Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone

Benjamin Stevenson has set out to create a very twisty murder mystery that would adhere to Ronald Knox's "10 Commandments of Detective Fiction"(1929) written in the Golden Age of mystery writers. 

The criminal must be someone mentioned in the early part of the story, but must not be anyone whose thoughts the reader has been allowed to follow.

All supernatural or preternatural agencies are ruled out as a matter of course.

Not more than one secret room or passage is allowable.

No hitherto undiscovered poisons may be used, nor any appliance which will need a long scientific explanation at the end.

No Chinaman must figure in the story.

No accident must ever help the detective, nor must he ever have an unaccountable intuition which proves to be right.

The detective must not himself commit the crime.

The detective must not light on any clues which are not instantly produced for the inspection of the reader.

The stupid friend of the detective, the Watson, must not conceal any thoughts which pass through his mind; his intelligence must be slightly, but very slightly, below that of the average reader.

Twin brothers, and doubles generally, must not appear unless we have been duly prepared for them.

 

Our narrator, Ernest Cunningham ("call me Ern"), is an author of "how to" books for aspiring writers and is also trying to solve the murder while explaining his writing process which endeavors to stick to the rules. Ern's Aunt Katherine has arranged a family reunion in an Australian ski resort for this very dysfunctional family: mother Audrey, step-father Marcelo, step-sister Sophia, brother Michael, brother Jeremy (deceased?), Katherine's husband Andy, Michael's wife Lucy, Ern's wife Erin. When an unidentified man turns up dead in very bizarre fashion, Ern begins his search for the killer. Along the way, he reveals how his family members have caused the deaths of other people. Three years ago, Michael "asked Ernie to dispose of a corpse that turned out not to be quite dead yet" (Publishers Weekly). Ern subsequenly testified against his brother who went to jail. but is now being released--hence one of the major rifts in the family dynamics. 

Reviews have been largely positive with Publishers Weekly calling the book "exceptionally clever and amusing " and concluding "Stevenson carries off this tour de force with all the aplomb of a master magician who conducts his tricks in plain view." The Washington Post's Maureen Corrigan praises "Stevenson not only “plays fair,” he plays the mystery game very, very well." Kirkus delivers a more modest review closing with "This book and its author are cleverer than you and want you to know it."