It took me a long time to get into this book, probably until halfway, before I felt like it picked up. If you love fun mysteries with no spice or gore, this book is for you! Thanks NetGalley for the ARC!

I'd like to thank Netgalley and St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I do enjoy cozy mysteries but this was a hard one for me. Maybe it was the footnotes that were added that I felt took away from the story instead of adding to it. I also felt like it was a slow read for me. I did enjoy the ending.

Every Time I Go On Vacation Someone Dies is a light and humorous cozy mystery novel. The story follows bestselling mystery author, Eleanor Dash, who is in Italy for her book tour. Eleanor is eager to finish the tour, especially since she has to contend with obsessed fans, arrogant authors, and her exes. When someone is murdered, Eleanor is thrown into a real life murder mystery.

The narrative style in this book is interesting, with Eleanor speaking directly to the reader. I don’t often read stories that break the fourth wall. There are tons of footnotes throughout this story. At first, I thought the footnotes were cool, but they soon became distracting and took me out of the story. If I were to reread this book, I would likely skip the footnotes.

There were many annoying characters in this book, especially the other authors on the tour. Eleanor also started getting on my nerves after a while. I did love the Italian setting! I hope to visit Italy one day, so I love when stories are set there.

This is the first book in a series and I am interested in reading the next one. I would recommend this book to fans of cozy murder mysteries.

3.5⭐️

This is a super cute, light, and fun murder mystery! It follows an author named Eleanor Dash as she is on a book tour in Italy. All the way through, she's bombarded with rivals, exes, and over enthusiastic fans, and it seems someone is trying to commit murder.

What a creative take on a cozy mystery! I was drawn into the story and entertained from start to finish. It's filled with charm and witty banter and has an immersive plot. The mystery is well paced, and all of the characters are distinct and easy to keep track of.

This one truly kept me guessing all the way through, and I will be eagerly awaiting another brilliant book in this series!

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Thank you to Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio for the copies to review!

Oh my goodness I LOVED this book so much! I did not know what to expect going into this one and it was perfection. I loved the plot but even more so I loved how Eleanor ‘broke the fourth wall’ to include the reader in helping to solve the mystery here, and it was so well done. I also really enjoyed the audio for this, it was a great listening experience. I don’t want to spoil any more here but this was such a fun read, I enjoyed every single minute of it and I cannot wait for the next book!

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the arc of this book. all opinions are my own.

I will post my full review once SMP address the insensitive comments of their employee.

I think the cozy mystery market has become over saturated because while Every Time I Go On Vacation, Someone Dies was enjoyable, nothing felt new about it story wise. The thing that was new, the footnotes, was too distracting and unnecessary to the story. This seems to be the beginning of a series and hopefully the author will ditch the footnotes in future books.

Catherine Mack’s EVERY TIME I GO ON VACATION, SOMEONE DIES has all the makings of a great story, but the way it comes together falls just a little short. The plot was intriguing, but Mack’s style of storytelling lost me. Still, I can see this book appealing to many readers eager for a summertime story to get lost in. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC.

The twists and turns made me want to keep reading to see what was coming next. I enjoyed hearing about the countryside. The characters were realistic and likable. Thanks NetGalley for the eArc.

I always love a book about books and publishing, in this one Eleanor Dash is an author, breaking the fourth wall and telling us, the readers about her books and upcoming book. While also trying to solve a murder, while on vacation during a book tour.

It’s a crazy and cozy murder mystery. I’m not even sure how I decided I needed to read it but it was fresh, funny, with a little bit of romance, mystery and murder, it has it all. I couldn’t guess who the killer was either!

This book was a fun read! There is humor, light romance and it keeps you guessing what will happen next. It is a light, easy read! I like her style of writing in this book where she is plotting writing a book in the book itself. Great storyline and an ending that makes you think another book with be coming out.

This murder mystery is laugh out loud funny with witty dialog and many humorous situations. Eleanor and her sister Harper are best friends and also boss/employee, and there is a bit of familial tension there. Connor, Eleanor's ex, is a somewhat bumbling blackmailer that relies on Eleanor's books to fund his lifestyle and drives her crazy. Oliver is the man Eleanor is in love with although she doesn't know it yet. Filled with quirky characters and a fun murder mystery this start to a series is a charming read and perfect for a day at the beach! The audiobook is a fabulous way to enjoy this story and Elizabeth Evans does a great job with the narration.

