I really enjoyed this book. It was different than anything else I've read recently. I couldn't put it down! I will keep an eye out for this author's future work!

A locked room mystery on a train? Sign me up! I loved this book, the setting, the entertaining characters and humor written into the book and how the author writes. I love that he breaks through the wall and speaks right to us readers, giving us clues to help solve the mystery too. This was even better than book 1!

I don't think it's possible to have a murder mystery set on a train, without at least 5 references to Murder on the Orient Express, but this book still offers a unique read. I did not read the first book of this series, so I cannot say how well it flowed as a sequel, but this book was well-written and able to stand on its own. This book had well-written characters, with very fleshed-out backgrounds and importantly, motives.

I wasn't a fan of Ernest, (The author) tone of voice. He felt very chatty and I was bored of having to hear all of the wheels in his mind turning. There was also a lot of confusion for me at first with reading the book. It might have been because I had an ARC but I thought I was reading an email when I first opened the book on my Kindle and found the sections of the book confusing.

Such a fun and different whodunnit novel!! I am obsessed. I loved the first book but I am so surprised to say I love the second one even more. I love how the book carries on from the first one but can also be read as a standalone (best read with the first to enhance it). Lots of surprises and so many fun and different details to keep you turning the pages, this was the first book in a while that I was constantly excited to pick up. The main character being the "author" is one of my favorite touches, any mystery lover will love this book!!

This is the second book in this series but can be read as a standalone. (I did not read the first book.)

This was such an interesting book. I could not figure this out until the end and I loved how the writer wrote as if you were reading an interview versus and book. Very captivating.

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for an early copy of this book in exchange for my review!

EVERYONE ON THIS TRAIN IS A SUSPECT
Benjamin Stephenson

Word on the street is Benjamin Stephenson is the author to watch. He published the hit EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY IS A SUSPECT in 2022 and now its sequel EVERYONE ON THIS TRAIN IS A SUSPECT has arrived in stores. I did not read the first book in the series, so I had nothing to compare it to. Everyone is saying that this one is better than the first.

I’m curious what you think so please leave a comment if you’ve read this one and let me know what you think of it.

In EVERYONE ON THIS TRAIN IS A SUSPECT we are following Ernest Cunningham. Ernest was invited to a crime writers' festival, and he must take a train to get there. Almost everyone on the train is in the publishing industry or an author.

On the way someone dies and everyone on the train is a suspect. It’s up to you and Ernest to solve the mystery.

Are you up for it?

I feel like I should like EVERYONE ON THIS TRAIN IS A SUSPECT more than I do. It’s about publishing and books and writers and the mystery and thriller genres. Every other line is a joke or pun or a lighthearted poking.

It’s almost like you’re reading two books. One is following the murder mystery and secondly, you’re following the production of a mystery novel. It’s meta and I can see the appeal.

It’s just not the type of material that is going to keep me up all night reading. It’s not the type of material that will have me rapidly turning pages and although I enjoyed it, it doesn’t have me wanting to continue in the series.

Thanks to Netgalley and Mariner Books for the advanced copy!

EVERYONE ON THIS TRAIN IS A SUSPECT…⭐⭐⭐⭐

I am in love with Benjamin Stevenson's unique approach to mystery writing-A mystery within a story about a writer writing a mystery. With Stevenson's humorous voice coming through in his writing, this works! I enjoyed the Australian setting and with so many suspects, clues and red herrings, I was kept guessing until the end. I hope there are more Earnest Cunningham mysteries to come!

Everyone on This Train is a Suspect is the follow up to Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone and still follows our main character Ernest, but with the addition of his girlfriend Juliette. The premise of this book is that there is a writer's convention on a train trip through a part of Australia, where of course, people start dying and Ernest feels that he has to solve the mystery. I thought this book was ok, but it didn't really stand out in the greater pantheon of locked room, or train, murder mysteries. We find out in the first book that Ernest makes a living writing how to write books and it feels like Stevenson is writing from one of these how to books, which was a neat device in the first book but is tired here. Also, Ernest is constantly feeling outclassed by the other authors and is a bit whiney about it and that grates after a bit. All in all, not a bad book but definitely room for improvement.
Thanks to NetGalley & Mariner books for the free e-book.

Another great entry in this series. The meta commentary still works without feeling stale. It is smart, funny, and works. The twists and turns were warranted, yet still surprising. Highly recommended.

I always enjoy the writer's style in his books. I love the connection between the reader and the narrator, it is so fun. I enjoyed how the book was formatted and the ending! Definitely recommend.

Stevenson is quickly becoming one of my favorite Whodunit authors. When I got approved for this book, I squealed like I won the lotto! Thank you Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. I was a little nervous since this is the follow up and I was obsessed with the first book. I had nothing to fear, Stevenson does a great job in giving homage to dear Agatha Christie with this book, especially with the train setting. The cast of characters and his writing does not fail to entertain me. I will say, this one started a little slow for me and took me a few chapters to catch up, but once I got into the groove I couldn't put it down.
I think what I enjoy most about Ern Cunningham is that he breaks the 4th wall and writes within a meta-narrative, as in he is writing as the events of the book are occurring. This book will keep you guessing and second guessing yourself. I applaud anyone who was able to predict the killer, because I did not! I gave this a 4!

I know train rides are still peppered around the globe, but can we make trains a thing again?

