Ernie Cunningham, the narrator of this clever mystery, isn't kidding when he says that everyone in his family has killed someone. He does joke a lot, but about murder he is serious. He even ups the ante by adding: "Some of us, the high achievers, have killed more than once." Benjamin Stevenson (Trust Me When I Lie) leverages his background as a stand-up comedian and work at several publishing houses and literary agencies to create a distinctive mystery that riffs on the genre while also respecting it. Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone is resplendent in its sophisticated wit, characters with myriad motives and adroit plotting that indulges in clichés but manages to avoid the predictable. Stevenson also does the near impossible: he mixes the lightness of a cozy with the intensity of a hard-boiled thriller.
Ernie isn't thrilled to attend a "mandatory" family reunion at an Australian ski resort because of his unusual relatives. He especially dreads seeing his brother, Michael, newly released from prison where he served three years based on Ernie's testimony. Before Michael arrives to the gathering, Ernie is caught up in the murder of a stranger, whose death looks strikingly similar to the work of a known serial killer.
Though the plot seems straightforward, Stevenson's approach is not. Ernie loves crime fiction, often breaking the fourth wall and telling readers to look for clues on certain pages, then saying he is an unreliable narrator, reverently citing Ronald Knox's "10 Commandments of Detective Fiction"--and gleefully breaking each one. Stevenson never stumbles as his storytelling tricks lead to a satisfying ending. --Oline H. Cogdill, freelance reviewer