Review of Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone is the first novel in the Ernest Cunningham Mysteries series.  Ernest Cunningham is a writer who writes books about how to write books.  During a family reunion, however, Ernest takes on the role of amateur detective to solve a multitude of murders, both past and present.

Ernest’s dad, who was a bit of a criminal, died when Ernest was a kid.  Years later, Ernest ratted out his brother Michael for killing a man.  Consequently, Michael went to prison for three years, and the rest of the family blamed Ernest.  Nevertheless, Ernest was invited to a family reunion at a secluded ski resort to celebrate Michael’s release from prison.  By the end of the reunion, however, multiple people are dead, and the family’s history has been dug up and dragged through the snowy mud.

I’ve never read a mystery written like this.  Although Ernest is an amateur detective, I wouldn’t call Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone a cozy mystery.  In fact, it gets rather graphic at times, and the setting made me claustrophobic.  Additionally, Ernest gives us readers a list of all the clues he relied upon to solve the mysterious deaths.  I’ve never seen that done before, and yet, I still couldn’t figure out what really happened before the big reveal.  Frustrating, but that’s on me because I’m terrible at deciphering the clues in mystery novels.  Nevertheless, Ernest is an interesting-enough amateur detective that I’m willing to read the next book in this series.