone of This Train is a Suspect.

First person narrative can be hard to pull off but, for the most part, it works in the Ernest Cunningham books.

Ern sets the reader up with Ronald Knox’s Ten Commandments of Detective Fiction, letting us know that this will be a fair play mystery, nothing supernatural, no “the butler did it” type ending, and assures us that if we follow the clues, we can figure it out

Ern is invited to the Australian Mystery Writers’ Festival. He is excited to be in the company of other writers and is hoping to find inspiration for his 2nd book before his agent loses patience. When one of the writers dies during an author talk, Ern can’t help but investigate.

This was a good follow up to his first book, “Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone:.

What I liked:
*Ern is funny, down to earth, quick with a joke and to point out his own foibles., sometimes bumbling but in a charming way.
*Juliette; I hope we see more of her in future novels.
*The clues are there for you to find.
*It was very cleverly done, with several twists and misdirects.
*The very, very end was a big surprise.

*There were several witty lines in this book, including:
“It’s the trendy thing right now. The Eleven Orgasms of Deborah Winstock, The Five Live’s of Erin O’Leary, The Four Cousins of Barbara Who-Gives-a-Toss.”
And
“I made my way there for a drink too, intending to drown-no, that wasn’t severe enough, waterboard-my sorrows.”

What I didn’t really love:
*While first person narration works for these books, I think it went too far at times and it was a bit distracting.
*So much repetition, like a lot, a whole lot, a lot, a lot.
*Some of the characters weren’t really well defined and I had to keep reminding myself who was who.

3.5 Stars, rounded to 4
Thank you to NetGalley and to Mariner Books for the chance to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Mariner Books for providing this ARC for a review.

I read the last thriller mystery by Stevenson, Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone. I was unsure about the narrator breaking the fourth wall and addressing the audience so often, but now that I’m on the second book by “Ernest Cunningham” I love his self-referential humor to the mystery genre and writing in general.

In the last installment, Ernest was a self-published writer of rules for mystery novels. He was not a successful thriller writer, but created lists for others to write their own crime novels and published these books online for less than five dollars each. His self-deprecating knowledge of how to commit murder and stage an escape helped him solve a murder mystery in a secluded skiing chalet.

This time, Ernest is on a train across Australia with a group of other mystery writers. A murder is committed and everyone on the train has the knowledge to get away with murder as a celebrated group of writers. It’s a funny dive into the process of writing and how these writers all differ.

Ernest gives you the opportunity to solve the mystery before him, but I’m too lazy of a reader to ever want to beat the writer to their suspect. I just enjoyed the ride through all the twists, red herrings, and obvious nods to classic mystery writers’ capers. It’s not Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, but it’s certainly Christie adjacent.

If you’re a fan of mystery comedy and of the genre, in general, I think you’ll like the style of writing and story. I’d recommend both books.

This locked room murder mystery takes place on a train full of mystery writers, agents, editors, and fans during the Australian Mystery Writers’ Society festival. When someone is murdered, the remaining authors try to solve the mystery.

Sequels are very hard to do and I think Benjamin Stevenson did a great job with this follow-up to Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone. Its much more complex but still entertaining. Without spoiling anything, one of my complaints is just that I wish there had been more character development. Overall I still very much enjoyed this and give it 4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Mariner Books for this ARC.

Author Ernest Cunningham's first book, a memoir detailing the time he discovered his family's dark, murderous secrets, was a big success. Now he is working on his second big writing project, a fiction novel. Without any dead bodies around for inspiration, however, Ernest is facing writers block. When he is invited to participate in a writers festival onboard a train traveling across Australia, he accepts hoping a change of scenery will inspire him. When the festival's featured author unexpectedly drops dead, Ernest races to find the killer and to document the experience.

I enjoyed this second installation from Benjamin Stevenson. Ernest Cunningham again plays a straightforward and cheeky narrator, resulting in a mystery with a fresh and entertaining feel. The train setting, onboard the Ghan, provides fun adventure and also the classic "locked-door" element. I recommend this book to readers who enjoy classic mystery tropes that have a bit of a twist told by non-traditional narrators.

Everyone On This Train Is a Suspect is another fantastic mystery novel from Benjamin Stevenson and I believe it is even better than Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone. Stevenson brings more wit and intrigue to this Orient Express style story that continues with his strengths of characters, humor and playing on mystery tropes. I loved this book and I am excited to see where Stevenson goes next!!

I did not enjoy this as much as his first book, it felt like the author was trying to be clever but he failed to come up with the goods. (The ending was farcical!)

Too many characters who were literally introduced in bullet point form in an early chapter and I was confused for the entire story as to who was who and how they were connected. (thus leaving me with little interest as to the fate of the characters!)

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Benjamin Stevenson does it again! The second installment in the Ernest Cunningham series is a triumph. Although the idea of the second book being lackluster in comparison to the first is broached in this novel, it was equally as charming and interesting as Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone.
The atmosphere was well adapted and the characters interesting. I will continue to read this series as long as it is published.

