I had so much fun with this book. I quickly read it and then got an audio copy and LOVED the audio version so much, if not more. Eleanor is an author and while on vacation with the book ladies they are joined by other authors represented by the publisher. When people start dying there is definitely something going on. I love that it is sort of narrated by the main character and she is talking to us through the entire story and walking us through the mystery and helping us figure it out. Will you figure it out before it is too late?

Congrats to Catherine Mack on her 4/30 pub day!! I just finished this NetGalley 'cozy mystery' / romance novel. I liked the mystery component and was actually totally in the dark as to who did it! Kudos to the author! But that may have been due to me being massively distracted by the footnote-heavy writing style of the book. Not only could I only see the whole page if I read it on my laptop (formatting on my kindle was a big mess, and my iPhone was readable only in landscape mode, a few lines at a time), I found it so hard to see the footnotes in the text, then my eye had to jump (and my fingers scroll) to the footnote at the bottom to read it, then go back to what I was reading in the body of the text. There are hundreds of footnotes, so this was annoying and exhausting by the end. And then there are a few chapters where the author speaks to the reader directly. What I STRONGLY SUGGEST to Catherine Mack's editors is that they indent and italicize all the footnote comments within the body of the novel so the reader can just read right on through like normal, but still get the vibe of the footnotes. And I respectfully request that publishers make kindle editions readable before release to ARC programs like NetGalley! I would read another Vacation Mystery by Mack, but only if the footnotes go away in future books. I also found the number of characters to be quite high, more than were needed for plot purposes. 3-stars because of footnotes. 4-stars for plot and writing.

Take this book on vacation! Eleanor Dash (our protagonist) writes a series of mysteries where she runs into murders when she's on vacation. The series begins when Eleanor encounters a murder on vacation and she has to write out the situation to make sense of it. To celebrate her 10th book, her publisher sends her on a tour of Italy with a cohort of seemingly random other writers and a group of her fans called the Book Facers. Eleanor narrates what happens on the tour. This requires frequent asides to her reader so she includes (mostly humorous) footnotes at the bottom on the pages. She lets the reader in on the investigation by pointing out clues and brings us along for the ride. I think this would fall into the 'cozy' category, not usually my thing, but I really enjoyed this book. Many thanks to Net Galley for this advance copy in exchange for a review on its site.

This was a cute cozy mystery with footnotes that I found incredibly distracting. It was hard to switch back and forth between the chapter and footnotes on the Kindle. The story was nothing new, but might have been funny if the footnotes were actually part of the reading. I had to make myself finish it. It just would not hold my interest.

This is a fun read with lots going on - an author, Eleanor, on a book tour in Italy with her main character, and past- boyfriend who has blackmailed Eleanor for years, so that she wants to kill him off (in her book) to be free of him, only to find out that someone is trying to kill him. Add to the mix, that Eleanor’s fan club, including a stalker, is on the book tour and the fact that someone is also trying to kill Eleanor! Wheew!

This was a fun and snarky cozy mystery. Eleanor is an author on a book tour celebrating the tenth anniversary of her first book. She is with a tour group of so-called friends and other authors and when someone dies- they are all suspects.

The setting along the coast of Italy makes this a perfect beach read! Make sure to have an Aperol or Lemon spritz to drink while you read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoy this book. I honestly did not how the suspect would be revealed but I was surprised. I’m wondering if it’s going to be a series. The characters were and the banter was realistic. It was light and cozy mystery

A fun read! Loved all of the footnotes - such a different writing style that really worked for this novel!

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press & Netgalley for the chance to read and rate this ARC!

"Every Time I Go on Vacation, Somebody Dies" is an absolute gem in the world of mystery novels! Catherine Mack's storytelling prowess shines brightly in this witty, suspenseful, and utterly enjoyable read. From the charming backdrop of Italy to the quirky characters and the intricate plot, Mack keeps readers hooked from the first page to the last. The way she seamlessly blends humor with suspense is nothing short of brilliant, making this book a delightful rollercoaster of emotions. With each page turn, you'll find yourself drawn deeper into Eleanor Dash's world, rooting for her as she navigates through literary rivalries, unexpected twists, and heartwarming moments. Mack has crafted a masterpiece that will leave readers eagerly anticipating the next installment in this captivating series. If you're looking for a mystery novel that will keep you guessing while also leaving you in stitches, "Every Time I Go on Vacation, Somebody Dies" is the perfect choice!

