By Natalie BennettSaturday 7 Dec 2024Hope Book ClubBooksReading Time: 4 minutes
Looking for the perfect Christmas Stocking stuffer?
Key Point:
- The latest installment of the Ernest Cummingham mysteries has dropped – and it fits perfectly into standard stockings!
- Return readers will get a kick out of the Christmas special spin from your favourite writer / detective.
- Can I give 7 out of 5 stars? Everyone this Christmas has a Secret is Earnest at his best. Perfect Christmas holiday read.
The search is over!
Ernest Cunningham is back just in time, with Everyone this Christmas has a Secret.
Why is the golden era murder mystery book making such a comeback?
At a recent Meet the Author event I attended (thanks Hornsby library #supportyourlocallibrary) I was fortunate to hear from Everyone this Christmas has a Secret author Benjamin Stevenson on why he thinks his Ernest Cunningham books, and others like it, are making such a comeback in recent years.
Interestingly a lot of the success is down to readers looking for fairness, balance and justice, when they can’t find it in the world around them.
It was between two world wars that tales from Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle really came into their own, and we’re seeing this again with the likes of Thursday Murder Club, Marlow Mysteries and Benjamin Stevenson’s Ernest Cunningham series.
The latest installment of the Ernest Cummingham mysteries has dropped – and it fits perfectly into standard stockings!
In a world that’s already dark enough – news headlines and social media battles aren’t helping anyone – readers’ appetites have changed.
We want to read something fun.
We want to pick up a book that takes us on a journey but plays ‘by the rules’.
We want our hero to catch the villain and for justice to be served.
As Ernest explains to readers, “…this is still a fair-play mystery.”
“You’ll find no hidden clues or unreliable narrators here.
“My job is to relay to you everything you need to reach the same ‘ lightbulb moment’ as I did.
“A lightbulb moment is, or course, par for the course in these books.”
Benjamin Stevenson at a recent Hornsby Library event.
No spoiler review
Everyone this Christmas has a Secret is the third book in a series – yes, this spin on the traditional Christmas special can be read as a stand-alone read and is best treated as an advent calendar.
Each of the 24 chapters hold 24 clues and other treats to help you solve the case along with Earnest.
BUT as a self-confessed fan of the novels, I’d say it’s best to read Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone (set at a rundown ski lodge in Thredbo) and Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect (set on the iconic Ghan) to get the full bang for your buck.
This installment sees Ernest travel to the Blue Mountains and reconnect with his ex-wife who has been accused of the murdering her new partner in impossible circumstances.
Backstage at the show of a world-famous magician, surrounded by suspects all of whom are world class tricksters and experts in the art of misdirection, Ernest is in a race against time (and Christmas day) to solve the mystery and catch a killer and prove to himself is a real detective, worthy of comparison with Sherlock Holmes.
Return readers will get a kick out of the Christmas special spin from your favourite writer / detective.
All the twists and turns you love about a good mystery are here… and if you pay attention to the clues, you can solve the mystery before Ernest does.
We also get a new set of Earnest Cunningham’s 7 Commandments of Holiday Specials. My favourites, without spoiling anything are:
Rule #2: The killer must not hate Christmas… the ‘Grinch’ is too predictable.
Rule #3: The detective must, at some point, learn the true meaning of the word ‘Christmas’.
Most of all, I love that these novels are set in Australia and are dripping in our unique sense of humour while dealing with the serious stuff.
There is so much joy when you’re reading scenes and having a memory or sense of when you were there on your last family holiday or road trip.
Can I give 7 out of 5 stars? Everyone this Christmas has a Secret is Earnest at his best. Perfect Christmas holiday read.
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More from Benjamin Stevenson
Benjamin Stevenson is an award-winning stand-up comedian and USA Today best-selling author.
He is the author of the globally popular ‘Ernest Cunningham Mysteries’, including Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone, which is currently being adapted into a major HBO TV series, and Everyone on This Train is a Suspect.
His books have sold over 750,000 copies in twenty-nine territories and have been nominated for eight ‘Book of the Year’ awards.
Discover more from Benjamin at penguin.com.au