One of my very first ARC reviews was Benjamin Stevenson’s Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone. I still remember inhaling it on the plane last year, amazed at every new twist and turn. It had been so long since a modern mystery excited me, and I felt so lucky to be reading it. And I haven’t read anything quite like it on both the puzzle and tonal front since…

So when I saw that Stevenson wrote a sequel, Everyone on this Train is a Suspect, I was thrilled. I grabbed the ARC as quickly as I could (thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the gift copy). It has been a huge act of self discipline to wait until 2024 to read it. But here we are, I’ve finally allowed myself to read it… can it live up to all my hopes for Ernie and his amazing mysteries?

A fair play train mystery…

As readers know, I love a good train mystery. The closed circle cast, the picturesque scenery, the implicit deadlines - for me they all add up to the perfect mystery recipe. Here Stevenson has added another layer of intrigue with a literary festival on a luxury train. It’s almost too perfect an escapist fantasy - gorgeous train car through breathtaking scenery surrounded by writers and readers.

Train mysteries are a classic Golden Age trope, and Stevenson shows he knows them well. As in Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, he literally announces major milestones, showing his work. These milestones comes at time points, locations, and word counts - blending the traditional signposts with more modern / transparent ones. Every clue is perfectly placed and easily referenced as part of the denouement; Stevenson literally calls out when important information has been shared.

Incredibly, even with this level of transparency, the mystery itself is quite knotty. There are multiple layers that click together in quite a satisfying way. Despite this complexity, Stevenson writes his characters such that the overall story feels believable and their connections sound. I love that there are multiple puzzles to solve in this one, and that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. These books really do feel like reading the best Golden Age mysteries when it comes to puzzling, but with more modern sensibilities on character and storytelling. And unlike many modern mysteries, it’s not quite so easy to simply “meta-guess” the answer, due in large part to these layers of complexity.

…that doesn’t take itself too seriously

It’s not just that Stevenson writes an excellent, puzzling story - he’s also a master entertainer. As before, Ernie narrates this book in first person, and it’s full of asides and musings that make the read feel like a conversation. The narration is full of moments where Ernest reacts to himself in real-time, correcting or adjusting a phrase or sentence to better clarify his point. This feels remarkably like how my actual conversations work, and I found myself sliding into the narration so easily it almost surprised me.

The humor not only makes this a joy to read, it also helps hide the clues. Here Stevenson solves a common issue with lower tier Golden Age mysteries: for clues to stay hidden, they need to be obscure. Stevenson instead chooses to hide clues into observational humor or wry character details. Instead of minimizing them, he points out important elements and laughs at them. And as you’re laughing along, it’s easy to miss the salient points - until you start to put the pieces together at the end. Stevenson effectively uses humor (and other emotions) as a clue-hiding tactic. In my opinion, it makes for a naturally entertaining read that feels even more fair.

Time for a vacation

One other element to note here is a cast shift that drives a tonal difference. Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone followed a fraught and murderous family gathering. I still remember reading at top speed, jaw hanging slightly, amazed at how much these family members despised each other. The book portrayed the kind of fervent animosity you really only get with families. Add to that the idea that each family member was responsible for a death, and you end up with high drama.

But Everyone on this Train is a Suspect does not follow that family dynamic. Instead, you have crime writers, each with their own specialty. Instead of a family reunion, the setting is a literary festival - and try as they might, the writers just can’t snipe as hard as the family did. Instead of understanding each character’s murderous past, we profile their area of crime expertise (forensic, psych, legal, etc.). Plus, a luxury train through a gorgeous desert landscape is much less claustrophobic than a snowed in ski resort. The result is a much mellower vacation read.

The best comparator I have is the difference between Knives Out and Glass Onion. Where the former was full of anger and feelings running amok, the latter is more puzzly fun. Your preferences will vary, but on the whole I think I prefer the mellower luxury vacation read…

Reader’s notes and rating (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

It almost feels too early in the year to have a five star review to give, yet here it is. I didn’t think it was possible to top the prior book, but Everyone on this Train is a Suspect somehow managed. I would recommend it to basically anyone curious about the modern murder mystery - it’s fun, engaging, with a real set of puzzles inside. Perfection - five stars.

Read this if...

You love a great mystery and appreciate a really funny book

Train mysteries are also your thing

You liked the first and wished West Heart Kill were just a little less serious

Skip this if...

You’re not into written asides / conversational tone

Books about writers feel a little too navel-gazing

You enjoyed the tension/suspense more than the puzzle in Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone

Everyone on this Train is a Suspect will be published on January 30, 2024. You should read it.

This second book in a fun cozy mystery series is just as good if not slightly better than the first. There is quite a lot to love about this one, the locked door (or train) aspect of the mystery, all of the quirky characters, the twists and motives of all of the suspects, and finally the Australian outback setting. This was a really hard book to put down and one that had me guessing almost to the end.

