Benjamin Stevenson Books in Order: Ernest Cunningham Mysteries, Jack Quick Thrillers & More

Australian author Benjamin Stevenson combines traditional crime-fiction puzzles with dark humor, metafiction, unreliable assumptions, and narrators who know that they are inside a mystery. His career has two particularly important phases: the darker Jack Quick thrillers that began with Greenlight and the playful, self-aware Ernest Cunningham mysteries that made him an international bestseller.

Unlike authors with one long-running detective series, Stevenson’s books fall into distinct groups. The Ernest Cunningham novels are the best-known sequence, while the Jack Quick books form an earlier two-book series; his novellas and short stories offer separate high-concept mysteries rather than additional Ernest Cunningham installments.

Ernest Cunningham Mysteries in Order

The Ernest Cunningham books in order are currently a four-book series. They follow Ernest “Ern” Cunningham, a crime-fiction enthusiast who repeatedly finds himself caught up in real murders and approaches them with an unusually strong awareness of the conventions of detective fiction.

One of the defining features of the series is its metafictional style: Ernest talks directly to the reader, discusses the rules of mystery writing, and presents himself as a narrator who intends to play fair. That structure means the series is much more enjoyable when read in order because Ernest’s personal history and relationships develop from one mystery to the next.

1. Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone (2022)

The book that turned Benjamin Stevenson into a major international crime-fiction name begins with an outrageous family premise: Ernest Cunningham is attending a family reunion where practically everyone has a reason to be suspicious—and every member of the family has killed someone. The reunion takes place at a snowbound mountain resort, where the discovery of a body turns a dysfunctional gathering into a classic locked-room-style murder mystery.

Ernest is both narrator and detective, and that distinction is central to the novel’s appeal. He openly discusses mystery-writing conventions, clues, deaths, and the obligation to play fair with the reader. The result is not simply a whodunnit but a deliberately constructed conversation with the entire tradition of Golden Age detective fiction. Stevenson mixes clever clues with family resentment, dark comedy, and a narrator who knows exactly how suspicious his own storytelling can appear.

Why read it: This is the essential starting point for Stevenson and the best introduction to his distinctive combination of humor, metafiction, and classic murder-mystery mechanics.

2. Everyone On This Train Is A Suspect (2023)

Ernest Cunningham returns in a very different locked-room environment: a train carrying a group of crime writers. The setup is almost tailor-made for Stevenson because his suspects are people who understand murder mysteries, know how fictional detectives work, and potentially know exactly how to construct a seemingly impossible crime.

When one of the writers is murdered, six authors suddenly have to become detectives. That creates the central joke and the central puzzle at the same time: these people spend their professional lives inventing murders, so who better to understand how a killer might operate—and who better to conceal a crime? Ernest once again addresses the reader directly while playing with the conventions of classic detective fiction and the habits of modern crime writers.

The train setting also gives Stevenson another variation on the traditional closed-circle mystery. As the suspects remain confined together, Ernest has to work through competing stories, professional rivalries, secrets, and carefully planted clues.

Why read it: It is the natural follow-up to the first novel and particularly rewarding for readers who enjoy literary jokes about mystery fiction itself.

3. Everyone This Christmas Has A Secret (2024)

This shorter Ernest Cunningham mystery moves the series into Christmas territory without abandoning its murder-puzzle foundations. Ernest finds himself investigating a killing connected to the performance of a famous magician, where practically every suspect is an expert in deception and misdirection.

The suspects include a magician, assistant, executive, hypnotist, twin, counsellor, and stagehand—people whose professional lives already revolve around making other people believe something that is not true. That makes the investigation especially appropriate for Stevenson’s style because the mystery repeatedly asks readers to distinguish genuine evidence from carefully manufactured appearances.

The Christmas setting also changes the tone. Rather than simply reproducing the larger-scale structure of the first two novels, Stevenson uses the holiday atmosphere, a deadly advent calendar, and the mechanics of a magic show to create a compact mystery built around misdirection.

Why read it: It is a shorter, festive entry that works especially well for readers who enjoy Christmas mysteries, magic tricks, and classic clue-based puzzles.

4. Everyone In This Bank Is A Thief (2026)

The fourth Ernest Cunningham mystery places Ernest inside a bank robbery that quickly becomes much more complicated than a conventional heist. The bank is sealed, the people inside become potential suspects, and a murder transforms the hostage situation into another elaborate puzzle for Ernest to solve.

