Determined to end her popular series of books, Eleanor Dash is faced with a few hurdles. The biggest obstacle is writing the demise of the character Connor Smith. Now Conner isn’t your average fictional character. In fact, Conner is the real life love interest to Eleanor.

While Conner has been hamming it up in the limelight, Eleanor has been trying her best to figure out how she can plot Connor’s demise. As the author struggles for creativity, the publisher sends a group of writers with Eleanor, Connor, and her assistant on a tour of Italy. While this band of vagabonds travels through Italy on a book tour, Connor quickly finds someone is attempting to ‘off him’ in real life. Who would want to plot Connor’s demise while conducting a press tour?

Every Time I Go On Vacation, Someone Dies is the first book in The Vacation Mysteries series by Catherine Mack. It was a witty and clever take on a ‘cozy’ mystery. I found myself drawn to the blurb to try to escape the huge reading ‘funk’ I have been in lately. The cast of characters was entertaining and the novel certainly had a very unique plot. However – I found myself distracted and often annoyed at the layout of the book. There were footnotes littered throughout the novel. To take in all the nuances attributed to the footnotes, I found myself flipping pages and trying to keep up with the notations. It quickly became more of a chore than I bargained for. Had the footnotes been absent in the novel, I believe I would have connected more with the story. It was too distracting for my tastes in reading!!

“𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐞, 𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝, 𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐲. 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐚 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐦𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐨.”

I was so excited to join Minotaur’s “When In Rome Tenth Anniversary Tour” and read the first in a new hilarious mystery series from author Catherine MacKenzie.

This book is extremely meta with narrator, author Eleanor Dash, breaking the fourth wall, talking directly to the reader (“𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘭𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 350 𝘱𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘰 (𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭), 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘦”), much like Benjamin Stevenson’s Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone. The narration also contains footnotes, which reminded me of the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy - they act as side remarks that had me laughing out loud. I hear they are integrated really well in the audiobook. MacKenzie creates a loveable (yet flawed and selfish) narrator in Eleanor, and sprinkles in a romance that you want to cheer for (Oliver is swoon worthy). The cast of suspects all have reasonable motives for wanting to commit murder. I loved the idea of a book anniversary tour; it was a super neat way of having a “locked room mystery” with a small number of suspects, but also allows for changes in setting - I really want to go to Italy and do my own “When In Rome” tour now! Is it over the top in ways? For sure, but I felt it was part of the charm and fun of this story.

Every Time I Go On Vacation, Someone Dies is a story of love, travel, taking responsibility, and betrayal. MacKenzie even makes a wink to the coming television series with the footnote “𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘈𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬” - I’ll be intrigued to see how this is adapted! I’m very much looking forward to more Vacation Mysteries, especially with that ending! Thank you to Minotaur Books, Raincoast Books and NetGalley for the ARC package!

Don’t miss the hilarious start to a new cozy mystery series, Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies.

Eleanor wrote a book about her short love affair with a conman in Italy. It was a bestseller. The conman, Connor, successfully gets her to fork over part of her book profits for not just that book but every book in the series. It seems Eleanor didn’t hide Connor’s identity well enough, okay at all, in the books. Nine books, all bestsellers, in the series have been released. Eleanor has decided to kill off fictional Connor in the, as yet unwritten, tenth book. On a book tour for book nine, someone is trying to murder real-life Connor. Eleanor is pressured to investigate and prevent Connor’s murder all while plotting his fictional murder herself. This plot is both meta and convoluted but mostly just fun.

If you want to spend an afternoon reading a humorous cozy mystery set in Italy, pick up Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies. It’s a delightful escape from your daily life. 4 stars!

Thanks to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for a digital review copy of the book.

Catherine Mack is Catherine McKenzie?? I didn't find that out until I finished Every Time I Go on Vacation! I've been reading her for years. This was the perfect fun, light mystery to start my summer reading. It's not heavy and a tour of Italy was a delight. Let me touch on the characters. The reading group was a nice addition. Harper and El are a great team and I can see them developing as the series continues. Connor drove me crazy. I apologize for not being more specific about Connor except we are just not compatible.

Overall, a fun read to escape the stresses of the day. Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the advance copy.

A whitty fresh mystery. This is a summer must read! You will laugh out loud and truly enjoy this book.

