Everyone on This Train is a Suspect - Benjamin Stevenson

Published by Penguin Books/Penguin Random House: Australia, 2024 (2023).
Book 2 in the 'Ernest Cunningham' series. Preceded by 'Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone.' Followed by 'Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret.'

When I wrote my review last year about the first book in this series - Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone - I made the note that I enjoyed the comedic-meta elements of that book, and hoped that the author would focus more on that in later books, rather than the occasional grim/gory aspects that occasionally crept in.

Well, it seems as though author Stevenson (as opposed to the main character, Ernest Cunningham, who is also an author) listened to me! This second entry still retains the comedic flavour, but the murder mysteries are a little less grim overall in tone. 

Ernest Cunningham, who in the first book survived a snowed-in reunion with his murderous family, is now a published author, thanks to his book Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, that he wrote based on what happened to him during that trip. He is invited to be a panelist at the 50th Australian Mystery Writers Convention, which is taking place on the Ghan - a train that (in real-life) travels across Australia from North to South. His now girlfriend, who has also written a (better-selling) book about the same events, is coming with him. When a murder takes place on the train, the main suspects are the other mystery writers aboard, each of whom has an area of expertise that Ernest seeks to employ to solve the mystery.

As in the previous book, much of the humour arises from Ernest commenting about his writing process, and what 'should' be happening at any given moment based on the conventions of mystery literature. So, as the book approaches the 10,000 word mark, Ernest tells us that he should have introduced all the main characters by this point, but has neglected to do so... so he immediately introduces the last main character and points out that they are important.

Sometimes these hints are vague, or purposefully misleading, but the mystery is decent, the humour and commentary works, and the ending throws in a few fun twists just to keep you on your toes.

A stronger novel than the first. 

Completed 3 May 2026.



(Ernest Cunningham Series)

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