Rating: 4 ⭐️
Pub Date: August 13, 2024
How I Read It: 📱

Synopsis

Bestselling author Eleanor Dash is on her book tour in Italy, but will this be her last book? Maybe, because she has one problem, she wants to kill off her main character, Connor Smith, because Connor is a real person in her life who is getting royalties from her book, and she’s sick of him.

Things start getting interesting when somebody actually tries to kill Connor in Italy, and he pleads with Eleanor to help him find out who’s doing this, but Eleanor doesn’t quite believe him. Who would want to kill Connor…other than her?

My Thoughts
This was a laugh out loud cozy mystery that will have you wanting more of Eleanor and the rest of the quirky cast of characters. This mystery has many suspects and it’s hard to pinpoint who the culprit is; I didn’t see it coming! The banter is great and the location setting, Italy, was also a wonderful addition to the story. It’s a light, quick, easy, and entertaining read, and I like that they left the book open for a sequel.

Themes
🫣 Suspense
🏃‍♂️ Fast-Paced
🌪️ Twists

Ratings
Characters: 4 ⭐️
Pace: 4 ⭐️
Enjoyability: 4 ⭐️

Thank you to St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book!

Thank you NetGalley and Minotaur Books, an imprint of St Martins Publishing Group for this digital copy.

While this was an ebook, I think I would have preferred a hard copy as it would have been helpful to flip back and forth between pages easily. There were an abundance of characters and I didn’t find myself super invested in any of them. The alternate way it was written was interesting, but was difficult with the digital copy to reference back and forth.

I wanted to love this book, but ultimately was unable to get into it. I didn’t connect with any of the characters or what was going on, which made it hard to get into the story. The use of footnotes to inform the reader of various things, felt distracting and unnecessary. Overall, this book just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to Minotaur Books + NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my review.

This was so fun! It was my first by the author and I already can't wait to read another title by this author, and hopefully in this universe. Our main character, Eleanor, is an author traveling in Italy on a 10th anniversary book tour for her popular murder mystery series. In her writing, she is trying to kill off the main character (based off her ex, Connor) and in real life, he confides in her that someone is trying to kill him, but he doesn't know more. Attempts on Connor's life are made, but end up taking victims other than Connor himself. Who is the murderer and why are they targeting them? The banter, the cast of characters, and the hilarious narrator kept me intrigued and wanting more the entire read. I'm newer to the cozy mystery genre and definitely a new fan! 4.5/5 stars!

Thanks to NetGalley for ecopy for my Kindle.
A cozy mystery that "who done it" is almost impossible to figure out and had a surprise ending.
Except for the occasional profanity, it was a good read.

Thank you for the ARC !
This book was so good and entertaining! Love the characters and story line ! Definitely recommend !

I wanted to love this novel but I had a hard time finishing it. It had all the right ingredients: an Italian summer, murder, romance, but it fell flat for me. I didn't find Eleanor likeable and wasn't very captivated by the mystery.

It was a cute idea but it just didn't work me personally.

Eleanor Dash has a successful mystery book series but is being blackmailed by her ex Connor who Eleanor based her book's main character on. After ten years Eleanor is ready to end her book series just so she can be free of her ex. However, the book sales haven't been great and while on a fan book tour there are attempts on some of the characters lives, a stalker has been allowed to join the tour, rivalries resurface, and romance is rekindled.

This humorous cozy mystery that often breaks the fourth wall was well worth the read. It is perfect for a lazy Sunday or a beach read.

With the catchy title. I really had hopes for this book however it wasn’t what I was expecting. It just didn’t capture my interest.

I loved this one! I listened to the audio and it added even more to my enjoyment because of the narrators tone when delivering the footnotes & the foreshadowing (LOVED breaking that fourth wall from the writer’s perspective!!). It was a quick listen, I loved the murder mystery aspect and genuinely never saw the reveal coming because of how absorbed and entertained I was all throughout. One of the most enjoyable reads for me this year and I can’t wait to read more from this author!

I loved this book! I particularly enjoyed how Eleanor looped the reader into the action and allowed them to help solve the crime. I liked following along with Eleanor’s internal monologue; she reminds me of Finlay Donovan. This is the first book in a series, of which I will certainly keep reading!

An amusing whodunit to cozy up with on vacation.

Read if you like:
Murder Mysteries
Unreliable Narrarators
Unlikeable but Tolerable Characters
Pop Culture References (like a lot)
Messy Family Dynamics
Work Place Drama
Books About Books

This was a fun palate cleanser for me. Not a ground breaking mystery but entertaining. For me, there were enough bread crumbs, via our unreliable narrarator, to determine a third of the ending. I would agree with other reviews that the footnotes were annoying and didnt work great within the advanced ebook, though that may have been adjusted for the published work. I didnt love, or even particularly like, any of the characters but I still enjoyed it overall and was invested in knowing who wanted who dead and who decided to be all murdery.


