Week 7 - Mystery Annotation

Author: Benjamin Stevenson

Title: Everyone in My Family has Killed Someone

Genre: Mystery

Publication Date: Originally published March 29, 2022; republished January 17, 2023

Number of Pages: 384

Geographical Setting: Mountains of Australia

Time Period: Contemporary

Series: Ernest Cunningham

Plot Summary: Everyone in the Cunningham family has killed someone. While this seems like a straightforward premise, the events that unfold are anything but. Ernest, the narrator (who also writes books about how to write mysteries), recounts his memories of a family reunion that takes place over the course of a weekend in the mountains of Australia. He expects it to be an awkward affair due to some rather twisted family history, but what he doesn’t expect is for people to start dying. While trying to unravel clues surrounding this family affair, Ernest shows how even the most mundane occurrences can be connected and that when everyone in your family has killed someone, family reunions can be murder.

Subject Headings (via NoveList): Dysfunctional families, Death, Mountains, Resorts, Murder, Family Reunions

Appeal:

• Character
• Ernest, being the narrator, is quite literally central to the story. The reader is in his head and is privy to all his inner thoughts so if the reader doesn't like Ernest, they may have a hard time getting through the book. He is a “normal” guy trying to solve the mystery in a very Christie-esque way (in fact he mentions Agatha Christie throughout the story). Even though he says he's a reliable narrator, the reader isn't always so sure he can be trusted.

• Mood
• Despite being a murder mystery involving several deaths, the overall mood of the book is light. It reads as more of a funny whodunnit than a high-stakes thriller. There are twisty clues throughout and eagle-eyed readers may be able to string together the wild web. 

• Writing style
• While 1st person narration isn't uncommon, it's a bit out of the ordinary to see a writing style where the narrator is self-aware. There are several fourth wall breaks and side conversations that Ernest has with the reader and he even references conversations with his editor as he is revising the book. While this adds a fun element to the story, it may take readers out of the narrative.

3 terms that best describe this book: Twisty, Droll, Irreverent

Similar Authors and Works:

3 Relevant Non-Fiction Works and Authors

• How to Write a Mystery - Mystery Writers of America
• The narrator of EIMFHKS writes how-to books for writing mysteries, maybe something along the lines of this book, though Ernest hasn’t actually written a mystery and these authors are best-sellers.

• The Dark Man: Australia’s First Serial Killer - Jason Foster
• While not the first serial killer, EIMFHKS does have an Australian serial killer who kills a few of their victims in the mountains like the killer referred to in The Dark Man does.

• The ancient history of the Egyptians, Carthaginians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Medes and Persians, Macedonians, and Greeks: Volume 3 - Charles Rollin
• While this book is centuries old, it is one of the few that documents use of the suffocation with ash torture technique that plays a role in EIMFHKS.

3 Relevant Fiction Works and Authors

• Killing Me - Michelle Gagnon
• Common elements: Relatable Narrator, Funny, Meta

• And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie
• Common elements: Isolated Location, Serial Killer Shenanigans, Plot Twists

• The Woman in the Library - Sulari Gentill
• Common elements: Unreliable Narrator, Unlikely Setting, Crime Solvers that Aren’t Detectives