Comic mysteries aren't always my cup of tea. There was some good humor here, but I also felt the book leaned too heavily on events in the past that weren't well-explained. The book also has footnotes, which were a bit difficult to read as it necessitated flipping forward and back in my e-book. Eventually I had to give up on those.

Though this wasn't really for me, it isn't a bad book and I know there will be readers who will absolutely adore it!

Catherine Mack's (a pseudonym for the veteran Canadian author Catherine McKenzie) Vacation Mysteries kickoff, EVERY TIME I GO ON VACATION SOMEONE DIES, is full of mystery, humor, wit, and suspense! It features an author-narrator, an alluring Italian setting, an entertaining cast, footnotes, clues, and crimes to solve. Who is capable of murder?

Eleanor Dash, a bestselling author of nine murder mysteries, is working on her tenth installment, which she hopes will be the series' final book.

All Eleanor wants to do is complete the book tour and kill off her main character, Connor Smith, in the last installment of her Vacation Mystery series.

Her publisher has sent her on a ten-day tour of Italy with a consultant, her sister/assistant, twenty fans (including a stalker), and several other authors.

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

Connor is her ex (con) and has been blackmailing her for years, receiving royalties from her books. She has dealt with him for ten years, and now she wants him out of her life for good. Now, someone has attempted his real life.

Who is trying to get away with murder?

From fans, literary competitors, a stalker, the publishing business, and another ex, Oliver, a book tour that turns into a real-life murder mystery offers a lot of action and fun.

With loads of snarky humor, EVERY TIME I GO ON VACATION is a light-hearted, highly entertaining read with creative, fun footnotes to enhance your reading pleasure.

From the stunning front cover with fun, clever chapter titles, this delightful, hilarious, entertaining romp is for fans of authors Elle Cosimano and Janet Evanovich. I look forward to the next in the series.

I read the e-book and listened to the amusing audiobook narrated by Elizabeth Evans for a fun, lively, and entertaining performance. Ideal for your upcoming summer vacation escape.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press, Macmillan Audio, Minotaur Books, and NetGalley for an advanced reading and listening copy. #SMPInfluencers

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JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
Pub Date: April 30, 2024
My Rating: 4 Stars
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3.5/ "This is what happens when you give a bunch of people who fear for their lives and/or are plotting murder unlimited alcohol during the middle of the day before lunch."

This was a fun story with some good twists and lots of possible suspects. The footnotes really detracted for me, though. I eventually just skipped over them and the pace felt much better. The breaking of the fourth wall was fun and the big twist was definitely a surprise.

Publishing 4/30! Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press (Minotaur) for the eARC.

Thank you to Catherine Mack, St. Martins Press, Minotuar Books and NetGalley for the eARC of this book!

I had so many high hopes for this book and it has been on my 2024 TBR since I first heard of it. It sounded like a wonderful cozy mystery that would make for a fun reading adventure!

Sadly, as much as this book WAS fun and light-hearted it had a few downfalls that I just couldn't get past and ultimately DNF'd it at 58%.

The footnotes seemed like a cute idea at first but very quickly became incredibly distracting to the overall story and I found myself skipping them. Because of this I'm sure I missed some quirky anecdotes from the narrator/author but I found them to be slightly overused and overall broke up the flow of the story too much to be effective.

Secondly, I found this book to be incredibly repetitive in nature. Yes, it's a murder mystery but every chapter seemed to be the same conversations just in different locations. By nearly 60% of the book I still struggled to find the overall plot of the story and was unsure what the main plot point was of the story?

As much as this book wasn't for me, I do feel that if you generally enjoy cozy mysteries with a similar vibe to "Everyone in my family has killed someone" or "Thursday murder club" then this book would be right up your alley! This would be a book I would recommend to those looking for a low stakes, easy read that would be perfect for your next vacation.

First of all, a big thank you to NetGalley and Catherine Mack for allowing me an ARC of this book! It was such a fun read. It was unique in the fact that it had hilarious footnotes of the author’s thoughts and it kept breaking the fourth wall, asking the reader if they had caught certain clues and aspects of the story. I thought Eleanor was super quirky and fun to read but it also came off a little bit flighty. It irritated me a bit to only have her view point because I felt like I could have figured out who the murder was if she would have paid more attention 🤣 It was also a bit hard to catch all the dynamics of the relationships with only one viewpoint. But I think I’ll keep reading this series as they come out! It’s a clean and fun read!

I wanted to love this one. I was in the mood for a lighter read, and this one sounded like a cute mystery. But it was not for me.

The synopsis is fun - a bestselling writer, Eleanor Dash, goes on a press tour in Italy for the latest book in her mystery series. The star of her series, Connor, is also her friend Connor in real life and she wants him out of the books and out of her life. But then it seems someone actually wants to kill him? Then of course it’s time for Eleanor to solve the mystery.

What I liked? The plot idea was great, and the writing was really clever and witty.

What I didn’t like? It was such a confusing read. It was hard to keep track of all of the characters and flashbacks, and I found myself rereading sections over and over trying to place when they happened and who the author was referring to.

