“A witty twist on classic whodunits… Stevenson not only 'plays fair,' he plays the mystery game very, very well.” — Washington Post
“Exceptionally clever and amusing. ... Stevenson carries off this tour de force with all the aplomb of a master magician who conducts his tricks in plain view.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“I absolutely loved it. Utterly original, hugely entertaining, and a must-read for every fan of the mystery genre. What an exceptionally fresh, smart, funny book—I’ve never read anything like this before.” — Jane Harper
“As fresh and zingy as a salted lime. It’s Knives Out meets Richard Osman. Or Dexter by way of Agatha Christie. Or Schitt’s Creek with a body count. It’s also the most luxuriantly enjoyable novel I’ve read in years. And years. I began toting my copy around town so that strangers would ask me about it—who could resist that title? I only wish there were more members of the Cunningham clan, so that this raucous, matchlessly entertaining mystery could go on longer. Benjamin Stevenson, I’ve got a lot to learn from you.” — AJ Finn
“A jaunty and clever mystery with unexpected twists. Absolutely not to be missed.” — Karin Slaughter
"Clever." — USA Today
“I absolutely LOVED it. It’s so engaging, entertaining and charming. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything like it. It was SUCH a fun read.” — Marian Keyes
"An ingenious and hilarious meta-murder mystery." — Sunday Times (London), best crime of the year
“Resplendent in its sophisticated wit, characters with myriad motives and adroit plotting that indulges in clichés but manages to avoid the predictable. Stevenson also does the near impossible: he mixes the lightness of a cozy with the intensity of a hard-boiled thriller.” — Shelf Awareness
"Exceedingly clever... Read it once for fun and then again to see how it was done.” — CriminalElement.com
"Imaginative" — AARP Magazine
"Some readers are drawn to mysteries because they love the formula and logic—this one’s for them. ... This book and its author are cleverer than you and want you to know it." — Kirkus Reviews
I absolutely loved it. Utterly original, hugely entertaining, and a must-read for every fan of the mystery genre. What an exceptionally fresh, smart, funny book—I’ve never read anything like this before.
2022-10-26
In this mystery, the narrator constantly adds commentary on how the story is constructed.
In 1929, during the golden age of mysteries, a (real-life) writer named Ronald Knox published the “10 Commandments of Detective Fiction,” 10 rules that mystery writers should obey in order to “play fair.” When faced with his own mystery story, our narrator, an author named Ernest Cunningham who "write[s] books about how to write books," feels like he must follow these rules himself. The story seemingly begins on the night his brother Michael calls to ask him to help bury a body—and shows up with the body and a bag containing $267,000. Fast-forward three years, and Ernie’s family has gathered at a ski resort to celebrate Michael’s release from prison. The family dynamics are, to put it lightly, complicated—and that’s before a man shows up dead in the snow and Michael arrives with a coffin in a truck. When the local cop arrests Michael for the murder, things get even more complicated: There are more deaths; Michael tells a story about a coverup involving their father, who was part of a gang called the Sabers; and Ernie still has (most of) the money and isn’t sure whom to trust or what to do with it. Eventually, Ernie puts all the pieces together and gathers the (remaining) family members and various extras for the great denouement. As the plot develops, it becomes clear that there’s a pretty interesting mystery at the heart of this novel, but Stevenson’s postmodern style has Ernie constantly breaking the fourth wall to explain how the structure of his story meets the criteria for a successful detective story. Some readers are drawn to mysteries because they love the formula and logic—this one’s for them. If you like the slow, sometimes-creepy, sometimes-comforting unspooling of a good mystery, it might not be your cup of tea—though the ending, to be fair, is still something of a surprise.
This book and its author are cleverer than you and want you to know it.
