Everyone this Christmas has a Secret (Ernest Cunningham #3) by Benjamin Stevenson
Genre: Mystery, Humour
Read: 1st December 2024
Published: 23rd October 2024
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
If Knives Out and The Thursday Murder Club kissed under the mistletoe...
My name’s Ernest Cunningham. I used to be a fan of reading Golden Age murder mysteries, until I found myself with a haphazard career getting stuck in the middle of real-life ones. I’d hoped, this Christmas, that any self-respecting murderer would kick their feet up and take it easy over the holidays. I was wrong.
So here I am, backstage at the show of world-famous magician Rylan Blaze, whose benefactor has just been murdered. My suspects are all professional tricksters: masters of the art of misdirection.
THE MAGICIAN
THE ASSISTANT
THE EXECUTIVE
THE HYPNOTIST
THE TWIN
THE COUNSELLOR
THE STAGEHAND
My clues are even more abstract: A suspect covered in blood, without a memory of how it got there; A murder committed without setting foot inside the room where it happens; And an advent calendar. Because, you know, it's Christmas.
If I can see through the illusions, I know I can solve it.
After all, a good murder is just like a magic trick, isn’t it?
MY THOUGHTS:
Seven gifts. Six suspects. And a deadly advent calendar of clues...
Ben Stevenson is back with his alter ego Ernest Cunningham in this quirky quick-witted Yuletide novella. On the back of the series opener "Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone" - Ernest finds himself pondering the question if that notion of familial history extends to exes? He doesn't know but he is keen to find out...and prove her innocence.
Four days before Christmas, Ernest receives a desperate plea for help from ex-wife Erin. Her partner Lyle Pearse has been found dead in their home and she with blood on her hands - literally. Under the guise of attending magician Rylan Blaze's appearance at the Pearse Foundation's theatre, Ern hightails it up to Katoomba in the picturesque Blue Mountains where Erin currently sits in a police holding cell.
After questioning Erin, even he finds her story unbelieveable. But he knows Erin and he doubts the likelihood of her murdering anyone, let alone the man she loved. But all evidence points to her guilt and it is up to Ernest to prove otherwise. If he can.
He is doorstepped by lone wolf journalist Josh Felman as he leaves the police station. The man seems to know what he's doing before he does! I admit to chuckling at the image of Josh being dragged along by Ernest's car after his boom got caught in the window. Although Ern works alone, primarily, he does exchange information with the journalist with the promise of an exclusive once he's solved the case.
So when a second murder occurs in front of, not only him, but an entire audience crammed into the Pearse Foundation's theatre, Ernest knows he must be at his sharpest to uncover the murderer this time around.
With not a lot in the way of clues, though Ernest cleverly drip-feeds us little tidbits of information in the form of an advent calendar and secret santas. But even with those 24 chapters of advent clues, I was still relatively stumped this time round, despite solving it in the first book and coming very close to doing so in the second. This time, I was stumped. Ernest is, as always, a reliable narrator but even he hoodwinked me this time.
I did find one flaw. I know how Josh got all the reports and various bits of information but the one thing I didn't find explained was how he knew about the answerphone message. For a reliable narrator I thought it would be explained or maybe it was a blink and you miss it explanation.
As always, I love the quick wit humour peppered throughout and the locale of this one being close to my own neck of the woods, this was indeed a funny and cleverly plotted holiday read. One that I devoured in an afternoon.
With this being the last of the Ernest Cunningham series to date, I have to wait until the next one which is probably another 12 months away. Can I wait that long? I guess I'll have to.
Overall, a thoroughly entertaining, fun-filled holiday mystery, not as spectacular as the last "Everyone on this Train is a Suspect", but still a fun read all the same.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone, his third novel, was a huge bestseller and has so far been sold in twenty-four territories around the world. It will soon be adapted into a major HBO TV series.
Benjamin has sold out live shows from the Melbourne International Comedy Festival all the way to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and has appeared on ABC TV, Channel 10 and The Comedy Channel.
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