What I *really* didn’t like? The footnotes! They were incredibly distracting (especially in digital arc format because they didn’t line up properly, which is no fault of the author and would resolve itself in a published copy) and I don’t feel like they added enough to the story to warrant having *that* many.

Thank you @netgalley for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This book publishes on April 30!

Atmospheric, witty, and highly entertaining!

Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies is a charming, captivating tale that transports you to Rome, Italy and into the life of Eleanor Dash, a successful author who, after being sent on a tour to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the publication of the first book in her bestselling series with an eclectic group of people that includes authors, fans, a stalker, and an ex, finds herself unexpectedly tied up in a murder investigation with a multitude of suspects when it quickly becomes apparent that someone in their group is determined to kill off the real-life persona of the main character from her books.

The writing style is humorous and light. The characters are sharp, quirky, and impulsive. And the plot, told using a mixture of narration and footnotes, is a pacey whodunit full of family, friendship, danger, mystique, oddball situations, hilarious mishaps, red herrings, amateur sleuthing, lies, secrets, deception, deduction, attraction, revelations, and new beginnings.

Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies is the first book in The Vacation Mysteries series by Mack, and if you enjoy a charming mystery with idyllic settings, unique characters, and a touch of romance, then this novel is the perfect choice.

The book was a little slow at the beginning. The footnotes were annoying. I was surprised at the ending though. I don’t know if I will read another book by this author. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I absolutely adored this book for about the first 75 pages, because the style of writing and quick wit are totally up my alley. But then I became confused....and annoyed.

I was confused because the narrator referred to the past so much that I thought I hadn't realized that I was reading the sequel to a book I had not yet read. And then I was annoyed when I realized that this was just the style in which the author chose to set her story.

What was fun at first quickly became superfluous and irritating. I love the idea of this story so much, but the execution is truly not great.

4⭐️
0.5🌶️

Every Time I Go on Vacation Someone Dies was SUCH a fun read! I didn’t really know what to expect going in, but I loved the cover.

The story was very “Knives Out” but about authors and I ate 👏🏻 it👏🏻 up👏🏻. The formatting was difficult to read at time with the extensive footnotes, but I got the hang of it after about 25%.

I’ll recommend this book to those who love mystery/thrillers, especially with lots of splashes of humor! (Plus it’s TOTALLY set up for a sequel!!)

Thank you to NetGalley, Minotaur, St. Martin’s Press, and Catherine Mack for the chance to read this advanced copy.

💌Content Warnings: death, murder, attempted murder (all in good humor??, nothing graphic)

3.5 ⭐️ rounded up for the fun factor

The interconnected web of characters? The sassy narrator? The gorgeous Greek setting? To DIE for! (lol I couldn’t help myself, don’t throw things at me)

Solid vacation-based mystery — I liked that it had some very nicely-plotted red herrings without being too “twisty” or aggressive. Lots of footnotes, which were a funny little addition but I admit got a little tiring (and in Kindle format was a bit of a bear 😅)

Would recommend and sounds like there’s more to come in this series!

It’s a great title and a true concept if you read a lot of who done it’s!

The humor was refreshing as the “author” was the silly one. Beach read, definitely!

Clever, fun and light, this is a mystery with a little something different.

Eleanor Dash is a celebrated author of a mystery series that stars a character based off her former real-life love interest/now pain in the backside Connor Smith. With her tenth book in the planning stage, she and a group of authors and some bookish fans are whisked off on a ten-day tour of Italy. The trip doesn't go as planned when Connor is certain someone is trying to kill him. If Eleanor is honest, she wouldn't have too much issue with that since she is quietly plotting Connor's demise in her book series.

Readers will immediately notice the original way the author tells her story. The fourth wall between reader and author isn't just broken, Mack (aka Canadian author Catherine McKenzie) smashes through it, giving readers a bird's eye view into the inner thoughts of Eleanor. Eleanor is a bit bumbling and flawed but endearing as she shares her thoughts and some clues through footnotes to the reader (more on that later). Paired with good twists, a large cast of potential suspects and a few dead bodies, this is a fun and humorous cozy-ish mystery that will keep readers guessing.

Ok, the footnotes. Argh. They are my only beef with this book. Initially, I enjoyed their unique and humorous addition to the story, but there are so many of them and they didn't work well in ebook format. They kept taking me out of the mystery so since they weren't essential to the story, at the halfway mark I opted to skip them. [Note: I hear they work well in audio format].

This mystery is the start of a new series and I'm eager to see where the author takes it. It was a fun adventure with themes of revenge, deception and good old-fashioned greed. With its original storytelling style, quirky cast, good twists and bookish focus in far off locales, this series will appeal to book lovers, travel enthusiasts and people who enjoy whodunnits. Make sure you read the epilogue which gives readers a glimpse into the next book in this cozy-ish mystery with a twist series.

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to Minotaur Books for the complimentary digital copy of this book which was given in exchange for my honest review.

