Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
**3.5-stars rounded up**
Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect is the 2nd-installment in the Ernest Cunningham Mystery series.
I read the 1st-book in this series, Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, immediately preceding this one. I listened to the audiobook for both and absolutely loved the experience. Barton Welch, as Ernie, is bloody brilliant!
In this story, Ernie is now a published author, having written a book following the events of the 1st-novel. He continues directly addressing us, the Readers, so his recognition that he wrote about the events we read in the first book is all very meta. It makes these stories stand-out.
Ernie has been, in a way, invited by the Australian Mystery Writers’ Society to their crime-writing festival aboard the Ghan, the famous train between Darwin and Adelaide. He accepts, hoping something will happen aboard that could inspire ideas for his next book — fiction, this time.
There are five other crime writers attending as part of the festival, in addition to Ernie. One of them ends up dead. After that happens, the remaining writers do what they do best, they investigate the crime.
There’s so much experience amongst them, they should be able to figure it out. Of course, this logic also works the other way. They are all students of crime. They can solve it, but they could also probably commit it; and well.
The train setting of course makes one think of Murder on the Orient Express. It was such a lovely doff of the cap to that classic, even bringing solid Locked Room Mystery vibes.
I loved having all the various writers, all thinking they have the expertise to figure everything out, bumbling around together, sleuthing it up left and right. At times it was utter chaos and I was delighting in every minute of it!
I’m a huge fan of this series. I think Stevenson has maintained such a sense of fun within these mysteries. They’re so clever and charming.
As with the 1st-book, I did feel like things got a little muddled towards the end, but honestly, I didn’t really care. I love Ernie Cunningham and I’m a devotee of this series for as long as it runs. Bring ’em on, Stevenson!
