Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

Publisher's Synopsis

I was dreading the Cunningham family reunion even before the first murder.

Before the storm stranded us at the mountain resort, snow and bodies piling up.

The thing is, us Cunninghams don’t really get along. We’ve only got one thing in common: we’ve all killed someone.

My brother
My step-sister
My wife
My father
My mother
My sister-in-law
My uncle
My stepfather
My aunt
Me

My Review of Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone

Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone is an extremely interesting take on the classic crime novel. All of the tropes common to the genre are examined, used, and expanded upon in such a way that you actually feel as though you’re part of a convention on the subject.

There is a feeling that we’re being confided to rather than narrated to. 

Ernest Cunningham is the narrator and he is an author of “How to” guides for authors wanting to write crime novels. This explains the style in which the narrative is passed to us, the readers. It’s quite an effective style that tends to involve us in the story rather than simply settle on us being the observers.

He also happens to be part of a family that is “known to the police” for a number of reasons, not least because of the distinction made in the title of the book. Throughout the course of the book we are filled in on the various ways in which members of the family have been responsible for deaths. It’s actually not quite as grim as it seems.

A great deal of foreshadowing is going on throughout the book. In fact, the narrative virtually depends on foreshadowing to prime your expectations. It’s a tactic that definitely works. What also works are the constant reminders from Ern that every word used may be important in a crime story and so are his promises that he will “play by the rules” and will always remain a reliable narrator.

He and his family are getting together in a ski resort where they are about to be reunited with Michael, Ern’s older brother who is being released from prison. The fact that Ern’s largely responsible for his conviction, having been a witness for the prosecution, makes him a bit of an outcast in the family.

And what a family it is. Each member has more issues than the next. A more rag-tag bunch of potential suspects you’re never going to come across.

So, when the first body shows up in the snow following an overnight snowstorm it’s hardly a surprise. It also kicks off what becomes a very entertaining murder investigation and Ern’s family are deeply, deeply involved.

In true classic murder mystery style befitting a large swathe of Agatha Christie’s finest, we’re presented with a rogue’s gallery of potential suspects, an investigator capable of putting together a set of random clues, an unexpected plot twist or two and some added dead bodies thrown into the mix for further spice.

I especially enjoyed the touch towards the end where everyone is gathered together in the ski lodge’s library for the big reveal of who the real murderer is. Very on brand.

This is a very cleverly put together homage to all the malice domestic crime stories put out there over the years. It is consistently entertaining throughout and the chatty narrative from Ern serves to repeatedly whet the appetite for what is to come later in the story. I’ve got to applaud the originality of the concept and the way it was presented. Not only that, it turns out to be quite the devious little mystery as well.