rnest Cunningham is invited to the Australian's Mystery Writers' Society, and it's aboard a train named Ghan. The train is quite famous one, and travels between Darwin and Adelaide.
But, things did not go as planned, and someone gets killed in the train. So, in the train we have five authors who have the skills to both solve the murder or cleverly hide in the plain sight.

Once this book was approved, I immediately started reading it. Once a few pages in (somewhere between prologue or not prologue), I felt urge to read the first book by the author. The writing from the first page just pulled me in to the book.
It doesn't matter if you are not mystery reader, read this book for it sheer witty writing. Ernest Cunningham promises you a fair play, and he delivers it.

Cunningham plays fair right from the start. As a reader, you have the full scope to solve the mystery along with him. What I really like about this lead is that he is charming, clever, witty and flawed at the same time. Quite like the previous book, this one also has a small pool o f characters, and most of them are introduced in the beginning of the book. The book includes map which gives reader idea about the train journey, and the inside of the train as well. Every single page comes up with something new, and you can visualise everything happening right in front of you.
The ending of the book comes as surprise, which doubles up when you get two epilogues at the end. The book will make you laugh, want more of it, and at the same time keeps you intrigued by the mystery.
As a reader, there is some apprehension when it comes to sequel, Ernest Cunningham has surpassed all expectations in the second book. The dialogues are such that you can actually hear them inside your head.
The book gives absolute vibes of Golden Age mystery books, and is perfect for fans of Christie or Doyle.
Thank you, NetGalley and Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House, for the copy of the ebook.

Ernest Cunningham is back in a second novel and is attending The Australian Mystery Writers Society aboard The Ghan, a train crossing Australia. He is joined by other famous authors but when one is murdered they have to quickly turn into detectives.

Having enjoyed the first novel featuring Ernest Cunningham, I was keen to read the second and pleased that I did. This followed on with the same writing style, with Ernest as the narrator and plenty of humour. The storyline is very clever and it all comes together very well. There are some nice surprises and plenty of twists!

There are a lot of characters to get your head around but they are well written, although some come across as caricatures. I found that the pacing dipped somewhat in the middle but the ending made up for this. Overall, a fun, imaginative, entertaining thriller and I hope the author produces further similar stories. What’s not to love about a book about books? Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy in return for honest review.

I loved, ‘Everyone in my Family has killed Someone,’ and this second mystery featuring Ernest Cunningham, sees Stevenson having great fun with the genre. Again, this is told in the first person and sees Ernest Cunningham on a train to celebrate the 50th Australian Mystery Writers Festival. He has received a substantial advance for a novel, but it is proving harder than he thought. Perhaps it is too much to hope for that there will be a murder that he can use as a springboard to another success in the same format as his previous work? As the train rumbles across Australia, full of possible victims, suspects, crime writers who feel they are qualified to solve any murders, and lots of motives, what could possibly go wrong?

This is a really fun read. If you enjoy the narrating style, you may also like Anthony Horowitz’s Hawthorne series, of which the first is, ‘The Word is Murder.’

However, going back to the Ernest Cunningham books, I hope that many further disasters occur that enable him to get past that difficult second book and move onto his third! Loved this and recommend it highly. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley for review.

I really enjoyed the first of Benjamins Stevenson's books. This one didn't grab me quite as much but still broadly enjoyable, and a good cast of characters throughout! I think I may need to revisit this at a later date too.

I LOVED the previous Ernest book, so was thrilled to find him back but also (having not read the blurb) totally surprised. As Ernest begins: "So I'm writing again. Which is good news, I suppose, for those wanting a second book, but more unfortunate for the people who had to die so I could write it." Hence my surprise because a bit like the film 'Home Alone 2' I couldn't quite see how it could feasibly happen again. But just like 'Home Alone 2' the plot worked. Again in Ernest's words: "Seven writers board a train. At the end of the line, five will leave it alive. One will be in cuffs. Body count: nine."

If you haven't read the first Ernest book (you definitely should) hopefully I'm conveying what a great character Ernest is. So funny both in his actions - accusing his girlfriend of murder partway through proposing - and his narration. I also particularly love the tongue in cheek way the author as Ernest takes the mickey out of the genre; thrillers that contain fight scenes laden with luck and mystery writers having to find a way to remove the possibility of characters using Google. So, no question a 5-star read (in my opinion)!

Another great read in the sequel to 'Everyone in my family has killed someone.'