4.5 stars

When I read the summary of this book – I was excited! I was captivated by the main character and the story right away. I loved all the possible suspects and the Agatha Christie who dunnit vibes. Was it her possibly jealous sister, her ex-boyfriends (plural), her ex-boyfriend’s ex-wife, the new author trying to replace her, one of the many other suspects, or is the narrator herself unreliable? I did guess close to what actually happened pretty early on, but it was still a quick and fun read. It had romance, lots of drama, and the setting in Italy did not disappoint!

The one thing I didn’t love was the narrator put in a lot of footnotes (it was written as if the author was writing us her story in a new book) and the footnotes were not my vibe – otherwise really enjoyed this cozy mystery! This was my first book by this author and I plan to continue the series.

This also prepped me for my Italy trip next month – very excited for that - with hopefully less murder though!

Thank you Netgalley and Minotaur Books for this ARC!

All that bestselling author Eleanor Dash wants is to get through her book tour in Italy and kill off her main character, Connor Smith, in the next in her Vacation Mysteries series―is that too much to ask?

Clearly, because when an attempt is made on the real Connor’s life―the handsome but infuriating con man she got mixed up with ten years ago and now can't get out of her life―Eleanor’s enlisted to help solve the case.

Contending with literary rivals, rabid fans, a stalker―and even her ex, Oliver, who turns up unexpectedly―theories are bandied about, and rivalries, rifts, and broken hearts are revealed. But who’s really trying to get away with murder?

Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies is the irresistible and hilarious series debut from Catherine Mack, introducing bestselling fictional author Eleanor Dash on her Italian book tour that turns into a real-life murder mystery, as her life starts to imitate the world in her books. (GoodReads)

This made me sad because I love cozy mysteries, or really any mysteries, but I could not stand this. I just did NOT care about the main character or any of the others. All portrayed as selfish and no common sense. The footnotes were annoying and way too much. I’m not very good at humor but this just was not funny to me. More like whiney.

Overall, I rate this novel 1 out of 5 stars.

I really enjoyed this entertaining cozy mystery,I thought the footnotes easily read on my kindle added to the story.A perfect summer or vacation read #netgalley #stmartins

This was so……FUN!! Eleanor is a writer and she is sent on a today book tour to Italy. She is joined by several fans, her sister, a man that has been blackmailing her for ten year, her ex, and a few others. Someone is trying to kill her blackmaileer, or so he says. Then someone tries to kill Eleanor! It’s very convoluted. Catherine Mack breaks down that fourth wall and speaks to us, the reader. Which is one of my favorite things in books. This had humor, lots of suspects, and a fabulous setting. I cannot wait for more from this author. There will be another book, because, of course, there is a cliffhanger!

Mystery author Eleanor Dash is ready to end her vacation mystery series and she decides to kill off her main character, Connor. The real-life Connor is Eleanor’s ex and not the nicest of guys. This is her way of getting him out of her life. Their publicist sends them on a book tour through Italy along with a few rival authors, devoted book fans and another ex-boyfriend Oliver.

Things take a nasty turn when someone tries to kill the real Connor. Can someone be taking a fictional story too seriously? Connor pleads with Eleanor to help him find the killer before he winds up dead. It’s not long before they realize he’s not the only one in danger when a dead body turns up.

This is a funny, captivating page turner. Humor, as well as mystery, is laced throughout this book. There are many LOL moments. The characters are well portrayed - some quirky, some serious and a few dangerous. I loved the Italy setting. The author made me feel as if I was on tour with them too.

One problem I did have was the formatting of the book. There are many footnotes throughout the book which I never saw in a fictional book before, but I found them to be distracting and would occasionally pull me out of the story. I read this as an E-ARC, which made flipping back and forth to the footnotes a bit bothersome. I see from other reviews that it was handled well in the audiobook and wasn’t a problem at all. So, readers might want to try that instead of reading the e-book. Once I got used to the footnotes, it was clear sailing and I enjoyed this mystery.

I found the storyline to be cleverly written with a full cast of suspects. Throughout the entire book I kept changing my mind as to “whodunit”. I do enjoy a book that keeps me on my toes. There was a sneak peek into the next book, and it looks like another good story is on the way. I’ll be looking for it.










