This was one of my most anticipated books of the year, and in that way it was a huge disappointment. I expected something funny, clever, and unique, and this wasn't really any of those things. In fact, almost immediately I had a really bad reaction to this book and almost DNFed it because I was disliking the writing style, but I was buddy reading with my friend Paula, and she talked me down a bit and I gave it more of a chance. My expectations at a more reasonable level, this was a fine read. Not bad, but not great either. I hated the characters and I still didn't like the writing style, but the mystery was entertaining, and I loved all the descriptions of food and the Italian setting. The meta elements weren't as fun as I think the author thought they would be. I probably won't continue in the series, but I'm not mad I read it.

3 stars (rounded up)

The next time you’re in the mood for a light mystery, try Every Time I Go On Vacation, Someone Dies. In addition to the mystery, you are treated to a tour of some famous places in Italy. Eleanor Dash relates the story; she’s an author who is tired of her multi-book series that features a character named Connor Smith, and is planning to kill him off in the next and final book in the series. Her problem is that Connor Smith is a real person, with whom she had a relationship and who inspired the character. She finds herself on a tour through Italy with fans who have won a contest, along with Connor, her sister and assistant, Harper, an ex named Oliver (also an author), and other authors. There’s also a tour guide who doesn’t seem to know as much about some famous sites in Italy as Eleanor does. There were a lot of characters to keep track of.

Connor has been bleeding (not quite blackmailing) Eleanor for a percentage of her book royalties for years, because she based his character on him and used his real name.

There were some really funny things along the way. One was the name of the book fans, the “BookFace Ladies.” Apparently these women post photos of themselves with the book cover, hiding half their faces (or something like that). And there’s a snarky reference to GoodReads, calling it “MeanReads” for the ability of people who haven’t even read a book to post a review.

Eleanor speaks directly to the reader, breaking the fourth wall. There are even footnotes! In the ebook, there are links to the footnotes which you can read or not. I found them to be distracting. When I switched to the audiobook, the footnotes felt more like part of the narrative, like an aside, and you weren’t necessarily aware that the narrator was reading a footnote.

Connor is convinced that someone is trying to kill him in real life (not to be confused with Eleanor’s sketchy plans for her next book). And he’s right! This is a type of locked-room mystery, with everyone involved in the tour as a possible suspect.

Based on how the book ended, this looks like it’s going to be the start of a new series.

The audiobook was nicely narrated by Elizabeth Evans.

Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance reader copy of this book and to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advance copy of this audiobook. All opinions are my own.

Wah, wah, waaaaaa. I wanted to like this book so much…

genre: cozy mystery, books about books
format: ebook
rating: 3.0 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The tone was hilarious, I loved the addition of the footnotes, the setting was to die for (pun intended). But something about the band of characters…& ultimately the “who” in the “whodunnit” just fell a little flat for me.

However, all that said, I’ll probably pick up the next book in the series! I honestly laughed out loud a lot and enjoyed the ride…even if the destination fell flat.

Would recommend to those looking for an interesting format for a cozy, European mystery!

This is a very light whodunnit style story. The main character Eleanor is an author on an Italian book tour with other authors. She goes back and forth between narrating the story and talking to the reader. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not. There are also a lot of footnotes to get Eleanor’s quirky personality across.
If you’re looking for a light fun quirky summer read that takes place in a beautiful location this is your book!
Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s press for the digital ARC.

Thank you Netgalley & Catherine Mack for this ARC! Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someones Dies was a perfect mix of White Lotus (because of the italian vibe) and Knives out. I had a great time with the twist and turns that I can honestly say I didn't seem coming. My least favorite thing about mysteries is when I can see the twist coming a mile away but I didn't with this book - jaw was on the floor. I was in my room yelling at the main character to get herself out of this situation lol Not only did it leave me shocked but it left me hungry for pasta.

Take the Italy trip of your dreams... or nightmares with this one!

Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies was such a great title that I knew I’d have to read this book, because it had a great description and was such a delightful, fun cozy mystery! Set on an author’s book tour through Italy to celebrate the tenth anniversary of her murder mystery book series, it brings together a book club and the author’s friends and frenemies on a 10-day tour of Italy, as an homage to her first book set in Italy. But when the person behind the character who she wants to kill off in her next book, Connor, tells her someone is trying to kill him, she begins to wonder if this tour was actually a good idea. When there are multiple attempts on not just Connor’s life but her own, and more than one person on the tour or associated with it turns up dead, it’s one of her stories come to life, and the group must stop pointing fingers at each other long enough to come together to get to the bottom of it before someone else dies. This fun, light and cozy murder mystery - the first in a series - is perfect for fans of Christin Brecher, Jesse Q. Sutanto and Mia P. Manansala.