The novel’s central concept combines an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery with an Ocean’s Eleven-style heist setup. There are ten suspects and, unusually, multiple people appear to have arrived with their own plans to steal something from the bank. That means Ernest is not simply trying to identify a murderer; he must work out who is stealing what, which plans overlap, and whether the various crimes are connected.

As with the earlier Ernest Cunningham books, Stevenson emphasizes fair-play clues while using Ernest’s direct relationship with the reader to manipulate expectations. The result is a mystery that combines robbery, hostage drama, murder, competing schemes, and the author’s characteristic comedic asides.

Why read it: It is the latest Ernest Cunningham mystery and a particularly good choice if you like crime novels that combine a traditional puzzle with an unusual setting.

Ernest Cunningham Reading Order at a Glance

The four books are listed as the current Ernest Cunningham mysteries by Penguin Australia and current bibliography sources.

Jack Quick Books in Order

Before Ernest Cunningham became Stevenson’s signature character, he wrote the Jack Quick series, a darker two-book sequence centered on a morally compromised television producer and the world of true-crime media.

These books are substantially different in tone from the Ernest Cunningham mysteries. They are more serious, darker, and more focused on the relationship between crime, media, public perception, and the search for truth.

1. Greenlight / Trust Me When I Lie / She Lies in the Vines (2018)

Stevenson’s debut novel introduces Jack Quick, a producer who has built a successful true-crime documentary around the murder of a young woman named Eliza Dacey. Jack’s program argues that Curtis Wade, the man convicted of the crime, was wrongly imprisoned because the original investigation was flawed. The documentary becomes successful enough to influence a retrial—and Curtis is released.

The problem is that Jack has doubts of his own. Before the documentary’s conclusion, he discovers evidence that could suggest Curtis really is guilty, but he chooses to suppress it. When another woman is murdered after Curtis’s release, Jack is forced to confront the possibility that his pursuit of a compelling television narrative helped put a dangerous man back on the streets.

The novel examines the uncomfortable relationship between truth and entertainment. Jack is not simply investigating a murder; he has already shaped the public’s understanding of the case through television. That makes the central mystery partly about who committed the crime and partly about whether the story Jack told was ever honest.

Important title note: Greenlight, Trust Me When I Lie, and She Lies in the Vines are different titles for the same novel, not three separate books. Greenlight was the original Australian title, while other markets used She Lies in the Vines and Trust Me When I Lie.

2. Either Side of Midnight (2020)

Jack Quick returns after the events of the first novel in another mystery involving television, public spectacle, and an apparently impossible death.

Television presenter Sam Midford shoots himself live on air while millions of viewers are watching. The evidence appears overwhelming: viewers have literally seen Sam pull the trigger. Yet Sam’s grieving twin, Harry, believes his brother was murdered. Jack, disgraced and desperate, accepts the case and begins investigating how a death witnessed by an enormous television audience could possibly have been something other than suicide.

The premise allows Stevenson to explore the gap between seeing something and understanding it. Television creates the illusion that viewers know exactly what happened, but Jack’s investigation reveals how easily context, editing, assumptions, and public narratives can distort what appears obvious.

The novel is darker and more psychologically driven than the Ernest Cunningham mysteries, while still giving Stevenson plenty of room for reversals and carefully constructed revelations.

Why read it: Read it after Greenlight if you want the complete Jack Quick character arc and Stevenson’s earlier, more serious thriller style.

Jack Quick Reading Order at a Glance

The Jack Quick series contains two books and should be read in publication order.

Benjamin Stevenson Short Stories and Novellas in Order

Stevenson has also published several shorter crime and thriller works. These are separate from both the Ernest Cunningham and Jack Quick series and do not need to be read to understand either series.

1. Find Us (2021)

Find Us begins with an unsettling roadside discovery: a child’s yellow backpack has been abandoned, and the words “FIND US” have been written in blood nearby.

Originally released as an Audible Original, the story turns a simple missing-person mystery into a fast-moving crime puzzle. The short format works in Stevenson’s favor because the premise immediately establishes an unanswered question and then forces the reader to reconsider what the evidence means.

Unlike the Ernest Cunningham books, this story does not depend on a recurring protagonist or larger series mythology. It is best approached as a compact standalone mystery.

2. Last One to Leave (2022)

Seven strangers are invited to compete for a luxurious clifftop mansion. The rules of the competition are bizarre but simple: each contestant must keep at least one hand touching some part of the house. The last person to remove their hand wins the property.

After 36 hours, however, one of the contestants is murdered. The competition immediately changes from an eccentric endurance challenge into a survival mystery. The remaining participants must determine whether the person who “wins” the contest will actually be the last person to leave—or simply the last person still alive.

