Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect

I received this book for free from the publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson
Narrator: Barton Welch, Megan Smart
Series: Ernest Cunningham #2
Published by HarperAudio, Mariner Books on January 30, 2024
Genres: Fiction / Mystery & Detective / General
Length: 8 hours 27 minutes
Pages: 336
Format: ARC, Audiobook
Source: Library, Publisher
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From the bestselling author of Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, a fiendishly fun locked room (train) murder mystery that "offers a tip of the hat to the great Agatha Christie novel while at the same time being a modern reinvention of it" (Nita Prose) -- perfect for fans of Richard Osman and Anthony Horowitz

When the Australian Mystery Writers’ Society invited me to their crime-writing festival aboard the Ghan, the famous 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:

the debut writer (me!)

the forensic science writer

the blockbuster writer

the legal thriller writer

the literary writer

the psychological suspense writer

But when one of us is murdered, the remaining authors quickly turn into five detectives. Together, we should know how to solve a crime.

Of course, we should also know how to commit one.

How can you find a killer when all the suspects know how to get away with murder?

I had a great time with this one! Murder seems to be following Ernest – this time the bodies are piling up on a train! Ernest is part of a mystery writer festival aboard the Ghan and we are introduced to a quirky group of characters early on. It didn’t take long before I was completely hooked by this story.

I wasn’t sure who was to blame and enjoyed watching Ernest and the other writers try to figure things out. Ernest doesn’t seem to be the most loved writer involved in the festival which left me wondering how he ended up being included. So many of these characters feel like they are experts when it comes to solving mysteries so it was fun to see some of the jumps they would make. Some scenes caught me by surprise and I loved the fact that the story was able to keep me guessing. The story contained some exciting scenes that helped to keep me on the edge of my seat. Overall, this was a very entertaining read.

I listened to the audiobook and thought the narrators did a great job with the story. The bulk of the narrator was handled by Barton Welch with a small segment read by Megan Smart. I thought that these narrators did a great job of portraying the characters through their narration. I had no problems listening to this audiobook for hours at a time and I enjoyed the way the narration held my attention. I believe that their performance added to my enjoyment.

I would recommend this mystery to others. I thought that it was a fun read and I love that the story broke the fourth wall by addressing the reader directly. This is the second book in the Ernest Cunningham series which I would recommend reading in order if at all possible. I hope that we can go on more adventures with Ernest in the future.

I received a review copy of this book from Mariner Books and borrowed a copy of the audiobook from my local library.

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