“Everyone on This Train is a Suspect” is Benjamin Stevenson’s second Ernest Cunningham novel.
You may remember my review last year, “Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone.”
Ernest and his girlfriend, Juliette, are getting ready to ride a cross-Australia train, “The Ghan,” as part of a writer’s festival, specifically, the 50th anniversary of the Australian Mystery Writers’ Festival.
Ern, having written the story of what happened at the ski resort (see the first book), has been invited to participate in the festival.
Ern has high hopes of proposing to Juliette at some time on this trip, but he has to get over his own anxieties about his abilities as an author.
The tension starts building as the train is preparing to leave the station.
All of the writers on board are personalities with overblown views of themselves, excluding Ern.
He is dealing with the fact that he has survivor’s guilt from the ski resort and doesn’t believe he deserves to be here.
He’s desperately trying to write fiction this time.
After the incidents in the first book, he doesn’t want to do true crime anymore.
He’s hoping the trip will allow him to focus on his book, and he’ll have some quality time with Juliette.
We know what’s going to happen.
Someone dies in a grandiose way, and you have a train full of people who write or read murder mysteries.
There are lots of suspects and lots of motives, but which one was the reason for the murder?
Ernie does learn an important lesson about who he should know really well and trust.
Never, ever pause when your significant other asks if you believe they committed murder!
I love the fact that Mr. Stevenson mentions S.S. Van Dine, a mystery author of the 1930s.
I own six Van Dine books that belonged to my grandmother.
They were some of the first adult mystery novels I read when I graduated from the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew.
If you don’t remember, Ern likes to talk about the rules of how to write mystery novels.
The rules are very important to the story. In fact, other characters also know “the rules” and quote them as well.
The book is written in the first person, so you are right there as Ern solves the mystery.
This was an exciting, can’t-put-it-down novel.
I enjoy Mr. Stevenson’s writing style.
Ern is not perfect nor infallible; he’s a regular person like the rest of us.
He makes mistakes and has to live with those consequences like the rest of us do in real life.