I listened to and read an ARC via NetGalley

Every Time I Go on Vacation Someone Dies was a book that I kept coming back to as I was contemplating my yearly pick for my book club. I kept reading about how fun it was, and while it wasn’t my pick, I couldn’t wait to read it.

I read this book as an arc on my kindle, so please take my review with a grain of salt - it was messy. Quite literally, the formatting of the book was a mess. The narrator, an author on a book tour in Italy with several other authors and fans, uses footnotes to interject pithiness into the story. Reading on my kindle, the footnotes were all over the place and tremendously distracting. So much so that I set this book aside several times to come back to later when I could focus more on reading it. I might have liked that format better if I had a physical copy of a book with the footnotes at the bottom of each page or consistently at the end of a chapter with the easy ability to flip back and forth to see the text.

The story begins in Rome, where we are introduced to Eleanor Dash, an author, her sister/assistant, and the other authors and associated entourage on the book tour of Italy. Learning the background of the characters and their connections is somewhat disjointed, but as the book progressed, it flowed better and became easier to read.

Overall, I thought this was a fun story that reminded me of Everybody in my Family has Killed Somebody. This will be a series and I will probably read the next book.

We are big fans of Catherine McKenzie’s books, so when I learned she was writing under a new pen name and that she was writing a fun, cozy murder mystery, I knew I needed to get my hands on it. I’ve been having trouble getting into thriller suspense novels lately. I’m a mood reader, and I just haven’t been loving the darker novels, not because they are poorly written, but because I haven’t been in the mood to read them. I absolutely adored this book. It’s the mystery novel I’ve been craving. It’s fun, quirky, and has characters that have larger-than-life personalities. Yes, people die in this story, and yes, there is a murderer on the loose, but the overall story isn’t dark. It reminds me of the movie Glass Onion (the second Knives Out movie with Daniel Craig). This book is really well written. The plot moves along steadily, and Catherine has time for those dramatic twists perfectly. It’s an easy and enjoyable book to read. An added bonus is Catherine has included other fun tidbits in this book. There are footnotes and excerpts from various documents discussed in this book. It’s made the reading experience more immersive.
The characters in this book are unforgettable. They all have these very loud and strong personalities, and when they are forced to spend time together on Eleanor’s book tour, shit hits the fan on multiple occasions. The character interactions in this book are fabulous. They are all divas in their own way, and I just ate up all that delicious drama.
Eleanor is an interesting main character. She is far from perfect and would be the first to admit she has made big mistakes. Personally, I really enjoyed her character and loved spending time with her. Even though she writes murder mysteries, she is not a very savvy detective (something she admits), which I liked. She makes mistakes and makes wrong guesses along the way, but heck, so did I when I was trying to figure out who the murderer was. The fact that her character was flawed made it easier to connect with her.
I loved the mystery in this book. It was so much fun figuring out which character the murderer is. Catherine kept me guessing right until the very end. You know someone is out to kill Conner and possibly Eleanor, but you have no idea who. Every character has the motivation to want both Conner and Elanor dead; the question is who has the means and opportunity to do so.
Every Time I Go on Vacation Someone Dies is a fabulous start to a new murder mystery series.

A fun, fresh approach to the cozy mystery! I loved the first person narrative that seemingly broke the 4th wall before an announced and more deliberate crashing through that wall. I loved the footnotes as they provided quirky insights into the mind of the author-protagonist. What a fun technique Mack used! Many chapters ended like a 21st century British cop show - with a shocking turn of events that made it impossible to return to my own life at that moment. Every character provided something to love and something to hate. The casual tone and modern slang hit the mark (unlike other novels I’ve read recently that made me cringe at such attempts). I think when I realized the genius of Mack was when she had the author-protagonist telling us about the literary techniques she might be using “if” she were writing about her experience in a novel as opposed to describing her current reality. I can’t help but think Agatha Christie herself would have found this as entertaining a read as I did.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books, Netgalley, and the author for early access to this fascinating novel.

This book has a fun premise, beautiful scenery, a cozy mystery feel, and it was a quick read for me. What not to love? I really enjoyed it.

A quaint cozy mystery. I liked the Italy setting. The main character acts a bit young for her age so I found that annoying at times. I liked the more lighthearted and humorous parts of this book. It helped keep the story light.

I was excited about the premise of this book and was slightly let down by the execution. It is not at all a terrible book, but it was not one of my greatest reads of the year.

The plot is fun (if murder can be fun ◡̈) and there is so much humor in this book! There were some good twists and new info that comes at you that makes you rethink your prediction.

