Benjamin Stevenson - Shastrix Books

Benjamin Stevenson

Recently reviewed

Everyone on This Train is a Suspect

Everyone on This Train is a Suspect

Benjamin Stevenson

9th March 2024

The classic sequel, in which our protagonist returns to tell another story with a title that tenuously connects it to the first despite not being entirely accurate when it comes to evaluating the plot, wherein only a specific subset of the people on the train some of the time are suspects.

It’s a very clever and very funny narrative, told as our hero is invited to a writer’s convention aboard a train travelling the north-south span of Australia. The mystery is to some extent the classic locked room, where the room is the train.

I do think with the plethora of cosy crime available today that it’s the narrative that has to make it. This is amusingly meta as the detective is a crime writer, and so references all the classic tropes as he goes.

Really good, raced through it, book three is going straight on my list for next year.

read more

Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled Star
Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone

Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone

Benjamin Stevenson

27th November 2022

A book I bought based entirely on the title, this is an Australian novel about a man who’s family have all killed somebody, and we follow the events of their family skiing holiday as he introduces them all to us.

It’s a fun narrative which peels back layer after layer of mystery to reveal more and more about the background to what’s happening, keeping the reader engaged throughout.

I did find that I kept forgetting that the setting was Australia, and having to reset my mental picture.

read more

Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarEmpty Star

Top books

  1. Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled Star
  2. Everyone on This Train is a Suspect
  3. Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarEmpty Star
  4. Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone