Everyone This Christmas Has A Secret

By: Benjamin Stevenson

Narrated by: Barton Welch

Brought to you by Penguin.
My name is Ernest Cunningham.

I’m not a detective. I just happen to have a knack for what makes mysteries – and murderers – tick. I’d hoped, this Christmas, that any killers out there might be willing to take a break for the holidays.

I was wrong.

So here I am, backstage at the Christmas show of world-famous magician Rylan Blaze, whose benefactor has just been murdered. From the magician’s assistant to the hypnotist, my suspects are all professional tricksters. Masters in the art of misdirection.

My clues are even more of a mystery:

A suspect covered in blood, with no 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.

Solving the murder is the only gift I want this year. But can I catch a killer, and make it home for Christmas alive?

'Fun and diverting, with a plethora of red herrings' New York Times

Praise for Benjamin Stevenson
'Leave it to Stevenson to make high-jinx and murder deviously good fun' Nita Prose
'This crackles on the page. Such an original voice' Jane Fallon
'It's Knives Out meets Richard Osman' A.J. Finn
'Deliciously dark, funny and intriguing' Alex Pavesi


© Benjamin Stevenson 2024 (P) Penguin Audio 2024

Critic reviews

Lots to enjoy. Light and fun . . . the sort of thing to pop in the stocking of your fellow mystery fan on Christmas Day

Hilariously comic, devilishly ingenious and wonderfully tongue in cheek...delectable stuff and just the right novella-length, for a holiday treat

I loved this fun, Christmas-themed mystery, that's divided into 24 chapters - with 24 clues - making it a great Advent read

The sleuth from bestsellers Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone and Everyone on this Train is a Suspect is back for a festive mystery with an Advent calendar format

Praise for Benjamin Stevenson (:)

An ingenious and hilarious meta-murder mystery

An outstanding and exceptional mystery from start to finish (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 (A.J. Finn)

Clever, satisfying, impossible to put down and gloriously inventive. It's fantastic (Stuart Turton)

This crackles on the page. Such an original voice (Jane Fallon)