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Tag: Mystery
Book Review (SERIES): Ernest Cunningham (the Everyone in My Family series)
Ernest Cunningham Series by Benjamin Stevenson
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone (Book 1)
Everyone on This Train is a Suspect (Book 2)
Everyone This Christmas has a Secret (Book 3)
*Links above should take you to Penguin.com.au – the publisher in Australia for the author. That page can direct you to the distributor/retailer of your choice.
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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY HAS KILLED SOMEONE
Knives Out and Clue meet Agatha Christie and The Thursday Murder Club in this “utterly original” (Jane Harper), “not to be missed” (Karin Slaughter), fiendishly clever blend of classic and modern murder mystery.
Everyone in my family has killed someone. Some of us, the high achievers, have killed more than once. I’m not trying to be dramatic, but it is the truth. Some of us are good, others are bad, and some just unfortunate.
I’m Ernest Cunningham. Call me Ern or Ernie. I wish I’d killed whoever decided our family reunion should be at a ski resort, but it’s a little more complicated than that.
Have I killed someone? Yes. I have. Who was it?
Let’s get started.
EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY HAS KILLED SOMEONE: My brother, my stepsister, my wife, my father, my mother, my sister-in-law, my uncle, ,y stepfather, my aunt …
Me
MY REVIEW for EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY HAS KILLED SOMEONE
This book opens with a Prologue. If you have been following me any length of time, you know I have FEELINGS about prologues. This one is done right! (if you just want to look at the prologue, some booksellers provide a 10% view – so that part should be visible, but, let me warn you, if you like mysteries and snark, you will be hooked.)
As an editor the acknowledgements from the real author (Benjamin Stevenson) to his editor – not the POV Ernest Cunningham to his also fictional editor – made me go, whoa, because, yeah, keeping track of those pages for the deaths would have been a THING. In the prologue, the page numbers of every death is provided – not an easy task to keep track of – especially when paperback and hardback books often have slightly different formatting.
Anyway, the book. “Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone” – yep – title pretty much says it all. Toxic close-knit, caring trauma-bonded family with a main character full of inappropriate snarky comments, presently serving his time as the family’s pariah, but the family reunion put together by his aunt demands ALL OF US MANDATORY (this means you). He remained close to one not-quite-on-the-outs-but-sliding-that-way stepsister and they start the reunion with family bingo “Family member is late” “someone gets a broken bone” etc.
Snark and murder mystery. Snow and ash. Family dynamics and money. What’s not to love?
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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for EVERYONE ON THIS TRAIN IS A SUSPECT
From the bestselling author of Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, a fiendishly fun locked room (train) murder mystery in the spirt of Murder on the Orient Express. With Ernest Cunningham, “Stevenson has brought a modern-day Poirot to the mystery scene” (Michelle Carpenter).
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?
MY REVIEW for EVERYONE ON THIS TRAIN IS A SUSPECT
Did I like Everyone on this Train is a Suspect more than the first book? Well, yes I did. Is it because I have attended a lot more book conventions (over a dozen) than I have gone to ski resorts (which is zero) or family reunions (which is not zero but not a dozen), … possibly.
I still love the gimmick of telling the reader things. Last time, it was on which page deaths would be revealed, this time it was the beat structure of the book (how many words need to happen in each section) and how many times the murderer’s name was used. Mixed with the cozy talking through the non-existent fourth wall, the overall package just works. The voice of the book is delightful.
Ernie challenge when boarding the train is how to write a FICTION book after what was basically a memoir of death; his advance has a rapidly approaching deadline, like an engine bearing down on him. This focus is quickly superseded by the petty politics of guests at the convention (not something I have experienced in my writer and con community), because procrastination is king. Then the guest of honor had a very, very bad morning, and everyone on the train is a suspect. (Fortunately for Ernie, who now has inspiration for his next book … but everyone wonders if he decided to be his own muse.)
The story is definitely a train I would ride … I just might be in the forward carriages though.