Ernest is back and having a tough time. He has published his first book about the events that happened at his family reunion which sold well in true crime circles. He is now working on his second book, a fictional mystery and having a tough time. He is excited to be on this train with all of these other writers but is also somewhat intimidated by them, until one of them is murdered. He then starts to feel in his element and works hard to solve this new mystery before the bodies start to stack up again. Ernest shows some growth in this story, as he overcomes his insecurities as an author and some of his survivors guilt from the first book. I love how he breaks the fourth wall to give us hints as to how mysterys work and how authors work as well. He also has a very dry sense of humor which I always appreciate in characters. 

Everyone else on the train is pretty well fleshed out. There are a few characters that are not, but they end up not being important to the mystery. We again have a cast of suspects that are not very likable. They are all keeping secrets, and go to great lengths to keep them from coming to the surface even after the first murder. I love how all of the authors think that they have solved it or think that they could have done it better. 

The mystery itself is well done. All of the suspects, even the characters you know couldn’t have done it, certainly had motive to commit the murders. It was great fun trying to figure it all out with Ernest, and to root for your favorite characters to either be guilty or maybe not. There are some great twists, and even an action scene or two to spice things up. The pacing is fairly steady, but you are so interested in the story that you are never bored.

One of my dreams is to one day visit Australia, and if I ever do make it there, I will have to see about taking a trip on the Ghan. It sounds wonderful and a great way to see the Outback. But hopefully there will be no murders on board if I do. If you enjoyed the first book in this series, you will certainly get a kick out of this one. I look forward to seeing more of these books in the future.

I didn’t like this as much as the first one, but it was still a lot of fun. Highly recommend for fans of Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club. I felt like the pacing was a bit slow on this book and I didn’t find the characters quite as compelling, but still worth a read.

I loved reading Everyone in my family has killed someone. That felt like a fantastic movie in my head and I hope it turns into one in reality.

This was no exception! I enjoy mysteries set in trains since I am a huge fan of Agatha Christie and Murder on the Orient Express is one of her best works. I was excited to see Benjamin Stevenson's new book set on the train.

He does a good job of dropping clues and giving us enough to solve the mystery. I was glad to see Ernest back and hope to read future books with him solving cases.

It was full of twists and I was surprised by who the killer turned out to be. Looking forward to reading more mysteries by Stevenson.

I just love the way Benjamin Stevenson or rather Ernest Cunningham tells a story!
I loved Everyone on This Train is a Suspect as much as if not more than Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone. I loved the setting of the train, and Ernest does a great job of introducing all of the characters, giving us all the information we need to try and solve the case alongside him. This was full of twists and turns and I absolutely flew through it. I had so much fun reading it, and trying to solve the case before Ernest revealed it all.. I was surprised by not only the killer but also how it all ended and I loved every moment. I hope we get more books from Ernest, I'm definitely not ready for this to be the last one!

This book was fun and twisty the whole way through! I read this in 1 day. I liked this sequel even better than the first book. The whole book takes place on Ghan, a train, filled with mystery writers, agents, editors and fans celebrating the Australian Mystery Writers’ Conference. I love the way the author weaves this story as told through the main character, Ernest Cunningham, as if he is writing the book and solving the mysteries along the way. There is suspense, twisty characters, true-crime and a train full of mystery and delight. Fantastic.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

This was such incredibly fun read; I thoroughly enjoyed this follow up to Everyone in My Family has Killed Someone.

Following Ernest Cunningham on his latest misadventure, this time on a train, and attempting to figure whodunnit was a delight!


Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for the advance copy.

In this mystery thriller where the reader gets invited to help, this follow up story is a great ride. This was a delightfully fun page turner and enjoyed this one just as much as the first book!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for this Arc in exchange for a review!

I have been very into the current crop of mysteries that take a meta lens to themselves, including Stevenson’s first novel and others such as West Heart Kill. It’s fun to unpick exactly what we love about mysteries as we are reading one. I look forward to what Ernest gets up to next. A boat journey, perhaps? Deserted island? There are plenty of classic mystery locales to explore.

In this follow up Ernest Cunningham novel, we’re back as Ernest finds more dead bodies and works to solve the mystery. With the humor and wit that we expect from the first book in the series, this one continues the tradition of breaking the fourth wall and invites us into the case.

This time, we’re on a train at a writer’s conference and when one of their own dies, everyone, it seems has a motive.

While I’m not a mystery reader, these books are so much fun that I love to sit back and let Ernest take me on the ride with him as he does all the heavy lifting to solve the case.

This was a fun mystery. I liked our “detective” being a somewhat hapless author who is recording events. Inserting himself & trying to solve it. Ernest Cunningham is a survivor of another mass casualty murder mystery involving his family- he also wrote a book about it. Now he finds himself at a literary festival on a famous train. Lots of personality conflicts, old grudges & secrets lead to the death of a famous author. Ernest has his next book if he can solve the murder(s) & survive himself.

Snuck in oneeeee last book for 2023 and I can’t think of a better page-turner to help me do it! This one absolutely lived up to the hype of book one, and in such a clever, brilliant way. Stevenson’s mystery writing is fresh, nuanced, hilarious, self-aware, and classic all at once. Can’t wait to see what he writes next!