WHOA!!! This was SO GOOD!! Keeps you guessing through the whole book. Thank to NetGalley for letting me read this in exchange for an honest review!!

A murder on a train! Does it remind you of anything? Well, it's not Agatha Christie to put it mildly, but Benjamin Stevenson has come up with an ingenious way of having a murder occur on a train, which is hosting an Australian book fair in which five mystery writers are featured. Who did the murder, how did it occur? There are plenty of brains that could be looking into this, which is a variation of a locked room mystery. It is given in the first person narrator form of "Author" Ernest Cunningham, who, apparently published a prior book about murders in his family, but has since then developed writers block and it's on this train expedition to flash out a new book. But instead of something from the inner workings of his mind the new book, which is this book, now is what happened on that train ride through the heart of Australia. The first half of the book was extremely slow and tedious reading for me, as the author introduced all his characters and gave us sufficient background that we should be able to solve the mystery. But when he tells us early on that he has mentioned the name of the killer, 106 times by the time the killer is revealed, it's just sort of an overkill. You see Cunningham is actually writing this book from a hospital bed after the event has ended. It's sort of ingenious, but the same time I could not get for about the first 60% of the book, after that thing started to move, because one murder always leads to a murder. There are suspects, some of whom are authors, maybe a publisher, how about a literary agent or fans who are on the train? As I say, it is certainly a unique take on the typical locked room mystery by having it on a train, but there's just something missing in this book, and because of that no more than a three star from me.

Ernest Cunningham returns after the success of his first book on a festival of crime series writers aboard a train in Australia. He needs inspiration for his second book but is at a loss for inspiration, which he's writing in real time as the story unfolds. He'd like to avoid real life death but that seems inevitable here. If you enjoyed the format of the first book, you'll enjoy this one as well.

I thought that this was a pretty clever sequel to "Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone." I didn't love it quite as much as the first book, which I had given 5 stars, but I think I just couldn't get into this one as quickly.

The characters had the background they needed to make the mystery believable. I thought the novel was quick humorous, as well. I think that overall, this is a nice, quick mystery.

I enjoyed the setting, especially with the descriptions of different landmarks.

I think the start was a bit slow, but I don't really have any other serious complaints.

This story is a case of life imitating art, which Ernest helpfully points out to the reader multiple times. He comes up with this outline for a mystery novel, and then the event on the train ends up sort of mimicking that.
First the good:
Just like in Everyone in My Family, Stevenson continued to get meta about mystery genre conventions…a wink and a nod to the reader. This time, he added in layers about the difficulties of sequels (this REALLY got meta based on how I felt about this book) and the way the literary establishment views him for only having written 1 book where he didn’t have to actually make up the story.
The story itself is clever and the ending is brilliant.
BUT…
Despite the story being clever, I didn’t enjoy the reading experience as much as I did with Everyone in My Family. It felt less delightful and a little more tiresome. Ernest himself also felt less delightful and more tiresome.
While the ending is brilliant in a way, it’s also hugely complicated and hard to follow. And, it seemed like a stretch to me. Maybe not the ending itself, but the way that they got to it. He didn’t really explain how Ernest figured out all these pieces – or maybe I just didn’t buy into the fact that he could’ve figured all of this out.
Lacked some of the character development we had in Everyone in My Family. When the big reveals were made at the end, I just wasn’t invested enough in these characters to really care, or be really shocked, etc.
A lot of GR reviewers said the plot is clever and they did not correctly guess the murderer. I definitely didn’t correctly guess the murderer, but more in an “I don’t buy that” way than a “wow, you really surprised me in a way that made sense” way.
I’m going to say something that’s totally out of character for me: I think this book needed to be a little longer (336 pages)…mainly to make the reader care more about the clever and complex stuff that’s happening to these characters. And, to enable the reader to buy the ending more. OR - cut back on the level of plot complication to allow more space for character development. There was SO much in these 336 pages from a plot perspective.

Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect is a very entertaining mystery story that really takes a good look at the genre as a whole. Ernest Cunningham has been invited to the Australian Mystery Writers’ Society festival set on a train through the Australian Outback aboard the Ghan. Ernest is supposed to be writing his first novel, a follow up to his debut (a non-fiction book about a murder he had been witness to), participating in author panels, and schmoozing with other industry professionals, when another murder is committed on board. The narrator's voice is very conversational and funny, and the book as a whole is a really fun look at the genre of mystery and the tropes of the genre. This book is certain to be a hit with any fan of the genre, particularly fans of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction.

I hate to say it but this one is better than the first one. Takes a minute to get into but once you do it is amazing: Ernest is back again and this time it’s a train murder mystery.

I really enjoyed Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone so I had very high hopes for this second Ernest book. I liked the story, I felt like the characters were well written. I wish we'd had more Juliette (she's great). Overall, I think it was very good, just not quite as good as the first one. Still, I absolutely adore Uncle Andy!

I absolutely loved and adored the first book in this series, but this book was a miss for me. I think I was still okay with the format in terms of how it was written and the way the main character narrates the story? I just didn't care about this particular "case". It was kind of boring and with all the characters I didn't think enough was done to try and remind you of who people were - so I was getting them confused. In the previous book, there were a lot of characters, but it was organized in a way that you knew who was being talked about and could keep people straight.

I will be reading the third book (if there is one), but I won't be as excited to get to it. I'm hoping this book was just a fluke and I'll love the next one just as much as the first one.