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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for EVERYONE THIS CHRISTMAS HAS A SECRET
Benjamin Stevenson returns with a Christmas addition to his bestselling, “deviously good fun” (Nita Prose). 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 IDENTICAL TWIN, THE COUNSELLOR, THE TECH.
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?
MY REVIEW for EVERYONE THIS CHRISTMAS HAS A SECRET
Another awesome cozy mystery thriller … I know “cozy thriller” shouldn’t go together, but since the POV narrator gives stuff away throughout the story, diffusing tension, the mystery doesn’t keep you on the edge of your seat, but burrowed in your blanket turning pages.
Again, the prologue opening is hilarious and sets up the gimmick for the book well. This one, being Christmas, is an advent calendar, which is a bit kinder on the editor than previous editions (the first book of the series, listing the page of each killing, had to be brutal during final formatting for all the different books – hardback, mass market paperback, trade paperback, UK, USA, Australia, etc).
The beginning paragraph is a perfect hook, and the rest of the story keeps a reader hooked.
All three books were checked out through my local library. I had to wait a little for the final one because I requested it early (only four months after publication) and several other people wanted to read it too. Support your local library!
Book Review (SERIES): Mrs. Pollifax
Movie Poster from the 1971 Movie: Mrs. Pollifax Spy
I was introduced to the Mrs. Pollifax series in college, read through all of them, and then went on to read through the author’s, Dorothy Gilman, entire catalog. She passed in 2012 and I had to move on to other authors.
Fast forward to 2024. I had been hired to work in a library. Who knew that working for a library would mean I would have virtually no time to read? I was constantly shelving books, working on programming, or helping patrons. Faced with the challenge to keep up on my reviews, I thought “why not try audiobooks?” Normally, my version of neuro-spicy hates background noise, but I had a long half-hour commute on a mostly empty highway each direction (more like 45 minutes in the morning). I like my music, but I was missing fictional stories.
I had been shelving audiobooks and noticed Mrs. Pollifax and thought “Perfect!” A comfort read that I could turn off easily arriving at work or arriving at home. These are the three audiobooks I read while working for a library system.
Mrs. Pollifax is a widow of a certain age that when she had nothing left to live for, contacted the CIA to become a spy. This a series of unexpected shenanigans, she received an assignment and survived the results. Her name went into Carstairs rolodex and whenever a random older lady could get through a situation that a normal spy would be pinged immediately, he would brush the dust off and call her again. Fourteen books resulted.
I read books ten, eleven, and fourteen of the series this time around. The entire list from BookSeriesInOrder.com:
- The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax (1966)
- The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax (1970)
- The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax (1971) – Movie come out this year
- A Palm for Mrs. Pollifax (1973)
- Mrs. Pollifax on Safari (1976)
- Mrs. Pollifax on the China Station (1983)
- Mrs. Pollifax and the Hong Kong Buddha (1985)
- Mrs. Polllifax and the Golden Triangle (1988)
- Mrs. Pollifax and the Whirling Dervish (1990)
- Mrs. Pollifax and the Second Thief (1993)
- Mrs. Pollifax Pursued (1995)
- Mrs. Pollifax and the Lion Killer (1996)
- Mrs. Pollifax, Innocent Tourist (1997) – a direct-to-DVD movie starting Angela Lansbury come out in 1999
- Mrs. Pollifax Unveiled (2000)
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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for MRS. POLLIFAX AND THE SECOND THIEF
The assignment is a snap: Mrs. Pollifax just has to shoot some pictures at a quiet funeral outside Washington and take them to Sicily, where her old friend Farrell — a former CIA agent turned art dealer — anxiously awaits them.
But like all Mrs. P’s assignments, so ostensibly suitable for the CIA’s favorite garden club member, this one quickly turns lethal. Her welcoming committee in Palermo includes a most unlikely CIA agent and several unseen enemies. Unfriendly eyes also observe Mrs. P’s rendezvous with Farrell in a secluded mountain village and weapons are soon displayed. With mysterious forces hot after them, she and Farrell scurry for safety to a fortified country villa, where the bizarre chatelaine, once a star on Madison Avenue, is almost as unnerving as the dangers she’s protecting them from.
