Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret

Benjamin Stevenson | Hard Cover | October 2024

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 TWIN
THE COUNSELLOR
THE STAGEHAND

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?

'Ernest Cunningham is back! From a magic show to soaring above a valley in Australia’s beautiful Blue Mountains, the mystery is as ingenious and delightful as ever. Strap yourself in for Christmas hijinks, done the way only Benjamin Stevenson can.' Hayley Scrivenor

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Author Info

Benjamin Stevenson is an award-winning stand-up comedian and author. His first novel, Greenlight, was shortlisted for the Ned Kelly Award for Best Debut Crime Fiction, and his second novel, Either Side of Midnight, was shortlisted for the International Thriller Writers Award for Best Original Paperback. 

Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone, his third novel, was a huge bestseller and has so far been sold in twenty-seven territories around the world. It will soon be adapted into a major HBO TV series. It was shortlisted for the Dymocks Book of the Year 2022, ABIA General Fiction Book of the Year 2023 and BookPeople's Fiction Book of the Year 2023, as well as being named as one of The Sunday Times's best crime novels of 2022. 

His new novel, Everyone On This Train Is A Suspect, was released in October. 

Benjamin has sold out live shows from the Melbourne International Comedy Festival all the way to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and has appeared on ABC TV, Channel 10 and The Comedy Channel.