Kim Deister
4.5 stars
In a nutshell, this was one of the most creative and unique locked-room mysteries I’ve ever read. It was both dark and serious and yet hilarious, too. It completely broke the fourth wall, and the author did that extremely well.
I LOVED the homage to Ronald Knox’s Ten Commandments and the Detection Club. The author used them as part of the breaking of the fourth wall, which was endlessly entertaining. The narrator, the oh-so-reliable Ernest, tells the story of his dysfunctional family. Truly they are the epitome of dysfunctional, as they have all, as the title suggests, killed someone. Yet, in spite of the title, none of them are of the Bloody Benders ilk, but all people who tended to find themselves in situations that went, well, wrong. The story is told in an engaging conversational style that delved into the lives of each member of the family.