So, though the sun shines brightly, the food is delicious, and romance is in the air, Mrs. Pollifax is too busy handing out karate chops and playing catch-me-if-you-can with an assassin to enjoy the amenities . . . .
MY REVIEW for MRS. POLLIFAX AND THE SECOND THIEF
Read through a local library audiobook. The audio was crafted by Brilliance Audio with a multi-member cast.
I forgotten just how good this particular Mrs. Pollifax is.
I love John Farrell and his admiration of his “Duchess”. The love story. The eccentric aunt of Kate. The village. The return of Aristotle. The political intrigue. The Second Thief is picture perfect Mrs. Pollifax.
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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for MRS. POLLIFAX PURSUED
The last thing Mrs. Pollifax expects to find in her junk closet is a young woman hiding. Kadi Hopkirk insists that she’s being followed by two men in a dirty white van. Under the cover of darkness, Mrs. P. tries to drive Kadi back home to Manhattan, only to have a dark green sedan give them a run for their money and, Mrs. P. begins to suspect, their lives.
Finally Kadi shares the startling truth: her friend, Sammy, is the son of the assassinated president of an African country and, unbeknownst to the young man’s bodyguard, he passed her something under the table during a recent meeting. Ever resourceful, Mrs. P. puts in a call for help to her CIA colleague, Carstairs, who installs them in a safe house—at a carnival! Before Mrs. P. knows it, a dash to safety expands into an assignment that leads to hair-trigger violence in exotic places. . . .
MY REVIEW for MRS. POLLIFAX PURSUED
I’m exploring whether I can listen to audiobooks while driving and I thought I would dive into a comfort favorite. I haven’t read Mrs. Pollifax since the Nineties – this book was originally published in 1995 and is part of a series started in 1966 and ran until 2000. I listened to the Brilliance Audio version, recorded in 1995. Words and situations like “VCR” and “gypsy” and the “quaintness of Africa” all date the book, but the listen was still very enjoyable. I managed to listen to the book going to and from work for three of the four discs but couldn’t wait for morning to finish and listened to the last disc while sewing at home.
Mrs. Pollifax finds a young woman hiding in her closet. This escalates and intertwines with a kidnapping Carstairs is helping the FBI with. Humor and adventure, mystery and murder, carny and spy action ensues. I love Mrs. P as an older protagonist.
While the book has aged, and may not be accessible to younger readers, I still enjoyed the revisit.
Checked out through the local library.
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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for MRS. POLLIFAX UNVEILED
After facing down hijackers on a flight to the Middle East and saving the lives of the passengers on board, a young American woman steps off the plane in Damascus in a blaze of celebrity and disappears. The CIA believes Amanda Pym was kidnapped, possibly murdered.
Masquerading as Amanda Pym’s worried aunt, Mrs. Pollifax begins her determined search, slipping through Damascus’s crooked streets and crowded souks . . . and trekking deep into the desert. Yet she is shadowed by deadly enemies, whose sinister agenda threatens not only Mrs. P. but the fragile stability of the entire Middle East. Only a miracle–or a brilliant counterplot– can forestall a disaster that will send shock waves around the world.
MY REVIEW for MRS. POLLIFAX UNVEILED
Re-read through audio performance by Brilliance Audio.
Unlike the two previous Mrs. Pollifax I listened to by Brilliance Audio which had a cast, this version only had a single performer. It still was a lovely read listening to a woman’s voice.
The last of the Pollifax series (due to Ms. Gilman’s (the author) failing health) our intrepid spy lands in Syria to find a lost American woman, who may not want to be found. With Farrell at her side, they arrive as innocent tourists looking for their “family” member. The police state tears Farrell away from Emily, with her being injured in the process, and now Mrs. Pollifax, or Duchess as the painfully missing Farrell calls her, must meet their objective alone in a country where she doesn’t speak the language and the people are ruled by fear.
But being Mrs. Pollifax, she endures and makes friends. Still finding one person in a country alone is like finding a needle in a haystack.
