Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson

This Christmas is bringing an interesting twist, Ernest's ex-wife Juliette is in jail. She claims she woke up next to her murdered lover. The police say she murdered him. Now she's sitting in jail and Ernest has lied to his fiancé about why he's left town.

The dead man was a former Hollywood star who left it all to help drug addicted youth get clean. More than one character says that he saved their lives. And yet, the man is dead. But he's not the only one who is going to die in this novella. The reasons for each death are intertwined but hidden behind the doors of a an advent calendar.

This story was... okay. But it's not as tightly put together as either of the other stories in this series and the rules for a holiday story aren't put together as well. Worth reading if you are reading the whole series but I'm not sure it is good on its own. 

Three stars

Ernest Cunningham #3

This book comes out October 22, 2024

Follows Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect

The Last Word by Elly Griffiths

I didn't think I had read the other books in this series but didn't feel the need to (in going back, I had read book #2 but didn't realize it). Oddly, though there are a few deaths in this book, I would call it a quiet mystery. I'm not sure why but it was just an enjoyable read and mostly reminds me of how Mary Balogh might write a mystery.
Natalka, a younger woman, and Edwin, who is in his eighties, run a detective agency. Natalka does this in addition to running a care agency. They finally get a bigger case when a woman's daughters come in convinced that their mother was killed by her husband.
The woman who died was a writer and their investigations lead them to a writer's retreat which Benedict (Natalka's significant other) and Edwin attend. And that's where the first person dies. Is this death connected to the other writer? That's what they are going to work to find out.

Three and a half stars

This book comes out April 23, 2024

Harbinder Kaur #4

Follows Bleeding Heart Yard

ARC kindly provided by Mariner Books and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson

I read the first book by Stevenson, Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, and enjoyed it. There was some verbal trickery that I didn't quite agree with but still, a fun book. Having read that book made this one more enjoyable and so did expecting that the author would toy with the readers expectations.

Ernest Cunningham returns as the first person narrator. He's been asked to come along as the debut writer on the Australian Mystery Writer's Society's fiftieth anniversary of their Festival. Along with five other writers, he will be doing a series of panels for a select group. 

Also on the train is his girlfriend, Juliette, and his literary agent, Simone Morrison, as well as any number of other characters. Ernest is not excited to see Simone as he is late on delivering his next book, the one he has already gotten an advance for. It's just too bad because he just doesn't have a brain for fiction. So it's with mixed emotions that Ernest realizes that a death along their journey may not be entirely natural. He decides that he is going to investigate, all while writing his next book (the one we are reading) while adhering to the rules he lists at the beginning of the book. 

As in the first book, Ernest drops clues as to who the murderer will end up being. Also like the first book, many of those clues were deft red herrings. It made it a little hard to read and some of the story felt a little thin but it was overall a very nice read and I'm hoping that the epilogue is a hint to how the next book in the series will be rolled out. 

Four stars

This book comes out January 30, 2024
Follows Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone

Followed by Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret

ARC kindly provided by Mariner Books and NetGalley

Opinions are my own