Yes, the title’s real: Penn Badgley leads Amazon’s Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone

No shortage of whodunits on telly these days, but Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone is coming in swinging with a proper twist on the familiar. Amazon's gone and picked up the rights to Benjamin Stevenson's best-selling novel, which, if I can be blunt, was easily one of the more entertaining crime reads of the last few years. Fifth Season and Made Up Stories are the production teams pulling the strings, and they've tapped David Hemmingson (yes, the chap behind The Holdovers) as both showrunner and executive producer – solid pedigree there.

The Setup: Dysfunctional Down Under

Here's the juicy bit: Penn Badgley – you know, bloke from You and Gossip Girl – is stepping in as Ernest Cunningham. Ernest writes guides on how to solve mysteries, yet has never cracked an actual case in his life (a bit rich, frankly). He's not all that fussed about storytelling conventions either; throughout the book, he's addressing the audience head-on, skipping scenes, even spoiling deaths before they happen. Expect some proper fourth wall-breaking nonsense in the adaptation.

The plot drops the entire Cunningham family at an Australian ski resort, brought together for the release of Ernest's brother Michael from prison. Michael's inside because Ernest himself grassed him up – which makes for a frosty reunion even before the dead body shows up on the resort's golf course. Oh, and the clue's in the title: every single family member has notched a fatality of their own, whether it was by accident or design.

Peter Friedlander, who heads up Global Television at Amazon MGM, summed up the show's appeal: "Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone is a brilliantly inventive series that subverts the murder mystery genre in the most unexpected and entertaining ways. Ben created a world that is darkly funny and wickedly clever."

Building a Murderverse?

If Amazon hits the mark here, they've got themselves a proper crime franchise. Stevenson’s already penned three more Ernest Cunningham books – Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect, Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret, and the more recent Everyone in This Bank is a Thief (that one only dropped this year, so not much catching up to do). Personally, I've only managed the first, but they’re all waiting in the pile for a rainy weekend.

Everyone in This Bank is a Thief came out in 2026, adding a fourth instalment to the Ernest Cunningham saga.

If you’re into your self-aware mysteries – think something halfway between Knives Out and a Poirot story with the volume turned up – this one’s looking worth a punt. Keeps things clever, darkly funny, and, with Badgley in the lead, should at least make for an off-kilter alternative to the usual detective fare.