Crime Everyone in My Family has Killed Someone

Benjamin Stevenson: Penguin, $33

Ernest Cunningham writes guides to publishing fiction and thrillers. So, when he finds himself at a fraught family reunion in an isolated ski resort, he, and the reader, can guess what happens next. In a clever parody of the golden age of the genre, Australian comedian Stevenson starts with 10 rules penned in the 1930s and runs with them. The characters fit every trope (distant mother, criminal father, estranged brother, bossy aunt, dull uncle, addict stepsister, wayward wives, stooge policeman …) in addition to an ever-increasing body count. There’s even a hole in the plot and a denouement in the library. Perhaps most entertaining of all is matching the slated murders to the predicted page numbers. Inspired. SHELLEY ORCHARD