FTC Disclosure: I voluntarily reviewed a free Advance Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own.

"Every Time I Go on Vacation Someone Dies" is another great popcorn thrillers, perfectly tailored for fans of Finlay Donovan, Stephanie Plum, and "Peril in Pink." This novel has all the elements of a light-hearted mystery, mixed with personality, suspense, unexpected twists, and doses of humor.
The plot unfolds around the protagonist's vacation escapades, each time shadowed by the unfortunate demise of someone nearby. It's a premise that promises both intrigue and amusement, and the book delivers on both fronts with finesse. The author's knack for crafting engaging narratives ensures that readers are kept on the edge of their seats, eagerly turning pages to uncover the next twist. The cast of characters, both likable and unlikable, adds depth and complexity to the story. From charismatic protagonists to enigmatic supporting roles, each character contributes to the overall charm of the story.

"Every Time I Go on Vacation Someone Dies" is a quick, easy, and enjoyable read. With its blend of mystery, humor, and travel escapades, it's sure to captivate fans and earn its place on the vacation reading list of many. So, pack your bags, settle into your favorite spot, and prepare for a thrilling journey that promises to entertain from beginning to end.

This fun book reads like a play with the central character constantly breaking the fourth wall and directly addressing the reader. It is full of quirky characters and generous doses of humor. If you like your mysteries with a touch of irreverence, you may enjoy this one. However it is important to note that this is the first book in a planned series so if you don't want to get sucked up into reading a whole series, you might want to skip it.

✨Pub Day Review: EVERY TIME I GO ON VACATION, SOMEONE DIES

I spent the morning finishing up Catherine Mack’s EVERY TIME I GO ON VACATION, SOMEONE DIES and I have to say, that it was the *perfect way* to spend this rainy Tuesday morning.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

I love this book, but I especially love the main character, Eleanor Dash, who simply brings the book to life.

Eleanor is funny, witty, and a little quirky. I love how she breaks through the fourth wall and talks directly to the reader in her re-telling of the mystery, in her personal journal notes (excerpts laced throughout the book in-between chapters), and in my absolute favourite part of the book—the footnotes.

I find that the footnotes *make* the book. I’ve never seen footnotes in a novel and I absolutely LOVED them. They add such a unique and fun extra layer to the story. If you listen to the audiobook (which is SO GOOD, by the way) you’ll notice that Elizabeth Evans reads them seamlessly as if they’re part of the main story. The footnotes provide the reader with so much insight into Eleanor’s thoughts, while also helping Eleanor’s personality shine through.

✨It’s also clear through the footnotes that Eleanor is a fan of Taylor Swift—which makes me love her even more—as there are numerous Midnights references hidden in them (footnote # 104 is my absolute fav)✨

ETIGOVSD is the first cozy mystery in a new series of Vacation Mysteries and I definitely recommend picking it up. You will absolutely want to meet Eleanor. Plus, books 2 & 3 are already on the way 😍

Thank you to @raincoastbooks, @minotaur_books and @stmartinspress for the review copies!

4.5/5!

Did I just find my new favorite humor-filled mystery series? I think so!

From the first chapter I fell in love with Eleanor Dash. I feel like we have the same personality. The same level of self-deprecating sarcasm. I love her! I want to be her bestie!

This book is so entertaining! The premise is one filled with secrets that the reader needs to figure out in order to guess who’s life or lives are in danger. Everything is told from Eleanor’s perspective, so we get to know right off the bat who of the secondary characters around her annoy her and should be considered as top-tier suspects. It seems like everyone has a motive to dislike each other, but who would go as far to attempt murder?

One of my favorite aspects of this book was the footnotes. I’m not sure that they’ll be for everyone, but I loved that they gave me that extra level of insider knowledge into what makes Eleanor tick.

The mystery itself has a lot of layers and there are several red herrings to be on the lookout for. I was able to guess part of the reveal, but this didn’t take away anything from my reading experience.

The book already hinted that there will be at least 2 more books in this series and I’m 100% going to be pre-ordering those once they become available!

The storyline has so much potential but this book never took off for me. The character’s dialogue was funny but it was a slow non progressing book. Thank you for Net Galley and Minotaur Books for this advance read.

