This is a well-written, entertaining, fast paced, lighthearted mystery novel. It has humor, a touch of romance, vividly described settings, murder, intrigue, twists and turns, and a satisfying conclusion. I especially enjoyed the quirky footnotes! Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books, and Ms. Catherine Mack, from whom I received an ARC of this delightful novel. This is my honest opinion.

Want to travel to Italy from the comfort of your own home?

Look no further than Catherine’s Mack's fun new cozy mystery, "Everytime I Go On Vacation, Someone Dies."

Thank you, Minotaur Books and MacMillan Audio, for the #gifted early copies of this book.

I loved the audiobook experience! The music at the beginning really set the vacation in Italy vibes & I am HERE for it. Elizabeth Evans really did an amazing job with her performance. I mistakenly wrote down that this is a full cast of people... that's how great she does! I am obsessed with how Evans portrayed our main character, Eleanor. She's so sassy, sarcastic, and hilarious. I could not get enough of her footnote side thoughts. Listening to this story was AWESOME, but I could see it not being as great without having a copy of the book with you.

This is a perfect vacation read. It is the perfect recipe for escapism. Lots of mysterious happenings. A little bit of romance. Endless hilarious dialogue. A setting that will make you never want to end your vacation.

My favorite favorite favorite thing is when the main character breaks the fourth wall to talk directly to the reader. Eleanor Dash chatting with us has to be the best bookish experience. The way that the book is set up is creative with footnotes that have hilarious side dialogue that only makes the major plot so much more interesting. The sarcastic & sassy tone did it for me.

I will say that cozy mysteries are the best when they are simple and have a group of core characters that really stand out. "Everytime I Go On Vacation Someone Dies" felt like it got over complicated. There are way too many characters. The addition of Inspector Tucci in the last quarter of the book felt random, and I wish Eleanor held his role instead. I had a hard time keeping all the suspects straight. It was difficult to keep track of their itineraries and where the group was. It got to be a little overwhelming.

I hate to admit it, but when I finally got done reading, I had a headache and felt a little exhausted. I loved the escape of going to all these beautiful places in Rome & the snarky main character. It was a super fun read, but to me, simple is better.

- Italy
- Cozy Mystery
- A Lil Bit of Romance
- Fun Look Into the Publishing World
- Vacation Vibes
- Taylor Swift References
- Knives Out
- Unreliable Narrator
- Finlay Donovan Lovers Need to Read
- The narrator breaks the Fourth Wall

I thoroughly enjoyed this read and give it a solid 4 stars. In Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies we follow Eleanor Dash, an author of a successful series of books featuring her real life first love, Conner Smith as the male hero of her stories. We learn Eleanor met Conner when traveling through Italy for a month after graduating from college. Conner is investigating a series of bank robberies and Eleanor helps him solve the case. Eleanor writes up their adventure into the novel that becomes When In Rome, and it is wildly successful. She writes 8 follow-up novels in the series and is working on ideas for her tenth story featuring Conner when they go on a tenth anniversary tour in Italy for When in Rome. The tour includes other authors as well as fans of the books. Conner tells Eleanor he thinks someone is trying to kill him, and Eleanor dismisses him. But, then Eleanor realizes someone is trying to kill her! Who could want them both dead?

Mack breaks the fourth wall early and often in this story. At first, this felt odd, but I began to expect these clever asides. I loved the quick pace, the sarcastic, funny attitude of Eleanor. The imposter syndrome that dogs her, because she dismisses her writing success as luck not talent, is something I've heard authors talk about it, so it feels genuine as well as referring to Good Reads as 'mean reads' and the indignity of begging other authors to blurb your books. I've seen frequent complaints about this from authors on Twitter and Threads. As well as the frustration of being tagged in one-star reviews. This is a good and enjoyable read with a terrible tour guide, obsessed fans, and a good mystery to solve. I loved the sister relationship between Eleanor and Harper and the romantic storyline, too. Breezy and fun with murders, too!

Thank you Net Galley for the advance audio copy of this book. Thank you Minotaur Books and Catherine Mack!

Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack proves to be a fun summer beach read. I appreciate NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. Eleanor is a best-selling author on a book tour in Italy. Throw in some competing authors, her ex-boyfriend, his ex-wife, and a few crazed fans who are also along for the trip and the story gets even better. Eleanor's ex, Connor, is sure someone is trying to kill him. Eleanor isn't so sure and she isn't sure he doesn't deserve it. Will Eleanor solve the case before Connor is killed or will she discover he invented the whole thing? We travel with Eleanor and her entourage throughout several tourist sites in Italy as we find out exactly what's going on.

This was an entertaining and funny murder mystery. A well known writer, Eleanor Dash, is on tour with family, friends, and fans. I enjoyed the many footnotes as it added humor to this book. It reads like attending a murder mystery dinner where diners are suspects and victims, and they are there to solve the mystery. I've read many of Catherine McKenzie's books and this new series under a different name is a nice change from her usual writing. Thank you, NetGalley, and the publisher for the ARC.