Thanks to NetGalley & St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books for the eARC!

Every Time I Go on Vacation Someone Dies” by Catherine Mack is a hilarious, cleverly plotted cozy murder mystery filled with a dozen unique and memorable characters! I am giving this book 5 stars and recommending for anyone, especially lovers of cozy mysteries or Agatha Christie novels who also enjoy pop culture side references in abundance from Taylor Swift to White Lotus! The main character, Eleanor Dash(yes, her Mom named her after her favorite fictional character from Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility) is on an Italian Tour for her 9th novel with other authors, an ex, Connor Smith, who has it out for her, her sister who is her personal assistant, another ex and fellow author Oliver, and a group of BookFace ladies who won the trip to join her including Kathy, an extreme fan of her work which Eleanor has a restraining order out for! On this Italian book tour, Connor has a few attempts on his life as does the author, Eleanor. With each passing day, a new and closer attempt to kill Eleanor occurs. On the 4th of July, they are enjoying a delicious Italian feast and she wonders aloud to the group if there will be fireworks. Her sister doesn’t think the 4th of July is celebrated outside of the US, but as they are leaving and walking along some perilous steps, they hear the fireworks and look up. In the next moment, Eleanor is shoved hard and begins to fall down the stairs. She realizes the fireworks may have been set up to cover her sounds, her scream, as she just begins to tumble backwards to what is definitely the second attempt on her life. Luckily Oliver is looking at her and catches Eleanor before she tumbles down to her death. He places her down gently. During this scene, the author, Catherine Mack does what she uses as a literary device and footnotes her asides as she’s writing and this is where most of the humor lies. She writes, “… he takes a step back and lets me go, and I’m on my own, just like I’ve always been.” footnote #107 Can you tell I listened to a lot of Tay-Tay as I wrote this? This is of course is in reference to the song, “You’re on Your Own” from Taylor Swift’s Midnights album which has the lyric, “… You’re on your own kid. Just like you’ve always been.” Towards the beginning of the novel, in one of her many footnotes, Catherine Mack has Eleanor Dash explain her backstory with Connor Smith and a mess he gets himself into. She notes “… Connor was hired by one of the bank’s insurance agencies to investigate the case, and I tagged along. I read all of Agatha Christie growing up and it was kind of like being thrown into one of her books. With a more dashing Hercules Piorot.” The story is not only structured like an Agatha Christie novel, but just last month I did a buddy read of “Who Murdered Roger Ackroyd” and “Every time I Go on Vacation Someone Dies” was reminding me of this novel specifically and in one of the author’s over 200 footnotes references this mystery out of all of Agatha Christie novels! This was also a very fast paced. action packed, story with many funny laughs throughout! I am looking forward to Catherine Mack’s next book,”No one Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding: a novel” (Vacation Mysteries #2) due to be published May 13, 2025. Thank you to NetGalley, Catherine Mack, and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC! 5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #bookreviewmaureenvandusky #LiterALLyBOOKiSh #MidnightsBookChallenge

Thank you to the author, publisher and @NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Okay, now I don’t know that I can express this correctly but I was hoping to love this. It’s a fun, cozy mystery set in Italy. I liked the ‘fun’ aspect of it, but found that the ‘fun’ was mostly included in footnotes, which I was not a huge fan of.

I also didn’t connect or care very much for our main cast because they were all supposedly quite smart but did a lot of silly, stupid things. That truly made me disconnect even more from the story.

This was a quick, quirky read but was by no means a top recommendation from me.

This book was fun!!! Its a great whodunnit and I loved reading this with my friends. This author is talented and I cannot wait to read her next upcoming read.

Thank you NetGalley for my arc. A perfect summer beach read! This was funny, yet suspenseful. I am intrigued to see where this series continues, and would love to see these characters end up on another international trip!

I knew I would love this book based on the title alone, but it was SO GOOD. It was just the right amount of snarky, I’m a sucker for footnotes and a sassy heroine, the setting was so interesting, and the twists and turns hit all the right notes. This author had an air of Lisa Lutz about her writing, and I absolutely loved that. PLEASE let this be a series.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Please see my full review at http://michelleardillo.com/2024/09/09/book-review-every-time-i-go-on-vacation-someone-dies-by-catherine-mack/.

This book had a very interesting title and much more interesting premise. The setting itself made me want to book a trip to Italy ASAP.

It was a nice quick whodunit for readers who’ve enjoyed the Finlay Donovan series. Writiing was really interesting, especially when Eleanor breaks the 4th wall to help the reader try to solve the mystery.

this cozy is very cute, it has a lot of good going for it-- HOWEVER it's super hard to read on the kindle, depending on which kindle you're reading on. my phone app slapped the footnotes where-ever it felt like. my kindle paper white was meh, the kindle fire was the worst, honestly. this is a book i would recommend picking up in paperback to enjoy the tactical experience and read the footnotes the way they should be read.

thanks st martins for the galley! i really enjoyed it!