The writing style is both fantastic and slightly irritating. I appreciate a footnote but there were way too many (as even the protagonist points out…so it seems like a joke that has been drawn out too long); some explanations were redundant; and honestly I liked zero people in this book. Again, the protagonist tells us she isn’t a good person…but this type of plot seems pretty lighthearted so you’d expect it to be one of those flawed-yet-endearing situations…but not for me - I just didn’t like her. One of my main irritations was the backstory that was explained to us in parts; I checked a few times to see if this was part of an established series, as it read as if they were catching me up in case I hadn’t read the previous book(s). (It is the first in a new series.) the backstory sounds pretty interesting, so maybe that should’ve indeed been book one.

Overall it’s not a bad book, not a great book, but an okay book.

Thank you so much to Catherine Mack, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for the eARC of Every Time I Go on Vacation Someone Dies.

Eleanor is on tour in Italy for the 10th anniversary of her Vacation Murder Mystery series, and she’s trying to come up with ideas for her 10th (and hopefully final) book. Her sister, Harper, and her ex, Connor, are joining her for this tour. Little does she know, several people in the extended vacation mystery universe were invited to join the tour as well. Connor is convinced that someone is trying to kill him, and it seems like someone might be out to kill Eleanor, too. Will they make it out of Italy alive? Who’s after them?

This book was funny and enjoyable! I finished it in just a few days, and I had a lot of fun. I was proud of myself for predicting part of the “twist.” I hope Mack extends this book into a series! I’d love to see these characters again, especially giving how she ended this book. Great read!

Loved the writing style on this one, but the plot wasn't as good. I appreciate all the insights into the world of publishing and how it changed our FMC El's life. She was a super fun lead character to follow with a great voice. She's animated and brings a lot of life to the book. I found the storyline extremely lacking, with El being overly dependent on her sister, atrocious ideas of blackmail, and just a chaotic turn of events in general. The narrator did a good job with the ensemble cast, and the fact that the eBook has footnotes, which Evans seamlessly wove into her narration. her vice was captivating, and I think it made up for the shortcomings in the book in some ways. Not sure if I want to read more of this series as it wasn't a terrible read.

Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies is the first novel in the Vacation Mysteries series by Catherine Mack. This story follows bestselling mystery author Eleanor Dash on her Italian book tour. She has written nine successful mysteries and is currently planning out her tenth novel, which she intends to be the final in her series. Also present is her ex-love interest, publisher, and the inspiration for her main character, Connor Smith. Also, on this book tour are Harper, Eleanor’s sister and personal assistant, Oliver, a fellow author and former love interest of Eleanor, and contest winners.

The format of this story was interesting as there was a fourth wall breaking and footnotes which is something not included in many novels. The main mystery revolves around Connor believing that someone is trying to kill him, and evidence points to it being someone in the tour group. As the book tour moves forward, there are more and more clues that are revealed until Eleanor can figure out the mystery. The story itself on the campy side compared to a more serious mystery, so this type of novel (and series) may not be for every type of reader. It is a bit over the top, but it is a fun escape read. I still am on the fence if I liked the format, but I did enjoy the actual mystery story. With the characters, I think there was a lot of potential, but they were enjoyable. I think some of their storylines, such as Eleanor’s sister’s dream of becoming an author needed to be explored better. Overall, this was an interesting start to the series and I most likely will check the next novel in the future.

**I give a special thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, Minotaur Books, for the opportunity to read this entertaining novel. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.**

Eleanor Dash is a famous author who wrote her first book on her real life experience in Italy where she and boyfriend Connor helped solve a major mafia murder. and robbery scheme Eleanore prior to that first book had to grow up fast as her parents were killed when she was 18 years old and had to become the parent for her younger sister Harper. Eleanor's trip to Italy was her first escape, after growing up so fast, before she had to get a real job. The experience in Italy was so crazy that Eleanore had to write it and it got published but she also stole her younger sisters dream and that sister is her assistant. The publisher that Eleanore writes for puts together a book trip to Europe. Eleanors now ex-boyfriend Connor is on the trip as well and is a thorn in her side after everything her put her through and then his demand of proceeds from her book since they used his real name. The author did choose to put footnotes in the book as she wrote which was strange but the book was really good. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's press for the opportunity to read.

This book was really fun and I had a great time reading it! I loved how there were footnotes added to each chapter, that’s something I’ve never seen in a book before. I thought I had the mystery solved from the beginning, but none of theories I had were right! I like when books aren’t so predictable that you know what happens right away. Despite this, I felt that the book was a bit too long for my taste, but overall it was very entertaining.