Ten days, eight suspects, six cities, five authors, three bodies…and one trip to die for!

This was such a fun book! I loved the setting of a book tour throughout Italy. I was transported there and wanted to eat everything they ate and drink everything they drank! I’m thinking of gelato and Aperol spritz while writing this!

Eleanor was a quirky character. She’s snarky, opinionated, and kind of a wise a$$, and I loved that she said what she thought regardless of the consequences. It brought a lot of humor to this story. I did think she made some bad choices at times, but I guess that’s typical in this kind of mystery. There are a lot of characters in this book, and at times I found myself struggling to remember who was who. None of them were particularly likable except Eleanor’s ex, Oliver. I don’t think I’d want to be stuck on a ten day vacation with any of them though!

This book is written in a unique way where the author had Eleanor talk directly to the reader. She also included footnotes and a lot of opinions on writing, publishers, and other authors. I enjoyed this writing style and liked that it wasn’t a cookie cutter cozy mystery.

This is book one in The Vacation Mysteries, and I’m excited to see where book two takes us. If you’re a fan of the Stephanie Plum series and looking for a humorous mystery, then I recommend reading this one! It’s a great summer read so grab a copy, some sunscreen, an Aperol spritz, and enjoy!

Thank you Minotaur Books and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

Eleanor Dash is in Italy with her sister/assistant, Harper. They are attending the tenth anniversary of her Vacation Mystery series along with a few invited authors and the BookFace Ladies club. Connor Smith is also along, her ex-boyfriend and blackmailer, as regards to having him as a main character in her books and forced to pay him a percentage of her royalties .
On the trip Connor confines to Eleanor that someone is trying to kill him and wants her to investigate. At first she doesn't believe him until she is also targeted. When one of their party is murdered, the police are now involved and Eleanor needs to find the culprit before it's to late.
A quirky, humorous cozy mystery set in lovely Italian cities with the protagonist doling out important information as the story unfolds. And always read the footnotes, for there, clues abound.
Thank you NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read this e-galley of "Every Time I Go on Vacation , Someone Dies".

This was a pretty fun read. If you like the Finlay Donovan books you will probably like this one too. I listened to the audiobook whilst reading along with the ebook. At first I thought that the abundance of footnotes would make the audio version more difficult to follow the story but I found the opposite to be true. If I were to have been only reading I might have skipped a lot of the footnotes because I was too lazy to look down at the bottom of the page. The footnotes do add to the story. There’s a lot of pop culture references (some I knew, some I didn’t) which just added to the fun.

I spent most of the book wondering if there was a “fourth wall” and if there was if it was maybe made of mesh or something. Don’t take this book too seriously and you will love this one. I will definitely read a sequel if there is one.

Every Time I Go on Vacation, Some Dies is lighthearted mystery with comedic banter. The plot revolves around Eleanor who is best selling author of the “Vacation Mystery” series and Conor who is Eleanor’s ex, and her sister Harper. Eleanor is working on her new novel and a character who just so happens to be inspired by her Ex. I enjoyed all the characters, Eleanors is refreshing and I loved her wittiness.

The book really picks up around the 40% mark, while on the book tour with other authors Connor confides in Eleanor that he believes someone is after him.

If you’re into the show Only Murders in the Building and looking for your next cozy murder beach read, Every time I go on Vacation, Someone dies will take you on a light hearted mystery ride!

Need a super fun read for vacation or a rainy day? If so, Catherine Mack’s EVERY TIME I GO ON VACATION is a super perfect read. Our main character, Eleanor Dash, has authored nine books in her cozy mystery series and is working on her tenth story. I felt like Eleanor was talking to me throughout the book. She is in Rome where she is working to get rid of real-life Connor who has been blackmailing her as well as murdering fictional Connor in her tenth book. We ride around on a bus on a sightseeing trip with twenty of her fans who won a trip to Italy with their favorite author Eleanor. I could not stop reading this delightful book. I liked how the author talked with the reader. I would have liked the footnotes to appear in parentheses so I would not need to search for them. I can’t wait to see what happens in future books in this series. My thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an ARC of this book. The opinions in this review are my own.