The story, now twenty-four years old (published in 2000) is becoming dated. Amanda Prym is always referred to as a “girl” though she is a full-grown adult – college age, so forgivable by our team of world-wearied adults. Other technology issues have gotten better, the mix of politics in the mid-east have gotten worse, stuff like that. Still a wonderful yarn.
I hope Mrs. Pollifax and her Cyrus live on forever happy having their adventures.
Book Review (SERIES): The Ridnight Mysteries
The build on this series is intoxicating. The first book introduces us to a world on the brink of industrialization through a murder mystery in the most magical and tribal part of this fantasy world. The second book weaves in stronger political portions with a heist in a Frontier Kingdom. The amazing conclusion is located in the industrial cities which straddle democracy and corporate oligarchy with a kidnapping mystery. Each mystery is different, each locale is different, the stakes keep rising, and there is no “saggy” middle to this series.
The Ridnight Mysteries Series by Stuart Jaffe
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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for THE WATER BLADE
A brave warleader on a quest for a mythical weapon, Axon Coponiv is forced to look outside her trusted party for help when one of her own is mysteriously slain. She turns to Zev Asterling, a failed businessman, displaced aristocrat, and psuedo-detective, to help her find out who killed her man and why. The mystery deepens as Zev realizes that the killer must be someone close to Axon, perhaps even one of the others in her band.
Is it Pilot, the genial but deadly warrior who has served alongside Axon for many years? Henlio, the quiet but steady sword who has stood by her through battle after battle? Or the mysterious witch Bellemont, one of the mysterious Stolen, about whom little is known?
To get to the bottom of this mystery, Zev will have to use all his intelligence and guile, not only to find the killer, but also to stay alive as the party traverses the treacherous distance to Castle Ridnight and the legendary Water Blade, the only weapon that can stop the encroachment of the armies of the West and their mysterious god-leader known only as The Beast.
The Water Blade is the first in a new trilogy of fantasy mystery novels from Stuart Jaffe, author of the Nathan K series and the Max Porter Mysteries.
MY REVIEW for THE WATER BLADE
A fantasy and a mystery, but not exceptional in either genre to drown in, still an tasty mixture to sip. The characters were more complex than the fantasy world-building and the mystery, though the foundation laid for the gods, the politics, and the magic system look promising for the rest of the series now that the initial premise has been developed in book one.
The Water Blade follows two POV characters, one a solider in search of legendary status and one is a natural detective in search of a challenge. Neither one comes from a family that understands their ambitions. Together they might change the world.
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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for THE WATERS OF TALADORO
The Shield of Taladoro. A mythic artifact recovered by the valiant efforts of Axon Coponiv along with brave adventurers from the East and the Feral Lands.
But now, during the unveiling celebration at Ridnight Castle, the Shield has been stolen. The King tasks Zev Asterling, master-solver, with finding it.
The guests, representatives from either side of the world, point fingers at each other, and Zev must navigate the lies and treachery behind someone who has taken the Shield but is still in the castle. Tensions mount as he interviews all those who had a hand in finding the Shield and getting it to the castle. If he doesn’t solve the case and find the Shield fast, a war is going to begin. Right there in the ballroom.
MY REVIEW for THE WATERS OF TALADORO
I don’t normally struggle to solve the mystery before the detective. Usually I am content to observe the master solver resolving the issue, watching it unfurl like a flower in the sun, but the interviews just begged me to peel back the layers of the mystery.
I adored the interviews which furnished flashback/backstory, supplied character development, and provided clues and plot points. The format provided a different way to approach the heist mystery than the Ridnight Mysteries Book 1 (The Water Blade), which was a murder mystery. I also appreciated different types of mysteries to be resolved in the series and am curious to what type of mystery the author has chosen for the third and final book of the series.
If you want some mystery in your fantasy, or some fantasy in your mystery, The Ridnight Mysteries are a good set to pick up.
So did I solve the mystery? … Yes and no. I had a guess and I stuck with it forever and it was kind-of right, and many of the clues I picked up were the correct ones. I would say my guess was close enough to be right, but my particular flavor … I was too wedded to it and should have been open to more options.
