Where to Start with Benjamin Stevenson?
Benjamin Stevenson has taken the crime fiction world by storm, drawing on his background as a stand-up comedian and publishing insider to craft whodunits that are as witty as they are puzzling. When deciding where to begin, you have two distinct paths depending on the style of mystery you prefer. If you love classic, puzzle-box whodunits with a self-aware, comedic twist, start immediately with Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, the first book in the globally acclaimed Ernest Cunningham series. If you prefer grittier, darker, and more traditional psychological thrillers, start with his debut novel Greenlight (also published as Trust Me When I Lie or She Lies in the Vines), which kicks off the Jack Quick series.
The Ernest Cunningham Mysteries
The Ernest Cunningham series is Stevenson's signature work. Featuring a narrator who is a writer of books about how to write mysteries, these novels are famous for their metafictional style, where Ernest breaks the fourth wall to talk directly to the reader, promising to play fair by classic Golden Age rules. The series should be read in publication order to fully appreciate the running jokes, character development, and Ernest's evolving relationship with his family and his own fame.
- Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone (2022): This is the book that launched Stevenson to international fame. Set at a snowbound family reunion in the Australian Alps, Ernest Cunningham must solve a series of murders when it becomes clear that every single member of his highly dysfunctional family has, in one way or another, taken a life.
- Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect (2023): Ernest is invited to a crime-writing festival aboard the Ghan, a legendary train crossing the Australian outback. When a passenger is murdered, the suspects are all crime writers, editors, and agents who try to solve the murder using their own fictional specialties.
- Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret (2024): A festive, fast-paced novella where Ernest finds himself trapped at a Christmas gathering with a family of magicians. When a magic trick goes horribly wrong and turns deadly, Ernest must unpack the secrets of the illusionists.
- Everyone in This Bank Is a Thief (2026): In the fourth full-length installment, Ernest Cunningham is caught in a bank heist. When a hostage is killed, Ernest finds himself trapped with ten suspects—and ten separate heists taking place simultaneously.
The Jack Quick Thrillers
Before his breakout hit, Stevenson wrote a duology featuring Jack Quick, a morally compromised producer of a popular true-crime television show. These books are darker, focusing on the media's obsession with tragedy, the subjectivity of truth, and the personal cost of investigation. They should be read in order due to Jack's character arc and the consequences of his actions in the first book carrying over directly to the second.
- Greenlight / Trust Me When I Lie (2018): Depending on where you buy this book, you might find it under different titles, including She Lies in the Vines. The story follows Jack Quick as he tries to correct a mistake. While making a documentary, he accidentally got a suspected killer acquitted—only for a new victim to turn up dead shortly after, forcing Jack to solve the crime.
- Either Side of Midnight (2020): Jack Quick returns to investigate a public tragedy when a popular television host commits suicide live on air. The host's twin brother suspects foul play, dragging Jack into a web of psychological manipulation, online abuse, and family secrets.
Novellas, Audio Originals, and Flip-Books
Stevenson is also a prolific creator of standalone thrillers, initially released as Audible Originals before transitioning to print formats. These stories showcase his versatility with high-concept premises outside his two main series.
- Don't Hang Up (2023): A standalone audio thriller that follows Adam Turner, a late-night radio host. A mysterious caller kidnaps a woman and holds her hostage, threatening to execute her live on air if Adam hangs up the phone, forcing a tense, real-time negotiation.
- Fool Me Twice (2024): This is a unique physical flip-book containing two standalone novellas. You read one story, then flip the book upside down to read the second. The stories included are:
- Find Us (originally released in 2021), about an online amateur detective tracking down missing siblings after finding the words 'FIND US' written in blood on a sidewalk.
- Last One to Leave, a locked-room reality TV contest where seven strangers must keep their hands on a luxury clifftop mansion to win it, but soon find themselves fighting for their lives.
What to Know Before You Start
While the Jack Quick books are traditional, gritty Australian noir, the Ernest Cunningham series is highly experimental and playful. Ernest frequently refers to Ronald Knox's 'Decalogue' of detective fiction rules and promises to tell you the truth, even going so far as to list the page numbers where deaths occur right in the introduction. The timeline of the Ernest Cunningham series matches publication order, and because of the heavy meta-narrative about Ernest writing the very books you are reading, jumping into the sequels without the context of the first book will spoil major family dynamics and plot points. Additionally, readers should note the regional title differences for Stevenson's debut novel to avoid accidentally purchasing the same book twice.