This was a riot. I loved every minute of my time with Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies. A fresh concept with too many to count laugh out loud moments. This is the kind of book that plays out like a super vivid movie in your head.

I really wanted to love this book, but it unfortunately fell flat for me. I didn’t really enjoy the characters in this book, and I really didn’t like the footnotes. I felt like there was so many interruptions in this book. I wanted to DNF it so bad, but I stuck it out in hopes that it’d get better. I know others loved it. So I recommend checking their thoughts as well! It may just not have been for me.

Thank you to and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book. This book was an absolute delight! This is a funny laugh out loud cozy murder mystery. Eleanor Dash is a famous author going on book tour with her beautiful sister and her ex who is experiencing near death experiences and thinks someone is out to kill him. Everything about this book was great - the plot, the characters, even the footnotes! Loved this book and can't wait for more from this author.

This is my first time reading this author’s books. It won’t be my last. This book is a cozy mystery with murder and a little romance.

The main character and narrator, Eleanor Dash, is a successful writer of ten books in her Vacation Mystery Series. She is on a tour of Italy with her sister, Harper, who is also her assistant. There are a few other authors and a group of loyal readers of her books on this trip. Joining the group is Connor Smith, Eleanor’s former boyfriend, who receives a percentage of her book profits because his name is used in her books. Another former boyfriend, Oliver, has joined the group. As the group tours the country, it becomes evident that someone is trying to kill Eleanor and Connor. Could it be a member of the tour group?

Fans of the movie Knives Out will love this book. I loved the way the author broke that fourth wall. One way was her use of footnotes that were sprinkled throughout the book. Many were humorous. She also spoke directly to readers offering encouragement to solve the mystery.

Although I didn't completely predict the outcome, I enjoyed this book. There was also a tease for a sequel at the end. Since this is Book #1, I’m looking forward to Book #2.

“But secrets don’t keep; they rot until their stench makes them impossible to ignore.”

What a fun read for summer! This cozy mystery has a beautiful setting (Italy!) and a great cast of characters. I really enjoyed Ms. Mack's writing style. There is humor throughout and the footnotes were fun. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in this series.

You know when you pick up a book and start reading it and you're like "I'm NOT in the mood for this genre" ???? That was me with this book. I started reading it and almost put it down for something else because I just didn't think I was in the mood for it.

But I forced myself read a little more. And then I read a little more. And before I knew it, I'd read half the book. And I loved every second of it. I loved it all the way until the end. All of the characters were amazing. The mystery was GREAT. I literally was guessing until the end. I found the footnotes in the book comical, even though it was super annoying to read them on my Kindle app.

But you know what? This book made me mad. Because the heroine of this story, Eleanor Dash? She got to go to Italy at LEAST twice and I've never been! That's just not fair. But I suppose that isn't Eleanore Dash or Catherine Mack's fault, is it?

Anyway, now I just need to know when book 2 will be out???

The best way to describe Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack is as a delightfully engaging mystery that provides countless laughs and unexpected detours. While this is a debut for the penname, the author behind the novel is a seasoned veteran with over a dozen novels to her credit. That said, Catherine Mack is poised to become a new fan favorite, so I hope she has been practicing her new autograph.


Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies might look like a cozy mystery—a subgenre with which it does share much DNA—but it would be more accurately defined as a traditional mystery, even straying into thriller territory on more than one occasion. This hybrid serves to make the whole endeavor feel fresh and unique.

Readers interested in the behind-the-scenes workings of the publishing industry will find a wealth of information here—albeit wrapped in the veil of fiction. Eleanor Dash is the bestselling author of nine books in the Vacation Mystery Series. She’s currently on a research/marketing trip to Italy working on the tenth novel. She secretly plans to kill off the lead male character in the series—Connor Smith—who is based on her real-life ex with the same name.

Connor, who is idolized by the faithful and exuberant female fans of the Vacation Mystery Series, is along for the book tour and when Eleanor finds out that someone is really trying to kill him, fact and fiction collide. Also along for the tour are some other authors using cross-promotion to boost their sales, inspire ideas, and maybe some other less wholesome activities.

Over the course of ten days and six cities, Eleanor weeds through the facts looking for the key to solving a string of mishaps that put all their lives in danger. Between dueling love interests, a fervent stalker, the complexities of sibling bonds with her sister, and a publisher anxious for news of the next book, Eleanor certainly has her hands full.

Catherine Mack makes what is really quite a complex storyline feel like vacation fodder through the use of humor and short, fast-paced chapters. She even employs the use of footnotes—which she immediately tells the reader can be skipped as they are not integral to the plot—that might seem like a chore, but which quickly become one of the many highlights of Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies.

Through it all, it is the characters that truly sing here. Eleanor is instantly loveable, though a bit of a train-wreck in many ways. Readers can’t help but hope for the best for her and each new revelation shows the challenges she faces. Many secondary characters will rise to be favorites of Every Time I Go on Vacation, Somone Dies’s fans. Thankfully, this is the start of a new series, so we’ll see many of them again in the future—the ones that make it out alive, anyway.

There’s unlikely to be a more fun read this season. Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies has something for everyone. The descriptions of Italy alone will have you ready to renew your passport. Come along on this madcap adventure now, and join the throng of readers anxiously awaiting Eleanor’s new excursion—No One Was Supposed to Die at this Wedding is coming soon.

This book sounds like the perfect summer read for those who love cozy mysteries. I did enjoy this book however it was quite predictable and a little redundant in places. Would recommend if looking for an easy read where you don't have to think to hard about plot points or characters.

