Liz's Reviews > Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone

I think this is the first time I’ve chosen a book based on its title. But how could I resist?
Ernest Cunningham, “Ern” has written and self-published two books on how to write mysteries and spy thrillers. He is a strong believer in the classic rules for mysteries as laid out by Ronald Knox in 1929. He’s not a fan of modern day literary means, such as the “unreliable narrator”, and promises to be a reliable one. In this book, his latest, he breaks the fourth wall by talking directly to the reader. As he recounts his family’s history with murder, he slides in the terms he would use in his books, like foreshadowing, or gives the reader hints (rooms that are capitalized will be significant later on). Or comments like “police officers in these books, while being Last Resorts or Only Hopes, can also have character traits such as By The Book or Screw the Rules.” He reminds us that the language an author uses, even the punctuation, has significance.
Ern introduces us to each of his relations, each more quirky than the next. They’ve all gathered for a family reunion at a ski resort. Ern is the odd man out as he testified against his brother in a murder investigation. The reunion is soon disrupted first by a snow storm and then when a dead body turns up in the snow.
I found the book’s style of dry humor wonderfully entertaining. It’s an intelligent, mind boggling tale that kept me totally engaged. Maybe a smarter person could figure out the villain, but I sure couldn’t.
The blurb compares this to Knives Out and The Thursday Murder Club (both accurate comparisons), but I would also recommend it for fans of The Word is Murder.
My thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins for an advance copy of this book.