The premise gives Stevenson another variation on the locked-room mystery: the house is not literally sealed, yet leaving it can mean losing the competition, creating an unusual psychological barrier.

3. Don’t Hang Up (2023)

Don’t Hang Up follows Adam Turner, a former star radio presenter who now works the lonely midnight-to-dawn shift at a local station. His routine changes when a caller contacts him at 12:45 a.m. with a terrifying demand: stay on the line and keep broadcasting until dawn, or a captive woman will die.

The caller begins forcing Adam to answer increasingly personal questions, exposing his career failures and secrets to anyone listening. Adam therefore has two problems at once: he must keep the caller talking long enough to discover who they are, while also trying to prevent the conversation from becoming a public destruction of his own life.

Because the story takes place largely through a live radio conversation, Stevenson creates tension from information rather than a traditional chase. Every question can reveal a clue, expose a weakness, or bring the captive woman closer to danger.

Fool Me Twice (2024): Two Novellas in One Book

Fool Me Twice: Two Twisty Mysteries is a 2024 print collection that brings together two previously released Audible Originals: Find Us and Last One to Leave. It is therefore important not to count Fool Me Twice as two additional novels when calculating Stevenson’s bibliography.

The collection contains:

1. Find Us — a missing-person mystery sparked by a blood-written message.
2. Last One to Leave — a locked-room-style murder mystery set inside a bizarre reality competition.

Because the two stories were already published separately, readers who own the individual Audible or ebook editions do not need to buy Fool Me Twice to complete Stevenson’s fiction bibliography.

Benjamin Stevenson Books in Publication Order

If you want to follow Benjamin Stevenson’s career chronologically, the most useful order is:

1. Greenlight / Trust Me When I Lie / She Lies in the Vines — 2018
2. Either Side of Midnight — 2020
3. Find Us — 2021
4. Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone — 2022
5. Last One to Leave — 2022
6. Everyone On This Train Is A Suspect — 2023
7. Don’t Hang Up — 2023
8. Everyone This Christmas Has A Secret — 2024
9. Fool Me Twice — 2024, collection of Find Us and Last One to Leave
10. Everyone In This Bank Is A Thief — 2026

The publication dates and series classifications are supported by current bibliography listings and Penguin’s author and series pages.

Note: Fool Me Twice is listed here because it is a distinct 2024 print publication, but it is a collection rather than new standalone fiction.

Do You Need to Read Benjamin Stevenson Books in Order?

Only within the connected series.

You should read the Ernest Cunningham mysteries in order because Ernest’s personal story and his relationship with his family develop across the books. The mysteries themselves are structured as individual cases, but later books assume that readers understand what happened previously.

The same principle applies to the Jack Quick series:

1. Greenlight / Trust Me When I Lie / She Lies in the Vines
2. Either Side of Midnight

The shorter works—Find Us, Last One to Leave, and Don’t Hang Up—are separate stories and can be read independently.

What Is the First Benjamin Stevenson Book?

Benjamin Stevenson’s first novel was Greenlight, published in 2018. It introduced Jack Quick and was later published under the titles Trust Me When I Lie and She Lies in the Vines in different markets.

This is an important distinction because searching for all three titles can make it appear that Stevenson has written three different debut novels. He has not—the three titles refer to the same work.

What Is the First Ernest Cunningham Book?

The first Ernest Cunningham book is Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, published in 2022.

It is the book that established Stevenson’s signature metafictional mystery style, with Ernest acting simultaneously as narrator, amateur detective, and commentator on the rules of crime fiction.

If you have never read Benjamin Stevenson before, this is generally the best place to start.

What Is the Latest Benjamin Stevenson Book?

The latest Benjamin Stevenson book is Everyone In This Bank Is A Thief, the fourth Ernest Cunningham mystery. Penguin Australia lists its 2026 paperback publication as September 29, 2026, while the trade paperback, ebook, and audiobook editions appeared earlier; it is therefore the current latest Ernest Cunningham installment as of October 2026.

The book places Ernest in a bank during a robbery where multiple people appear to have separate plans to steal something, creating a murder mystery inside a complicated heist.

How Many Benjamin Stevenson Books Are There?

The answer depends on what you count as a “book.”

For his principal fiction, Stevenson currently has:

• 4 Ernest Cunningham novels
• 2 Jack Quick novels
• 3 separate short stories/novellas
• 1 print collection, Fool Me Twice
• Earlier anthology contributions

That gives readers 9 individual fiction works across the two main series and shorter-fiction category, or 10 publications if Fool Me Twice is counted as a separate book publication.

