Ernie Cunningham is the narrator, an expert in crime fiction, as a critic that is. And, as author of a ‘how to write crime fiction’ guide, he knows the rules, knows Robert Knox’s 1929 ten commandments. So, when he puts pen to paper to relate this personal murder mystery, he promises to abide by them in the solving, while also revealing just how everyone in his family has killed someone.
He points out early that they are not a family of psychopaths. Killed does not necessarily mean murdered, though neither does it preclude it. The plot reveals are central to the narrative, and as I don’t do spoilers this review is restricted to setting the scene and introducing the characters.
The scene first, Sky Lodge Mountain Retreat, the highest drive-in accommodation in Australia. It is the antipodean winter, and a snowstorm is on the way. Arriving from all quarters for a reunion is the Cunningham family along with attached or semi-detached partners.
Looking from Ernie’s point of view, he expects hostility from his brother, Michael (just out of prison after a stretch for murder), his mother, Audrey, and sister-in-law, Lucy. Ernie gave evidence in Michael’s trial, and Audrey and Lucy bear a grudge. He is also expecting grief from his almost-ex-wife, Erin, and his Aunt Katherine and her husband Andy. Only his stepsister, Sofia, daughter of Marcelo (Audrey’s second husband), will be glad to see him.
So why meet up? It’s mandatory, a family edict to welcome Michael’s release. And for Ernie it is a matter of closure and returning the 267,000 dollars in cash his brother left in his care.
A body is found, things happen, deaths occur, back stories emerge revealing the trail of more deaths that have led to this, whatever this really is! All related by Ernie in deadpan humour and playful tension, taking the reader by the hand through a convoluted but perfectly reasoned plot.
An unusual murder
mystery faithful to Knox’s rules.
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