This book was THE most fun. First of all, check out this amazing cover. I'd totally be recreating it if I still lived in Vegas and had access to poolside lounge chairs. Or if I were on vacation, if only!

If you liked Finlay Donovan or Blonde Identity, RUN to pick up EVERY TIME I GO ON VACATION, SOMEONE DIES. I love these lighthearted cozy mysteries with an unwitting amateur detective. It's the perfect fun summer read, and I can't hype it up enough. I've read many of Catherine McKenzie's thrillers as well and can confidently say that she nails the genre switch.

Elizabeth Evans absolutely nails the delivery. I obviously couldn't see the footnotes when listening to the audiobook, but I loved that it felt like El was talking right to me. The narrator's tone was the perfect match for El's sarcasm.

I'm so excited that this is already a series, and that it has already been sold for a TV show, I think it's going to be an absolute blast to watch. I can't wait for the next book!

Accidental mystery novelist Eleanor goes on a convoluted tour with an ex-boyfriend who has been blackmailing her for 10 years and is also the inspiration of her popular book series. Also on tour is her resentful sister/personal assistant, and for some other reason - other authors?? - one of which is also an ex of the main character. There are no speaking engagements, readings, etc. It’s more like they’re on a vacation that none of them really want to be on with a group of fans which are kept semi-separate from them as the author and author adjacent crew visit tourist attractions. Attempted murder and murder ensues.

The book was low stakes and the twists were decent. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad and it was mildly entertaining and a quick read (despite the problems below).

By page 38 there were 36 footnotes. Even if I didn’t HATE footnotes (which I do), I would hate these because the actual footnotes are thrown into the middle of the text because it’s an ebook. Also the rest of the formatting sucks. I know it is an ARC, but it is still bad. There are line breaks for no reason and multiple times, an italicized word not only messed up the readability, but it was actually out of order in the sentence - or paragraph. If this wasn’t an ARC, I would have DNF’d it at about the 10% mark between the EXCESSIVE footnotes (237 all in - in a 352 page book) and the horrible formatting/readability (really hope they fix that before publication!). I did feel like the author was trying REALLY hard to make the main character witty and flawed and real, but it came across as forced and disingenuous. I didn’t feel particularly invested in any of the characters and most of them were not fleshed out at all.

To end on a more positive note, I didn’t figure out “who done it” until it was revealed and the motives were believable. 2.75⭐️

I had been hearing and reading a lot about this book.
I was excited to have the opportunity to read an early copy. I can’t say I loved it like most everyone else seems to. I didn’t really care for the main characters.
I wasn’t a fan of the cliff notes that were stuck randomly through out the story. Maybe that’s just how it formatted out on the kindle. Maybe it wouldn’t have bothered me so much in the actual book.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the early copy

A fun whodunnit for fans of Knives Out, which it reminded me of.
Told from the perspective of Eleanor, an author on an Italian book tour, someone is out to kill Connor, the man who inspired the main character in her novels, just as she’s trying to figure out how to kill off his character in her next book. Connor’s beliefs that someone is out to get him are not so far-fetched though when it’s clear someone is also out for Eleanor. With too many close calls, anyone can be a suspect. But when someone does die & Eleanor is named a suspect, the mystery is just beginning.
This was a fun novel full of comedy and suspense, & has more twists & turns than I was expecting.
Thank you to Minotaur Books for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies was such a fun whodunit. It will keep you guessing (and laughing) until the end. Looking forward to reading more in this series!!

At face value everything about this book looked very good to me. I liked the idea of a vacation cozy mystery that centers around a cast of characters that are all a little bit inter twined. Where this didn't work as well for me was in the execution. I found the insertion of the footnotes and breaking of the "fourth wall" so to speak a distraction and it made the main character seem too scattered and also made it difficult for me to become invested in the story line with so many break aways. I also thought that the introduction of so many intertwining characters so quickly became confusing, especially because I wasn't sure why all of them were even on the trip to begin with.


I think that this had potential but I wouldn't move on to the next book in the series if there is a sequel.

Thank you Netgalley and St Martin's Press | Minotaur Books for allowing me to read an ARC of Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack.

Eleanor (El) Dash is a mystery writer on a book tour in Italy. Others join her such as her ex-boyfriend Connor, her sister Harper, her lover Oliver, some writers, some fans who won a contest, etc. While in Italy and after some random traumatic events, Connor and El conclude that someone is trying to kill them. When another mystery writer ends up dead in their place, El must figure out fast who is after them before it's too late!