Editing comments – these are just my opinions, and, in fact, IMHO more than normal. I disliked some of the modern slang and/or Earth specific slang. The Ridnight Mysteries are set in a steampunk era world, so some of the slang is appropriate, but since I was reading a fantasy, it bothered me. “Rollicking time”- very early 1800 expression, first recorded during 1805-1815 according to the dictionary, would exist in the steampunk era, from 1850-1900. The big one for me was “scapegoat” which has very specific religious significance within the Judio-Christian belief system. On the other hand, The Ridnight Mysteries series has already introduced two or three religious systems and any of them could have created the scapegoat concept as well.
Basically, any of the slang terms used fall within the possible; I personally didn’t like their use in a non-Earth fantasy novel. But that is on me.
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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for WATERFIRE
The thrilling conclusion to The Ridnight Mysteries!
After returning to the East, Zev Asterling attempts to put away his Master-Solver days and rebuild his life. Political tensions have run high since the events at Ridnight Castle, and a summit between the Frontier and the East is a sliver of light that many cling to.
But when a politician’s daughter is kidnapped, Zev is called upon to do what he does best. With the help of Axon, Pilot, and Bellemont, they must find the daughter in order to avert an all-out war. Along the way, his companions will have to resolve their feelings about the gods, their nations, and each other if they want to make it out alive.
Zev will have to set aside long-held grudges and family issues to deal with a threat the likes of which no one has ever encountered before, as his investigation takes him deep into the bowels of the city, pits him against a bizarre cult, and forces him to battle rogue witches who have the power to destroy the entire East.
MY REVIEW for WATERFIRE
The third and final book of the Ridnight Mysteries slams it out of the ballpark with the culmination of the worldbuilding for the last three books. While the start is slow, setting all the pieces into position for the mystery and the political thriller, once the action starts, it does not stop, ever. By the end, you feel like you have gone through a battle alongside the characters.
I should mention while our heroes do reach a satisfying conclusion in this fantasy detective series, the author leaves enough threads trailing into the future he could create another series which I would read through my eye-teeth if he manages to pull off another conclusion like this epic ending. The world is so layered, you know that the universe is continuing beyond the words of “the end” appearing on the last page.
Each of the stories of this Mystery series has concentrated on a different type of crime. The first one was the typical murder mystery, the second a heist, and the third contains a kidnapping. Usually a mystery series gets a little same-y feeling when reading them back-to-back, but with the changing crime focus and locales (East, Frontier, West), each book of this series feels remarkably fresh.
The theme of exploring toxic family vs. found family continues strongly in this book.
Zev, one of the two main Point of View (POV) characters, can be hard to deal with as he has the full confidence of a master craftsman and the internal destruction of the imposter syndrome. Some people may ask how both can inhabit the same body; if you know creators, you know this personality – godhood and worthless-worm. It is exhausting to deal with, but very real.
I do like the fact none of the characters are good at everything. The team of found family each have their specialty and respects each other in the area of their mastery, and teases them when not working in their best area. Like three friends going shopping – one drives, another is the SHOPPER, and the third keeps the other two on schedule so they get back in time to wrap the presents for the party.
Final mention, if you have read the other series books, you know the body-horror aspect of the magic system. This book takes it to a new level as one expects in an epic conclusion. I would say this last book crosses into horror as much as it crosses over into romance and political-thriller, while always respecting the core genre of detective-fantasy.
In conclusion, Waterfire delivers on the Ridnight Mystery series. It can work as a standalone, but you will be doing yourself a disservice not to become immersed in the world before experiencing the conclusion. Because, wow, the series is as amazing as this book on its own.
BookQuotes: W is for Watson
If you like Dr. Watson spin-offs, have you run into Alexandra Christian’s Dr. Watson and the Ladies Club Coven?
I make book quote videos – little 15 second things over on TikTok under the handle of “Erin Penn Books”. If you would like to see my near daily attempts of combining a book quote, cover, some music, and a little video magic friend me there for year-round crazy stuff.