The number can look different on bibliography websites because some databases list the three alternate titles of Greenlight separately, while others correctly treat them as one novel.

Benjamin Stevenson Books by Series

Ernest Cunningham Mysteries

1. Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone — 2022
2. Everyone On This Train Is A Suspect — 2023
3. Everyone This Christmas Has A Secret — 2024
4. Everyone In This Bank Is A Thief — 2026

Jack Quick Series

1. Greenlight / Trust Me When I Lie / She Lies in the Vines — 2018
2. Either Side of Midnight — 2020

Short Fiction

1. Find Us — 2021
2. Last One to Leave — 2022
3. Don’t Hang Up — 2023

Collection

• Fool Me Twice: Two Twisty Mysteries — 2024

Best Benjamin Stevenson Books to Start With

Best overall: Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone

This is the obvious starting point for most readers because it introduces Ernest Cunningham and demonstrates Stevenson’s signature combination of classic mystery rules, dark humor, direct reader interaction, and elaborate plotting.

Best for a traditional thriller: Greenlight

Choose Greenlight if you prefer a darker, more serious crime thriller involving true-crime television, wrongful conviction, media manipulation, and the possibility that the person you helped free may actually be guilty.

Best for meta-mystery fans: Everyone On This Train Is A Suspect

This is particularly good for readers who enjoy books about writers, publishing, literary festivals, and mysteries that deliberately play with the conventions of mystery fiction.

Best short thriller: Don’t Hang Up

The radio-station setting gives this novella an unusually confined structure, while the live conversation allows tension to build almost entirely through information and psychological pressure.

Best locked-room concept: Last One to Leave

Seven contestants, one mansion, an absurd competition, and a murder make this an excellent choice if you like unusual closed-circle mysteries.

Are the Ernest Cunningham Books Connected?

Yes.

Although each Ernest Cunningham novel presents its own murder mystery, the books form a continuing character arc. Ernest’s family relationships, growing reputation, and experiences as an accidental amateur detective carry forward.

The metafictional element also makes the books more connected than a typical anthology-style mystery series because Ernest’s voice and his relationship with the reader are part of the continuing appeal.

For that reason, read the Ernest Cunningham books in publication order rather than starting with the newest installment.

Benjamin Stevenson vs. Ernest Cunningham: What’s the Difference?

Benjamin Stevenson is the author.

Ernest Cunningham is the fictional narrator and detective at the center of Stevenson’s most popular mystery series.

The Ernest Cunningham books are therefore only part of Stevenson’s bibliography. His earlier Jack Quick books are considerably darker, while the shorter works explore different high-concept thriller premises.

If you search specifically for Ernest Cunningham books in order, you need only the four books in that series. If you search for Benjamin Stevenson books in order, you should include Jack Quick and the author’s shorter fiction as well.

A Simple Benjamin Stevenson Reading Order

If you want the easiest complete reading path, follow this order:

1. Greenlight / Trust Me When I Lie / She Lies in the Vines
2. Either Side of Midnight
3. Find Us
4. Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone
5. Last One to Leave
6. Everyone On This Train Is A Suspect
7. Don’t Hang Up
8. Everyone This Christmas Has A Secret
9. Fool Me Twice — optional if you already read Find Us and Last One to Leave
10. Everyone In This Bank Is A Thief

If your main goal is to experience Stevenson’s bestselling style, you can simplify this considerably and start with the four Ernest Cunningham books.

Final Thoughts

The Benjamin Stevenson books in order reveal two very different sides of the author. His early Jack Quick novels are darker, media-focused thrillers concerned with truth, crime, and the consequences of turning real murders into entertainment, while the Ernest Cunningham mysteries use humor, metafiction, classic detective rules, and elaborate fair-play puzzles to reinvent the locked-room mystery for a modern audience.

For most new readers, Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone is the ideal starting point. From there, follow the Ernest Cunningham mysteries in order, or go back to Greenlight if you want to see the darker thriller style Stevenson developed before his international breakout.

Written by

Emon Anam

Hi, I’m Emon. I’m the voice and heart behind Whimsy Read. After nine years in the world of banking, I followed my passion for storytelling into the world of SEO and content strategy. Now, I blend that analytical eye with a deep love for literature to bring you book reviews that are thoughtful, honest, and always focused on the stories that stay with you. When I’m not reading or writing, you’ll find me enjoying joyful chaos with my wife and three kids, getting lost in a new series, or revisiting my old loves: theater, music, and gaming. At the end of the day, I believe great books are meant to be shared, and I’m so glad you’re here to share them with me.