This was just a really solid good time! Reminds me of HOW TO SOLVE YOUR OWN MURDER and EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY HAS KILLED SOMEONE. You follow an author on a vacation in Italy with other authors & some fans, she's trying to (fictionally) kill off the main guy in her series, but he says someone is really trying to kill him, and then bodies really start dropping.

This is a quirky/gimmicky story interspersed with nearly 300 footnotes throughout the text where the author breaks the fourth wall. I kind of wish the footnotes would've just been embedded in the text normally (because I love mysteries where the narrator breaks the fourth wall!), but I guess it was a smart move because some people don't like that quirk and it allows you to skip it for the most part (except there are a couple chapters in the end speaking straight to the reader).

I didn't think the reveal was too terrible surprising, but I had so much fun with the story that I didn't really mind not being blown away by a twist/reveal. What I did really like was that the threat was current, everyone looked suspicious, and you didn't have to understand something overly complicated for the reveal to make sense. Looking forward to the next book in the series!

Thank you to the publisher for granting me access to an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions remain my own.

"Hey, that's a really nice book you have there!"
*puts hands in pockets and twirls*
"Thanks, it has footnotes!"

Seriously, I love a good footnote. And this book has a lot of them. I love footnotes.

This book was so much fun--I read it in less than 24 hours! Eleanor Dash is on a 10 year anniversary book tour for her first book, in Italy where the events that inspired it happened and the book takes place. Unfortunately, her ex boyfriend Connor, the star of the book, is on tour with her, and he's convinced that someone is trying to kill him. Eleanor is a great narrator, always making sure you're kept abreast of all the goings on and encouraging you to figure out who the bad guy is. It has an almost Clue like feel to it, so I have to admit I was slightly disappointed where there weren't multiple endings like the movie lol.
I also in high school took a trip to Italy that followed a similar path--we started in Rome, where we went to most of the places mentioned in the book, and then also went to the Amalfi coast (though we were in smaller towns, not Sorrento) and Pompeii. So that was a nice trip down memory lane for me. Thankfully my trip had a lot less murder in it lol. But being able to picture the places they were at made me feel almost like I was on the tour with Eleanor.
 
This will be a great vacation read, and if you love Stephanie Plum,

This book is quirky and fun. I was excited about the footnotes when I first started to read. I thought they added a fun extra voice to the narrative, however they got boring really quick. I kind of agree with Eleanor that maybe there don’t need to be quite as many. That being said the story itself is charming, witty, and the characters are the perfect cast for a who has done it. All of them have motives yet which motive is the strongest to want to commit murder? This is a perfect summer read. Please forgive me as this review will be posted on Goodreads, but hopefully Eleanor will rest assured knowing though that it will not be one star.
Thank you so much to St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books, and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book.

Elizabeth Evans is one of my favorite audiobook narrators, and she did an amazing job with this book! I loved the way this book was written, the main character is an author and writes directly to readers throughout the book. It kept me invested in the plot and guessing what all the clues meant.

I didn’t necessarily like the main character, or many of the characters at all, but the narrator kept me engaged. This is not a serious mystery that tries to stick to reality, but is a fun ride set in beautiful Italy. I’ve watched the movie Knives Out before and this is definitely a literary version of the movie. The ending wraps up this mystery, but sets up for a new plot in the next book.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio, Minotaur Books, and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of the audiobook and digital book! This review is voluntary, and all opinions expressed are my own.

Let me start with why I chose to read this book. The TITLE! I felt like this book was written for me. Why you ask? Well almost every time I go on vacation something happens. Not someone dying exactly, but not far off a few times. I jokingly refer to myself as the vacation jinx.

Unfortunately I was disappointed in this one. I know I'm in the minority with my opinion, but the footnotes were so annoying. There were so many. Like multiple footnotes after every chapter. I felt like that distracted from the actual story way too much. I know they are meant to be funny, and some of them are, but they just bored me after about chapter 10.

I had a hard time keeping the many characters straight and even knowing who was speaking at times.

I did enjoy latter parts of the book after I gave up on reading the footnotes

This is my first book by this author, so I don't know if this format is typical of her writing style.

Thanks to netgalley and Minotaur Books for the arc.

