Everyone in This Bank Is a Thief
Everyone in This Bank Is a Thief (Ernest Cunningham #4)
By: Benjamin Stevenson
[Fulfills the prompt: ‘Book with a door on the cover’ for the Shelf Reflection 2026 Reading Challenge]
[On my list of Most Anticipated Books of 2026]
“There’s more you can steal from a bank than just money.”
Oh Ernest… you’ve done it again…
What is it this time?
“how bout a bank manager locked out of his own vault, a bank robber who doesn’t seem to care about money, a guard who doesn’t care about protecting it, four dead bodies, a priest who can’t talk, and a talking bird that won’t shut up?”
Ten heists. Lots of suspects. Spontaneous human combustion. A mysterious apostrophe. This book has it all.
The complexity of the mystery, the humor, and the creative and clever writing style made this book a very enjoyable read; but by now, I’m not surprised. Kudos to Stevenson for the consistency in this series. We know exactly what we’re going to get but at the same time we have no idea what’s coming.
Benjamin Stevenson provides his WhatsApp number in the author’s note and invites readers to message him their guess after reading Chapter 40. My initial thought was: let’s do this! But then I read that far and I didn’t want to embarrass myself so I refrained.
I was so close to finishing, I didn’t want to take the time it would have required to go back through all the clues I highlighted and figure it out. I actually did manage to guess the right person/s and had the right clues but I did not put it altogether.
This one is pretty complex, I’d be impressed by anyone who could nail it down! I would love to see the mapping Stevenson did to write this thing.
If you don’t know who Ernest Cunningham is by now, you really should go back and read the series in order. I do think you could get by with reading this as a standalone, but it’s going to be a better experience if you understand Ernest and Juliette chronologically.
At this point in Ernest’s life, he has solved three murder cases that he just so happened to get himself involved in. And then he wrote books about them (because he’s a Golden-Age mystery writer).
He’s now trying to set up a legit detective agency but requires a loan for that to be realized.
“One banker told me my books were only shelved in bookshops as ‘murder mysteries’ because there isn’t a section for ‘insurance nightmares.’”
He has not had luck securing a loan so when a banker from Huxley, Australia (fictional city near Byron Bay— I probably would have gone with Mullumbimby… for obvious reasons) approaches him with an offer, Ernest jumps at the chance to check it out.
“‘You’re in need of a bank. And it just so happens I’m in need of a detective.’”
Winston, the bank manager, cannot open the bank vault. His brother Edward (co-manager) changed the vault code and has now disappeared. Winston needs Ernest to find Edward so he doesn’t have to publicize the vault debacle.
Of course, Ernest finds himself in quite the predicament when suddenly a bank robber strolls in and takes him and a bunch of other people (including a priest, a sick woman with an IV pole, a teenager with a piggy bank, and the Hollywood producer who is optioning one of Ernest’s books to film) hostage.
Ernest’s missing person case just got a lot deeper.
But Big Ern is not one to back down from a challenge. He’s going to solve this case even if it costs him his life. Which isn’t as heroic as it sounds considering he makes some pretty stupid decisions in the book.
But at least he admits it:
“remember, I’m an idiot, not a psychopath.”
Thus, we immediately find out in the book that he’s writing this all down from inside a vault from which he cannot escape and is running out of air. How’d he get himself in there? And does he know who the thieves slash robbers slash murderers are?? Will he be able to get out in time to have a dramatic parlour scene where he reveals all the things?!?
You’ll have to read the book to find out!
As mentioned before, Stevenson is just a clever writer and I thoroughly enjoy his creativity and sarcasm. Ernest’s character is so good. I was trying to figure out who to compare him to and the best I could come up with is: the wit, down-to-earthness and self-deprecation of Nate Bargatze mixed with half of Tony Stark’s intelligence (maybe a fourth, I don’t know if I fully grasp Stark’s genius) and a dash of Owen Wilson’s confidence. Perhaps a bit of Harlan Coben’s Myron Bolitar character too.
It’s like a more likeable version of Adam Sandler’s character in the Murder Mystery movies.
It’s like he was raised by Steve Martin’s Pink Panther character but turned out (mostly) normal.
Clearly I’m still workshopping this.
Anyway, here are a few funny lines in the book to give you an idea of Stevenson’s writing style:
“Juliette has a list of careers as long as the rib-cage tattoo of a poetry-loving surfer.”
“I was as surprised by Winston Huxley’s words as his head seemed to be to have hair on it.”
“‘If you’d have just died like you were supposed to, you wouldn’t be so offended.’”
“[Byron Bay] where positive thinking meets negative gearing and people walk barefoot to connect with Mother Nature, provided that Mother Nature is the name of their wi-fi network.” (and is the home to the Hemsworth boys)
Amidst the chaos and Ernest’s weird case-solving energy, we do get a existential moment of clarity from Ernest that I appreciated, however short it ended up being:
“I would rather die with a reason than live without one.”
Wise words.
Okay, I finally have some new Australian lingo to share with the world!
Let’s see if you can figure out what they mean by this sentence:
If they would have stopped telling porkies about the weather I could have grabbed my brolly before I carked it from getting too wet.
Those who live in Australia (and possibly the UK) would agree— people are sayin’ this stuff allllllll the time.
So yeah porkies are lies. A brolly is an umbrella. and to cark it is to become a carcass. I mean die.
Seriously, Australians are so much better at slang. In America all we get is bro and 6 7.
Speaking of language… this book brings up leetspeak. Which is wild because I just read the book Fatal Intrusion by Jeffery Deaver and Isabella Maldonado and that’s a big theme in that one. So if you’re interested in books with the obscure combination of leetspeak and crimes, check it out.
Speaking of things from this book that are in other books, there was a quote from Everyone in This Bank Is a Thief that sounded very familiar to me:
“This is no longer a murder mystery. It’s a rescue mission.”
I figured out why. The quote I chose from the book Gone Dark by Ryan Steck was “This wasn’t a rescue mission anymore. It was a crime scene.” So I just read the inverse story apparently!
Speaking of the future… I have a guess at what Stevenson is going to write next.
He keeps making comments about whether someone is going to die at their wedding or not, so I’m going to guess that’s what the next book will be about: Everyone at This Wedding is a Cheater. Actually that would be terrible to read about.
Let’s get obscure: Everyone at this Wedding is a Detective.
And everyone’s trying to solve their own little mystery that brought them to the wedding but it’s all going to be related to one thing… Spoiler: it was an elaborate challenged planned by Ernest, himself, as a wedding gift to his guests. And of course it goes all wrong and someone ruins the cake and another one dies (by natural causes), but hey, you can’t have it all. Anyway, Stevenson, let me know if you want to write this one together ;)
P.S. Why did Ernest ask if Edward knitted or crocheted?
Recommendation
Totally.
[Content Advisory: 5 f-words, 3 s-words; no sexual content; we do read about some human combustion and their face melts off and a few other grotesque things but it’s science-y so don’t have feelings about it… ]
**Received an ARC via NetGalley**
This book just released March, 2026. You can order a copy of this book using my affiliate link below.
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