Set shortly after the events of the first book and publishing his first book, Ernest Cunningham attends an Australian Mystery Writers’ Conference on a luxury train. Hoping to get inspiration for his next book, Ernest didn’t necessarily anticipate the keynote speaker getting murdered. With a train full of murder mystery writers, Ernest along with his fellow writers are determined to figure out Whodunnit. Once again breaking the 4th wall, we join Ernest as a reliable narrator as he tries to outwit the murderers and all the other masters of crime along the way.
If you enjoyed his first book Everyone in My Family Has Murdered Someone than you’ll enjoy the sequel. While the books are two separate stories, it’s best to read them in order otherwise this one will spoil parts of the first story.
I’m still in awe of how Stevenson is able to keep track of all the plot lines and twists and ties them together so seamlessly. This gave me all the Murder on the Orient Express vibes and I loved being a part of the train ride.
I think I enjoyed the first book more than the second, and I think that has to do with listening to the first and reading the second. The audiobooks are just *chefs kiss* and I missed getting to listen to this fast past story. I still enjoyed this one, but I think I got lost in the weeds a bit with all the people, motives, and history, so it just wasn’t a 5★. Still really enjoyable and I love Stevenson’s nod towards Agatha Christie and other classic mystery writers!
Everyone On This Train is a Suspect is out now. If you liked this review, please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my Instagram @speakingof.books.