Funny, quirky and full of lively characters, I enjoyed this read. Every Time I Go On Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack is the perfect Beach Read. It has a bit of whodunnit with a side of humor and a hint of romance. Eleanor is an accidental novelist looking to end her popular series and cut ties with her trifling ex. A trip to Italy for a book tour turns murderous, hilarity ensues and the arm chair detectives get to work. Although the story is on the light side, it’s still a good summer read with a cozy ending., I would enjoy seeing this one transformed into a screen adaptation. Thank you NetGalley and Minotaur Books:for the ARC.

Thank you @stmartinspress and @minotaur_books for the gift eARC of EVERY TIME I GO ON VACATION SOMEONE DIES!

Every now and then I take a break from fantasy and romance land and just need a good mystery in my life!
When that mood struck, I picked up EVERY TIME I GO and had such a blast reading it. This book is light and funny with lots of snarky footnotes and asides (you know I love snark) and it’s set in Italy so you get an immediate escapism factor.
And then of course there are the murders!

The mystery is clever and not gory which I appreciated. It’s not quite a cozy mystery but definitely has those vibes as it’s not especially horrific or violent like some thrillers and mysteries can be. The twists were fun and there was a point where the narrator basically breaks down all the clues and tells you what’s going to happen and yet I was still pleasantly surprised by the twist.

Pick this one up if you like:
*Clever mysteries
*Books about authors and books
*Snarky narrators
*Italian setting
*Quick and easy beach reads

This one is out now!

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6543855020
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/C8Ht2gIJNf6/

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of Every Time I Go on Vacation Someone Dies.

This story follows a group of mystery writers traveling in Italy for a publicity tour and with their fans.

Before long, strange things are happening and there are some accidents that need to be figured out. Is one of the fans, a fellow writer, or another member of the group picking people off? Who has a motive and the opportunity? Why can’t this vacation be a little less deadly?

Enjoyable, if slightly forgettable.

Eleanor is on a tour through Italy to celebrate 10 years of a book series featuring Connor, a man she wouldn’t mind falling off the face of the earth. Apparently she’s not the only one to feel this way when he asks her to help him find out who’s trying to kill him. Shouldn’t be too hard to find them though, since the murderer is on tour with them.

I enjoyed the narrator breaking the fourth wall, but there were a couple of times I felt it was unnecessary, like there was a recap that went on for too long. Recaps tend to make the reader feel like the author thinks they need to dumb it down for them or like word count was low and the author needed to reach a minimum.

I thought the footnotes were excessive and a lot of times unnecessary. I ended up skipping the majority of them. Overall, this was a good cozy mystery. I loved all of the character development.

Thank you NetGalley and St Martins Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was the perfect silly murder mystery. Much like Dial A for Aunties I loved the humorous character dynamics.

This book was just ok for me. I will say that I think a big part of it is that this book should probably be read as a physical copy rather than an ecopy. There are many footnotes and things it gets extremely confusing using an e reader which then in my opinion took so much away from the plot. I could hardly follow through.

This was very funny, a cozy mystery. I feel like I was hooked from the first chapter. I laughed out loud a bunch of times and just really enjoyed the mystery aspect.

A fun, escapist mystery that takes you to solve an impending murder in Italy! The author's use of footnotes added a heavy dose of humor into the book which helped keep it light and fun. A few of the footnotes were a bit awkward as she tried to use "hip" language, but the moment usually quickly passed. There were lots of red herrings that had you thinking the mystery was solved, but the clues were there all along to lead you to the right suspect.

This book was slow for me to get into but I really enjoyed the pacing, the depth of the characters and how the author wove the story together!

A cozy mystery about an author, written by an author!

Eleanor is on a tour of Italy while writing a novel. It is the 10th in her very popular series, to be more exact. The main character, Connor, is based on her IRL friend that is on the trip too, except that Eleanor has decided to kill him off (in the novel!), so she can attempt to kill their friendship (in real life!). Except when someone in real life ends up dead instead, Eleanor needs to shift from author mode to detective mode, and try to solve the mystery before any more people meet an untimely end.

This is definitely a book I think a lot of people will love. I prefer more grit to my mystery/thrillers though and am not so much a cozy mystery type. The banter throughout the book just didn't do it for me, but I would easily recommend it to other fans of books like How to Solve Your Own Murder and Everyone In My Family has Killed Someone. I actually adored the latter, and I think I might go back and pick this book up again when I need a break from some of my darker and heavier reads!

Eleanor Dash has been talked into going on a special trip to Italy in celebration of her first book ten years ago. Italy was where that book was set. This time she not only has her sister, who is her assistant, but a fairly big group of other people. Connor Smith is the lead character in her Vacation Mystery series and she wants to end the series. The problem is the real life Connor doesn't want this after a cushy deal he worked out with Eleanor. Now, he's afraid she might being trying to kill him in real life. She is his ex and they didn't part of amicable terms, but she doesn't want him dead. There are others in the group that could have ample motive.
Eleanor is very disturbed that a group of fans picked out by her publicist includes a woman who has been her stalker. I laughed when these fans were called the BookFace ladies.
As the plot progresses, there are many alarming events that have everyone worrying about their safety and it seems many of the group could be the guilty person. Along the way secrets, old hurts and tiffs come to the surface.
I loved how the author not only narrated the story, but used footnotes. These kept me amused. The reader can relate to Eleanor. She is smart in many ways and is a bestselling author, but some bad decisions have come back to haunt her.
This novel is the first in a series. I am looking forward to the second book. I always enjoy mysteries and one that makes me laugh is a bonus.

Interesting characters, great plot, I was surprised by the ending. I had no idea whodunnit. The only thing I didn’t care for were all the footnotes, I found them distracting.