guilty of stealing my bookish heart
Ernest Cunningham is maybe robbing a bank.
He’s had a couple of successes as a detective, and now he’s thinking about opening up a detective agency. But he doesn’t have the money, and he is struggling to find a bank that will give him a loan in Sydney. That’s how he ends up at the bank in Huxley, Australia, about to meet with one of the brothers who directs the bank and ask for money to solve murders.
It’s a strange day even without the loan meeting. The city is being overrun with butterflies like a plague from the Old Testament. The actor who had been hired to play Ernest Cunningham in the movie based on his first book was killed in a car accident. And as Ernest is trying to secure his loan from the bank, the bank is robbed.
There are ten people in the bank when the robber comes in and holds them all hostage. The bank employee, the security guard, a grandmother with her sick granddaughter, a teenaged boy with a piggy bank, a movie producer, and a priest who has taken a vow of silence. Add in Winston Huxley, the bank director, and Ernest and Juliette, his fiancée, and there are ten hostages in the bank as its being robbed. And the man with the gun asks for one thing: a dollar from the safe. And that’s the one thing Winston can’t give him, as his brother Edward just changed the combination of the safe and then disappeared.
Winston has invited Ernest to apply for a loan, but really he needs Ernest to find Edward and open the vault. But in order for Ernest to do that, he will need to uncover all the secrets of everyone currently in the bank. And in order to do that, he just may need to rob the bank himself.
Everyone in This Bank Is a Thief is a stunning mystery with layers of secrets, lies, and crimes. Written by main character and detective Ernest as he is fighting for his life, this story is told in a classic Golden Age mystery style, so all the clues are available to readers as they follow the narrative. I was able to figure out parts of the mystery, and other parts got past me, and I feel like that’s the best part of a mystery novel. I love one that lets me figure out some of the secrets but is still more clever than I am without playing dirty.
I listened to Everyone in This Bank Is a Thief on audio, narrated to perfection by Barton Welch. Listening to it meant that I probably missed more tiny details than I would have by reading it, but Welch’s narration was exceptional, so it felt like a production. I had so much fun listening to the way Welch read this book that I wanted to go back to the start of this series and listen to them all on audio.
I absolutely loved this book. I loved these characters and all the surprises that came along with them. It’s thoughtful and layered while also being full of heart and humor. I’m not sure who is going to try to kill Ernest Cunningham next, but I can’t wait to hear the full story.
Egalleys for Everyone in This Bank Is a Thief were provided by Mariner Books, and an early copy of the audio was provided by HarperAudio Adult, both through NetGalley, with many thanks, but the opinions are mine.