A best selling mystery author, Eleanor, is on a book trip with a cast of characters. One thinks someone is trying to kill him, two are former lovers of the author, and another is a copycat writer to name a few. Being torn between book obligations, trying to figure out who is trying to kill the one companion, and brainstorming her next book, Eleanor is faced with decisions on where her focus should be. Does someone die while she’s on vacation? Read this one to find out.

I really enjoyed this read! Finley Donovan vibes, which I loved, but it's definitely unique. Funny, twisty, and propulsive. I'll be continuing the series for sure.

Location, location, location - who doesn’t want to read about a book tour in Italy? I’d say the story is mystery-lite as there’s a breeziness to it that kept me engaged, although I’m more of an intense thriller type of girl, which is funny because I also learned Catherine Mack is the loose pseudonym of a thriller author of books I’ve read and enjoyed.

I am incredibly happy with Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack (AKA Catherine McKenzie), and I can't believe how much I loved it! This was a delight to read and so many times I found myself laughing out loud. I will definitely be adding a copy to my shelf, and I'm happy this is the start of a new series. The overall tone of the story is very light, giving it a cozy mystery vibe, and I quite enjoyed reading from Eleanor's viewpoint. It is told in first person with asides to the reader from Eleanor, as well as annotations throughout. I loved this style of writing, and it fits so well with the FMC's job as well as personality.

I also love that the book was inspired by the author's own trip to Italy, and she made the setting come alive in a gorgeous way. I thought Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies might not completely translate on audio due to the annotations, but I had no issues with this, and I absolutely adored Elizabeth Evans as the narrator. I would highly recommend listening to the audiobook as well as having a copy on hand in order to get the full effect. I found myself following along in the book at times, and the commentary on the inside covers about the cover of the book was a great little addition. Brava Catherine Mack on a fun and engaging read that I couldn't put down! I can't wait to see what comes next. 👀

A cute and light modern cozy! I really liked the main character's voice, with her snarky sense of humour! The cast of characters was interesting and the story moved along quickly.

The main character often speaks directly to the reader, which I enjoyed, and I found her asides funny. There are lots of current pop culture references. I don't get that worried about unrealistic things happening in cozies, so while not every situation was likely to happen in real life, they all came together to make a great story!

3.5 ⭐️

Cozy Mystery is one of the genres I started to like. I was drawn to the title of the book and the plot. However, this book was for someone else. I couldn't connect with any of the characters. There were some funny moments and lines in this story. I'm usually okay with multiple characters who are possible suspects, but none of them stood out. I kept forgetting who's who, like Allison, Isabella, and Emily. I kept waiting for the big moment in the book but only felt it in Chapter 22. The beginning was exciting, the middle was dragging, and MC was getting annoying as she kept mentioning she was a lousy liar, she was ending the series, she was not a good writer, etc. Some of the parts I enjoyed while reading this book were the tour and near-death experiences. Still, I wished the 1st death happened in the beginning because it felt like the story kept dragging. I wanted to see some action and solve the Mystery right away. But once the death occurred, things picked up quickly. I love footnotes when I read, but I don't know if the ebook format affected the display of footnotes. It became distracting because it would just show up in the middle of the page, and it made it look like the author used too many footnotes. Overall, this is a good summer read for mystery lovers. I wish I loved it more; I think I'm just used to quick-paced murder mystery books.

Figured I’d try a cozy mystery and find out what all the hype was about, but Every Time I Go on Vacation was not for me. Maybe it was the flippant attitude of the MC, or maybe all the footnotes through and immature commentary. I just couldn’t get into the substance of the story. I did question many times who the main suspect was, and was surprised at the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Publishing/ Minotaur Books for this arc in return for my honest review.

Pub date: 30 April 2024

This was a fun and clever cozy mystery. It was reminiscent of Everyone in my Family Has Killed Someone, with its narrative style and breaking the fourth wall. I was engaged in the mystery the whole time and was surprised by the endings. I think I would have enjoyed more hijinks and action throughout the story--it was a little slow in terms of the mystery/murder element of the story. I was surprised by the ending and all my theories ended up being wrong!