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!

Ten years ago, Eleanor Dash went on vacation in Rome, fell in love with charming PI/"consultant" Connor, and helped solve a string of bank robberies that ended up with the head of the local mafia behind bars. When she came home, she wrote about it, changed a few names, and unbelievably had a bestselling mystery novel.

Today, Eleanor is getting ready to write her tenth book, and is back in Italy with now-ex-boyfriend Connor (who ended up being as self-centered as he is charming), her assistant/sister Harper (who put aside her own dreams of becoming a writer to help Eleanor), a few other novelists (including Eleanor's other ex, Oliver), and 20 of Eleanor's superfans (who won the trip by winning an online contest). While this is already a recipe for discomfort and wacky hijinks, there's also someone on the trip who seems to be trying to kill Connor...and possibly Eleanor.

This was a light and somewhat silly read, full of fourth-wall-breaking footnotes (more than 200 of them, yeesh), and situations that still make no sense to me. I was able to figure out the killer WAY too early (before there was a corpse, actually), which definitely took away from my enjoyment of the book and makes it really hard to recommend. Instead, read Benjamin Stevenson's Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone for a more interesting meta-mystery.

I went into this expecting a fun, light, murder mystery and I got everything I hoped for, and more!

Right off the bat, I'd like to mention that I'm not a big fan of instances where the narrator speaks to the reader. But in this case, it's what gave this book its character, its unique charm and I loved it! The narrator, Eleanor, continuously breaks the fourth wall and I thought it was really fun!

I loved the footnotes and the hints and the narrator's comments! I laughed quite a few times and I got a thrill out of trying to solve the mystery!

The secondary cast characters were all intriguing and suspicious at different occasions, and I didn't know what or who to believe at times, which added to the thrill!

Let's not forget the beautiful setting! God, I want to jump on a plane to Italy after reading this!

The beginning was a bit slow but once you hit the 30-40% mark, it really picks up!

All in all, I definitely recommend this book and really hoping to hear about more books in this series!

Life imitates art in this humorous Finlay Donovan-esque mystery. The author broke the fourth wall often and many of those instances, she spoke straight to Bookstagrammers, which I found quite amusing. Another aspect I enjoyed were all the book references sprinkled throughout the pages. What didn’t work for me were the interactions between Eleanor Dash (the protagonist) and Connor Smith (the real life person that Eleanor’s best selling series is based off of). I just didn’t believe Eleanor would act the way she did with him.

Rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Read if you like:
The Finlay Donovan series
Breaking the fourth wall
Rome setting
Lots of book references

Imagine going on a book/sightseeing tour around Italy as part of your job as an author to promote your latest book/series! Sounds amazing, yes? Well, maybe not! ... especially when your group includes two of your exes, your ex's current date and his ex wife, an author who steals your storylines, an author who is being dropped by your publisher to put more focus on you, your sister who was always supposed to be the writer, a stalker fan, plus a book club fan group. In addition, your annoying and paranoid ex thinks somebody is trying to kill him and maybe you too!

The premise for this book is great and the title is fabulous! The potential is there for an excellent read; however, it was missing some of the excitement and suspense I was expecting from a "murder mystery". Mack introduces a quirky cast of characters who contribute to the odd and sometimes funny things going on. But I wish their personalities and backstories had been developed a little more and that they had shown a little more feeling based on the serious things happening around them. Do any of them really care about more than themselves? I don't know. Things pick up in the last third of the book with the introduction of Inspector Tucci and the ending of the tour. They visit some fantastic places - my favorite being Pompeii. Mack also uses many footnotes to add to her main character, Eleanor's thoughts and descriptions. Although they were amusing, there were too many to be flipping back and forth. It may have worked better to include some of this information in the body of the chapters. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for the digital ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book. It was a fun, light hearted read. Although I enjoyed it., for some reason I didn't get totally into it and I can't pipnpoint why. It was cleverly written and funny. I didn't know the term "broke the fourth wall" prior to reading this book, but enjoyed learning something new and liked when the author talked directly to the reader. I felt like it took a little while to get to the mystery, but enjoyed all of the little suprises along the way, and was totally surprised by the ending.