If you like the Finlay Donovan series, this could be the new series for you! It was a fun and quirky cozy mystery. The author breaks the fourth wall at times near the end; involving the reader to solve the mystery...which reminds me of Janice Hallett's books in a way as well. The characters are colorful yet mysterious, even ugly at times with their actions. The pace of the book was steady throughout, it would make a good summer read.

The author adds footnotes throughout the whole story. The footnotes are not needed and the author gives the reader the option to read them; they're used to add goofy side commentary that doesn't add anything but playful two cents to certain parts of the story. If you're reading it on the Kindle, it's not so bad as you can click on the link to each one and they appear on the same page; however, reading it on the phone can get the user lost at the end of the chapter and trying to get back to the page they were on. I tried reading the footnotes at the beginning but ended up skipping them a third way into the story because they began to become annoying. Also in one note, El brings up the topic of getting 3-star reviews that I found to be the actual author speaking on and it was off-putting and irrelevant.

Overall, this story was good and has the potential to be even better without so much commentary throughout. I'm not sure if I would continue this series or not. I think it depends on whether the footnotes and commentary remain in these or not.

A light and bubbly novel, much like the Aperol spritzes that feature so prominently. It is a fun read with witty writing and the recently popular “reader involvement”. The descriptions of the locales and food are wonderful. It feels like the refreshing sorbet between courses to cleanse the palate.

Unfortunately, I was not able to get through this book because of the footnotes. I really love the idea of the footnotes, but at least for the copy that I received were more toward the end I kept having to backtrack It felt like a part-time job trying to read this book. My copy also had a ton of weird spacings, which made it really hard to read. It didn’t seem intentional. I’m hoping by the time release this book they fix the spacing and put the foot notes on the page you are reading. I was really excited to read this book because the cover, the description, the fun story, but I just could not get past the spacing in the footnotes. When it comes out, maybe I can get it as an audiobook that might be better or hopefully they fix it.

Thank you, NetGallery, the author and the publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review

This is a quirky, fun romp through Italy, following an author getting inspiration and life resembling fiction. Great scenery and a decent read.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book, but my opinions are my own.

A story about a best-selling writer who goes on a promotional tour of Italy only to find herself the target of a killer. With a large cast of suspects it will keep you guessing right until the final chapters. Might have been better with fewer characters. There were times I had trouble keeping them straight in my mind. I had to stop and think who was who. I thought the main character, Eleanor Dash, was a tad shallow, but she’s trying. Her sister, Harper, is the one who has it all together. The leading man, Conner, is a total cad. Other than the love interest, Oliver, the other characters are mostly forgettable. Also could have done without the footnotes. There were way too many. I found them distracting and felt they interfered with the flow of the story. Loved the descriptions of the breathtaking scenery and scrumptious meals. Told in the first person by Eleanor. She’s very self-aware and even jokes about her own shortcomings. At one point in the story she breaks the fourth wall and talks directly to the reader. Recommend for fans of light, humorous, cozy murder mysteries.

Every Time I Go on Vacation Someone Dies is a cozy murder mystery that is fun, unpredictable and laugh out loud hilarious! The story unfolds with a perfect blend of suspense, romance, and drama, which kept me on the edge of my seat.

Eleanor Dash is a famous writer that attends a book tour in Italy alongside other well known writers. Their week is full of elaborate events, so what could possibly go wrong? Quite literally everything, from blackmail to murder. No one is safe, and everyone is a suspect.

The plot of this book is everything! Most of the characters are likable, and there were a few that made me roll my eyes a couple of times, but their different perspectives and personalities kept the story intriguing. If I had to choose a favorite part of the book I’d highlight the use of 'Breaking The 4th wall,' which allows readers to immerse themselves deeper into the investigation.

Catherine Mack's writing shines in this novel, making it a must-read for fans of Knives Out, Murder Mystery, or anyone looking for a thrilling whodunit.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read the ARC of this book.

Eleanor is an uber successful writer off on a tour of Italy to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of her successful series The Vacation Mysteries (the first of which is based on her real life experience in Rome). This book is written as a murder mystery, where Eleanor challenges you to solve it before her and often explicitly states when she’s telling you a clue. It’s very tongue in cheek with an entire chapter titled “Breaking the Fourth Wall.”

Overall it was a nice, light read. I was able to guess a portion of the ending at around 35%. There were maybe too many pop culture references for me that I’m not sure will age well (a mix of Taylor Swift lyrics or mentions (I counted 6), Bridgerton, White Lotus twice, and The Good Place). But others may enjoy.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
I read this and also listened to the audiobook as well. I loved both. The narrator is quite quirky and funny and makes the entire journey of the book interesting. I loved the setting and the characters. I really want to read more from thus author as I loved this book.

Ebook/Cozy Mystery: Thank you Netgalley for letting me have an ARC of this book because I really enjoyed it... except for the footnotes.
This is a whodunnit mystery. I didn't guess the murderer correctly... because it was out of left field, but the first person narrative was funny.... except for the footnotes.