Book Recommendation – Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret

After waiting quite a while, today’s recommendation finally became available last week.  Benjamin Stevenson’s “Holiday Special” is a short mystery featuring his character Ernest Cunningham.

I read the first book in this series, Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone a while back.  I loved the honesty of the narrator.  He is always sure to give the reader all the clues needed to solve the mystery. I loved it. 

The follow-up, Everyone On This Train Is a Suspect, was just as good.  So when I saw that there was a short mystery being released before the next novel, I had to read it.

I was glad it became available before Christmas, and while it is a theme, it is a book that can be read outside of the holiday season, too.  That being said, here is the Goodreads synopsis:

Benjamin Stevenson returns with a Christmas addition to his bestselling, Ernest Cunningham mysteries. Unwrap all the Christmas staples: presents, family, an impossible murder or two, and a deadly advent calendar of clues. 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 IDENTICAL TWIN

THE COUNSELLOR

THE TECH

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?

This was a book I read in two days.  It was really good.  I had many guesses throughout and changed my mind on who I thought did it a few times. 

I love the writing, the insights and hints given by the narrator, and the characters in general. I found it to be a satisfying mystery worth the read.

5 out of 5 stars.