Can You Solve the Crime Before the Oxygen Runs Out? 🏦💸
If you’ve been following the meta-mystery adventures of Ernest Cunningham, you know that where he goes, a body usually follows. But in Benjamin Stevenson’s latest installment, EVERYONE IN THIS BANK IS A THIEF, the stakes are higher, the vault is locked, and the narrator is writing the story while trapped inside a steel box with only fifteen hours of air left.
The Setup: Ernest and his fiancée, Juliette, head to a remote bank to apply for a business loan to start a detective agency. Instead of a signed contract, they get a shotgun-wielding robber in a fencer’s mask. But here’s the twist: this isn’t just a robbery. It’s ten heists happening at once.
The Suspects: Stevenson plays “fair” from page one. He gives you the list of everyone in the room:
Why You’ll Love It: As always, Stevenson breaks the fourth wall with surgical precision. He mocks the very tropes he uses, paying homage to Golden Age mysteries while delivering a modern, high-speed thriller. It’s witty, sarcastic, and incredibly clever. You aren’t just reading a mystery; you’re being challenged to solve it alongside a narrator who might actually be dying as he tells it.
If you loved Knives Out or Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club, this “fair-play” puzzle is your next must-read. Just remember: in this bank, everyone is stealing something—and it might not just be money.