Our hero this time finds himself on an exclusive train journey through central Australia, as part of a book convention. As you would expect, things take a nasty turn when fellow authors start to die, and there is only one person who can solve the crime - but will he sift through the clues before he himself becomes a victim?

I love the author's writing style and the book is very pacey. It also made me look up the cost of the trip as it sounded fabulous! However the Ghan is sadly out of my reach!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Amazing read! I managed to read this book and its prequel in 4 days.

The first person narrative of this book is refreshingly different. I LOVED the fact that it read more like a conversation between friends.
The humour used lightened the book up. I’ve never read a book quite like this one, and I was pleasantly surprised by the format, tone and how easily o was drawn in.
5* for both this and its prequel.

It's not often I like the second book in a series more than the first, but I'm quite glad to say Ernest Cunningham proved me wrong. It's 'Murder on the Orient Express' except we're in Australia, it's a train full of writers and there's no Belgian with a twirly mustache to solve things quietly.

Whilst I enjoyed the first book in this series, I had some issues with it - and those kind of cropped up again in this one. I think, as the author so deftly puts it in the last few chapters, that's just his style as a writer. The middle was a bit overwritten and dragged for longer than necessary, but I certainly did not see the ending coming and the book brilliantly threw plenty of red herrings in my direction. The best murder mysteries are generally the ones where you've got no idea what's going on, but you're having fun anyway.

I took off a star because of a personal gripe that I felt spoiled the novel a bit. I'll be vague in an attempt to avoid spoilers, but one of the core motivations / backgrounds for one of the female characters is that she was raped by one of the victims. And it made me feel incredibly icky. Generally, the female characters in these books are so-so, but I felt putting such a cliched plot point one of the characters to that, when there were so many other options the author could have chosen to give her motive was a bit of a cop-out. Lads, we can get through books without women being victims to powerful men. There are other plots. But, that's just a me thing.

I've gotten a bit of a bug for murder mysteries right now and truly, there's no one writing quite like Benjamin Stevenson and, to an extent, Ernest Cunningham too.

The sequel to ‘Everyone in my family has killed someone’ is just as tongue in cheek and clever as its original. Taking the meta borderline further, Stevenson continues to talk to the reader about crime conventions and provides pointers to solving the mystery. This time around a writers festival on a train provides plenty of opportunities to dig at crime writers themselves: their insecurities, egos and inspirations.
There is a large pool of suspects and lots of clues. Early on I solved a cryptic clue that told me a reason as to why the murder happened but I was unable to solve who.
Fun, witty and with a decent chance of the reader getting involved in the detection.

Ern Cunningham is back! This time he's managed, luckily enough, to come upon another set of murders.

The book immediately had me hooked and not just because it was set on a train. It had an interesting cast of characters where I suspected everyone at one point or the other which is how a great mystery should be done. It was even funnier than the first book.

I love how genre-savvy and meta the book is but I wish Ern stopped telling us how honest he was or informing us about the page numbers. Other than that and some plot points involving his personal life, I had a lot of fun reading it.
Highly recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Books for the e-copy!

I absolutely loved this read. The second book in the series was just as good as the first. I love Cunningham's character as a chatty detective it adds the humour to the murder mystery. I would highly recommend this to anyone!

I had high hopes for this novel, having devoured the first one and been highly entertained by it. Happily, I was not disappointed, it's brilliant.
The 'voice' of the lead character is brilliantly done, with dry humour and great wit, and we are led step-by-step to a denouement hard to work out before it actually happens. Every character is really well fleshed out, which is helpful as there are a lot!
This is an immensely clever form of storytelling and I look forward to Stevenson's next release.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Yay - reluctant sleuth Ernie Cunningham is back trying to write that difficult second book. He gets invited to a writers convention on the Ghan and there's a couple of murders to help him out!

I enjoyed this as much as Everyone in Family has Killed Somebody. Well thought out plot, lots of clues and red herrings. A fun read.

I LOVE this book!

It is very similar to classic detectives. whodunnits and murder mysteries, but written with a very good sense of humor.
I did not see the twists coming at all and I hope we get more books in the series

I struggle with books written in the first person but this is such an unusual presentation of that style that I thoroughly enjoyed it. The story isn’t as gripping as the first book by the author but throws up twists right to the end. Can’t wait for the next one.