Every Time I Goon Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack is about a mystery writer who is traveling on a book tour when she finds out that someone is trying to kill one of her fellow colleagues on the tour. Needless to say, the book tour doesn't go as planned and has several mysterious events occur. This was a fun, fast read that would be perfect for fans of the Finlay Donovan series. The main character in this book, reminds me a bit of hot-mess express Finlay. Definitely a fun series so I hope to see another book by Catherine Mack about Eleanor!

This was such a fun read I'm absolutely obsessed with it!!!! Murder plus a tour of Europe with unlimited suspects!!!

Just based on the cover alone, I really really wanted to like this book. Sadly, I just could not get into it, I found the fourth-wall-breaking footnotes to be overly done and quite frankly very disruptive to the flow of the story . At about the 150 pages in and still no murder or really any plot development I had to give up. I hate giving bad reviews, but this one just did not work for me.

3.5 stars, rounded up

Eleanor is the author of a best-selling book series that began when she wrote about a jewel heist that she helped solve. Unfortunately for her, she didn’t disguise her characters well and Connor, the man in her life at the time, recognized himself and demanded a share of the book’s profits. As the series took off, Connor’s demands did too, and now Eleanor wants nothing more than to kill off his character in her books. While on a book tour in Italy, it appears that several attempts have been made on Connor’s life and he asks Eleanor for help in figuring out who is after him.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. What I got what an entertaining story that made me laugh more than once – and roll my eyes almost as often. In a style reminiscent of Benjamin Stevenson’s <i>Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone</i>, Eleanor addresses the reader directly often throughout the book - almost too often, as it sometimes took me out of the story.

I like Eleanor, but she seems to have let her fame go to her head. I’ve never understood the people who rely on someone else for *everything – to keep track of their schedule, to make sure important items are not forgotten, to smooth things over with other people – and Eleanor is precisely one of those people. The other characters on the book tour round out the group nicely, with Eleanor’s ex, a fan group, rival authors and even a stalker.

It took a while to determine if Connor’s life was really in danger or if it was just a series of coincidences... or if the target was someone else entirely. I never did figure it out until just before it was revealed in the book. Given the character involved, the motive made sense.

I was fortunate to receive both an e-book and an e-audiobook of this story. The audio narrator was very good, voicing the characters well and drawing me into the story. I will happily listen to more books that she has narrated, and will look for the next book in this series.

EVERY TIME I GO ON VACATION SOMEONE DIES
Catherine Mack

Eleanor is going to Rome on a much-needed vacation. Well, kind of a working vacation. It’s more like a work trip. She’s writing the second novel in her murder mystery series, which takes place in Rome. Title to come. And she’s on a book tour through Italy.

One of her goals for this vacation is to read a lot of books by the waterside, make a bunch of new fans, and most importantly, figure out how to kill a character in her series named Connor. Connor the character is named after a real-life person, named Connor and Eleanor has struggled to both kill off his character and cut ties with him in real life.

While on vacation someone tries to kill the real Connor, ending her book tour and their relaxing vacation. Eleanor is the first to start theorizing about who would’ve wanted the real Connor dead (herself being high on the list), and we follow along as she solves the mystery.

Recently, a handful of books were all released around the same time that broke the fourth wall. It is repetitive to me at this point but EVERY TIME I GO ON VACATION SOMEONE DIES may be the first one of those books you’ve been able to get your hands on at the library. There is a reason for that.

This one was the least successful of the five books I’ve read this spring that break the fourth wall. It has Finlay Donovan in Italy vibes going for it. The mystery and the elements are cozy, I just wasn’t impressed by the story or the writing.

Thanks to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books, and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copies!

EVERY TIME I GO ON VACATION SOMEONE DIES…⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced digital copy of this book.

This was an interesting twist on a murder mystery, but there are too many characters!! I felt like I needed a flow chart to keep up with everyone and why they might want to commit murder. And who they might want to murder.

Eleanor Dash is the bestselling author of a series of murder mysteries which occur as her heroine travels all around the world. But now it seems fiction is coming to life and there may actually be a murder during this current trip. It is a press junket to Italy arranged by her publisher and includes several other authors from the same company. And it also includes the man, Conner Smith, who was the basis for her hero, and with whom she has had a few "other" adventures. There is also Eleanor's fan club, which ncludes Eleanor's "super fan", who she has a restraining order against back in the States.

But when Conner arrives he declares that someone is trying to kill him and has already made one attempt in LA before he came to Italy. He was also, or so he claims, pushed into traffic, and the stranger who saved him has been murdered! When other strange things happen on their tour, things just don't add up, or do they? In a group of crime writers, there is a lot of speculation, and possible motives.

IS someone trying to kill Conner? And are the accidents Eleanor has really accidents?

If you can keep everyone straight, after another murder, a suspicious death, and an attempt on Eleanor's life, the solution DOES make sense, after all.

This book was suspenseful, funny, mysterious and had me thinking everyone was the guilty party!

I'm not a huge fan of footnotes in books but I found myself not able to skip over these!

Thank you so much for the early copy and excited to see what Mack writes next!