This mystery is set in Italy and features a quirky cast of authors on a book tour, which sounds right up my alley. Unfortunately, the majority of the book dragged for me and was so dialogue heavy that it was hard to follow who was talking if you weren't paying very close attention. I also wasn't a fan of the narrator; she had too many tangential thoughts and just seemed very naive about everything despite the fact she'd written nine mystery books. The ending will surprise you, however, because you aren't given enough details to figure it out on your own. These types of books are maddening to me because it gives the author an unfair advantage with regards to the element of surprise.

Be forewarned, there are 237 footnotes in this 352 page FICTION book (one of them even spoils an Agatha Christie story). If they were used sparingly, it would have been fun, but it got so old so fast. I know the author claims they are "optional" to read, but they are a large component of the book, and my eyes were automatically drawn to the bottom of the page every time one came up. I can't even imagine what the audiobook is like with all that jumping around.

Humorous, but a little over the top Snarky at times, this is a Good beach read, but I'm not invested enough to continue the series.

P.S. This book was written by Catherine Mackenzie under a pseudonym. I really enjoyed her book "Six Weeks to Live", but maybe cozy/slow burn mysteries aren't her thing.

Sadly this book was not for me and I DNFed at the 50% mark.

It was just so hard to get into the story and I never once connected or even really cared about the main character. It felt like the author was trying to make her funny and quirky, but to me, she came across as impersonal. I also really didn’t find the whole cast of characters entertaining (it was also a huge cast that I could not keep straight for some odd reason).

The pace was slow and storyline became circular/repetitive.

The use of footnotes was very overdone, and since I had an ebook arc they were randomly thrown in at times and even in the middle of sentences.

Others have really enjoyed it so please just take my review with a grain of salt.

Thank you, SMP Romance for this gifted copy in exchange for my honest opinions.

Thank you to NetGalley, Minotaur Books and author Catherine Mack for this ARC to read and review!!

This book ya’ll. So freaking fun! I loved the author’s writing style, the unique story format, the modern cozy mystery vibes and all the quirky characters! It breaks through the fourth wall, which is always fun and as a reader you get to be included in solving the whodunit! I failed. Miserably.

And hello … the FOOTNOTES! OMG the footnotes are GREAT and so clever! I was laughing out loud (not something I usually do when reading, so there's that)!! The level of wit, sarcasm and humor is on point! I just had the best time with this book! This is hands down my number one recommendation for your summer vacay read!!

Now, excuse me while I grab a lemon gelato and go wait in line for the next book in this hysterical new series!

This was a fun idea for a book but I feel the title does not match the premise at all. I enjoyed trying to figure out "who done it' and thought the writers dialogue added to the story. The characters were fun too.

If Finlay Donovan and Ernest Cunningham has a baby, it might be Eleanor Dash, as she combines the haphazard detective work of Finlay with the meta writing/reading community of Ernest. I loved all the side comments, breaking the fourth wall. I did get tired of them being in the format of footnotes as this took me physically out of the reading experience and most of them could have easily been included in the regular text. But, for gimmicks, I preferred this over the lack of quotation marks many authors are doing. As a series starter, this was a great foundation. Character development was well done. Lots of information given but at the same time I felt there is room for future growth. I look forward to seeing where Eleanor and her "universe" go next.

I was not a fan of the footnotes that were included in the digital ARC, the kindle being black and white did not make it easy to differentiate between the notes and actual book content. That made me reading experience less enjoyable than normal.

The overall story was fun to follow. I loved that it took place in historical locations and that there was a mystery element involved in them.

I was really looking forward to this book based on the great thing I'd heard. Unfortunately, it fell flat for me! This one just could not keep my attention. The writing style was easy to follow along--could be a good fit for someone seeking a light/cozy mystery

This one was OK. It had moments, but overall, it wasn't memorable.

I didn't like the main character, Eleanor. She seemed flighty and was annoying. Actually, most of the characters were a bit unlikable.

I didn't really understand the point of the footnotes. Since I was reading this on my Kindle, I had to have the book pulled up on my phone through the Kindle app, otherwise I was moving back and forth between pages too often. I read the footnotes, I didn't get much out of them. I'd probably recommend skipping them.

I received this book free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This novel is an absolute delightful start to a fun new, cozy mystery series by debut author, Catherine Mack. Eleanor Dash is a famous mystery author on a press tour in Italy w/ her sister, Harper (also her PA), her "muse" Connor and a bunch of contest winners. Eleanor would very much like to "kill off" her main character, Connor, but figuring how to do that and making sure he's not actually murdered in the process are 2 very different things.
This book was delightful, breaks the 4th wall and is full of adorable footnotes that help guide you along through clues and snarky commentary. I cannot wait for book #2, No One At This Wedding Was Supposed to Die.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this e-arc.*