Following the release of his true crime memoir (aka the author's first novel) Ernest Cunningham is invited to attend the Australian Mystery Writers Festival along with his girlfriend, Juliette. Struggling to write his second novel, he hopes that the trip will provide him with fresh inspiration for a fictional mystery. Unsurprisingly, to us at least, he doesn't just find inspiration for a new book, he is once again in the midst of the mystery and it is down to him to solve it.

Similarly to his first novel, I really enjoyed the first-person narration where fictional Benjamin is recalling the events that have already followed. Usually, a first-person narrative has you questioning the reliability of what you are told, but that's not the case here and I find it to be a clever twist. He provides us with plenty of clues and pointers to help us but never divulges too much that gives the answer and ruin the surprise. Though he does make some glaringly stupid errors and same, Benjamin is a brilliant sleuth and well on his way to being one of the best I've read.

The modernisation of the Golden Age mysteries is done brilliantly. The clues are all there for you to work it out for yourself with plenty of red herrings to misdirect you. The other passengers are a perfect mixture of likeable and detestable.

Overall, I thought it was a wonderful book that matches, if not surpasses, the quality of the first one. I cannot get over how clever the reveal was at the end and how I was constantly misled and guided to the truth at the same time. This is hands down one of the best whodunnits I've read in my life!

Book Review:
Everyone On This Train Is A Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson
Published by Penguin Michael Joseph, 29th Feb 2024
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Synopsis:
When the Australian Mystery Writers' Society invited me to their crime-writing festival aboard the famous Ghan train between Darwin and Adelaide, I was hoping for some inspiration for my second book. Fiction, this time: I needed a break from real people killing each other. Obviously, that didn't pan out.
The program is a who's who of crime writing royalty, but when one of us is murdered, six authors quickly turn into five detectives. Together, we should know how to solve a crime ... or commit one.

Review:
Oh - what a marvellous read! Relayed in first person from a unique perspective as a passenger on a train, this is a witty, twisty crime caper that's as amusing as it is unpredictable.
With fabulous characters and a glorious setting, all laid out in fantastic detail, Benjamin Stevenson leaves a tail of clues throughout, which makes you think that everyone has a motive for murder; which of course they do.
The humour and intensity play each other off nicely, and after reading this, I'm off to buy the author's first book, Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone, which I somehow missed!
*I received an eARC from the publisher via Netgalley. This is my unbiased review.

#BookReview #EveryoneOnThisTrainInASuspect #BenjaminStevenson #NetGalley #PenguinMichaelJoseph #Bookstagram

What a damn fun time this was - a whodunnit where the main character is always alluding to the fact we know who the killer is but also trying to throw us off the trail at the same time….it’s meta-fiction at it’s finest. The characters are funny and complex, the plot snappy - who thinks to set a murder on a train full of crime writers!? - and the writing pulls us along so fast I couldn’t put this down. I’m not always a fan of murder mysteries, finding some authors try too hard to keep us guessing, however, this is almost farcical! For fans of Agatha Christie, especially ones who wished there was more humour with the Poirot!

I really enjoyed this really unique and interesting perspective!

It had all the makings of a man amazing murder mystery with an unusual warmth and charm that made it an exceptional read.

I do feel the twist was a little predictable but I had such a good time reading it that I really didn’t care!

Our absolute favourite writer, reliable narrator and survivor Ernest Cunningham is back in ‘Everyone on this Train is a Suspect’ by Benjamin Stevenson. In this follow up, Ern is on the programme for the 50th anniversary extravaganza of the Australian Mystery Writers’ Festival - an immersive experience on board a luxury cross-country train where he will sit on panels with fellow authors - a Blockbuster crime author, a Forensic expert, a Psychological profiler, a fine Legal mind and a Literary Heavyweight. While we might think Ernest deserves a nice holiday and to enjoy the recognition his true crime memoir earned him after everything that happened with his family, unsurprisingly it isn’t long until someone dies with foul play suspected.

Our unlucky narrator is again thrust into a whodunnit, this time surrounded by authors, agents and fans of crime novels who all want to solve the mystery!

I really enjoyed:
- The conversational and knowing writing style
- The puzzles and clues throughout the book
- The return of a few additional characters from the first book (though obviously not the dead ones!)
- The fun being poked at the literary world
- The way all of the disparate conflicts and backstories came together into a very satisfying conclusion

I did find the first 30% relatively slow going, but the pace picked up after that and I binged the rest of the story in one tense, eager sitting, chuckling to myself regularly. I’m rating this with four stars and think it’s an incredibly worthy sequel to one of last year’s most original crime books. Immensely readable and often hilarious, I have no hesitation recommending this one.