I liked the idea of the footnotes, however I read this as an e-book so they were at the end of the chapter and I found it very disruptive to go back and forth., so mostly skipped them. If they had been on the same page I'm sure I would have enjoyed them.

I loved the Italy setting, especially I am going on a 10 day trip next week to a lot of the same places!

This is a 'one and done' for me on the series. Eleanor Dash (a tribute to Elinor Dashwood of Sense & Sensibility?) is on a book publicity tour in Italy with an eclectic mix of authors. Strangely, they all have a connection to her and Connor Smith, the man who inspired her first book. There's danger afoot. So many suspects. So many means. So much opportunity. Here is what I liked:
🥂The sights of Italy. Rome, Pompeii, Amalfi, and more. Take me away!
🥂Eleanor is a fan of 'The Lake House' -- one of my all-time favorite movies.
🥂Those titles: the Vacation Mystery series starting with 'When In Rome.' Loved all those details.
🥂Footnotes - 237 of them. While they added a playful tone and gave us a peek behind the curtain, they were so distracting.
In the end, that narrative style does not appeal to me. I will pass on further books in the series.

Thank you to St. Martins Press and NetGalley for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

The title of this book certainly grabs you!

This was fun. A murder mystery romp. The narrator is an author of clever mysteries but she's ready to be finished with the series, I won't share the reasons (spoilers!). There's a cast of characters, any of which could be the guilty one. I had a little trouble keeping track of who was who, especially the "minor" ones. The author encouraged you to figure out the mystery, often inserting little clues, usually within footnotes.

The author made liberal use of footnotes (200+ of them). Mostly humorous, often snarky, comments that were a lot of fun.

Overall, highly recommend. This would be a great summer beach read.

Disclaimer: I received this book for free through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

First, thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress @minotaur_books for this advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I’m a fan of Catherine McKenzie, who is rebranding here as Catherine Mack, so I was excited to receive this ARC. And that cover is gorgeous, isn’t it?!

Unfortunately, this one fell a bit flat for me. It was fun, don’t get me wrong. But it took along time to get the action rolling, and when it did, it was almost too little, too late. Beyond that, the excessive use of footnotes (meant to be quirky) was deeply annoying on a Kindle. There’s no way to meaningfully keep up with it and the story, which took away from my enjoyment.

It was still cute and fun, just forgettable for me.

Many thanks to Minotaur Books and MacMillan Audio for early access via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion. This will publish at the end of April!
This is the second book in a row that I’ve read which takes place in Italy! I'm not in Italy, but the ruins I visited had a bit of European flair - not to mention amazing views after hiking straight uphill to get to them.
This book follows author Eleanor on a ten-day tour of Italy with some other authors and the winners of a bookface contest. Eleanor has written nine books in the Vacation series, and she is struggling to write the tenth, as she wants to kill off a main character - and is even open to ending the series. She has her reasons for this, unbeknownst to even her sister manager. There is some conflict between the sisters, too. Unfortunately, accidents start happening on the tour, which makes it seem like someone wants at least one of them dead. The accidents ramp up to a death before anyone truly believes there is an issue.
This was a fast, fun book. The descriptions of Italian views, food (pasta!), and Aperol Spritzes made me want to book it over to Italy ASAP! I mostly listened to the audiobook for this one, and I definitely recommend it. The narrator is engaging, and I found that the footnotes (over 200 of them) were distracting as I followed along on my eARC but made perfect sense to hear, as they came across as parenthetical observations, seamless to the listener’s ear. This is listed as the beginning of a new series, and I would happily listen to another book along the same lines. I think readers of Finlay Donovan would enjoy this book.

This was fun, clever and laugh out loud funny. Loved the murder mystery and the main character Eleanor. She funny, witty and her hate for Connor had me laughing out loud

I loved this!

ARC Review ~ Every time I go on Vacation Someone Dies~

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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book was so much fun! I read it nearly in one sitting as I couldn’t put it down. I loved the format, the way the main character was writing directly to the reader with little fun additives added through footnotes. The flow of it ran so well and the mystery kept me guessing until a good way through the book. I can’t wait to read more and see what further adventures are in store for the characters!

Thank you NetGalley and St Matin’s Press for this ARC!