Take a delightful trip to Italy with a group of best-selling writers and ultimate fans where, unfortunately, someone dies. Catherine Mack's (pseudonym of Catherine McKenzie) debuts her comedy/light-hearted novel and introduces readers to Eleanor Dash, accidental best-selling mystery writer. On a book tour trip to Italy, Eleanor is planning to end her famous series and finally cut ties with her ex-flame Connor (who also happens to star in her series) when Connor confesses someone is trying to kill him. What ensues is a pretty hilarious killer romp through Italy where everyone is a suspect. Each chapter includes Eleanor's footnotes which not only have clues to the mystery but also some funny insights into Eleanor. While not the most likeable at first by the end of the novel Eleanor is endearing-and ends on a cliffhanger! Excited for the start of a new, fun and fresh series!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

First, I am not crazy about unformatted documents in Kindle, but that’s just me. Secondly, I must admit I wanted to read the book because of the title as I usually do not read cozy mysteries. I liked the premise of the story and thought it would be more of a mystery, but I figured it out quickly. I also enjoyed how the narrator breaks the fourth wall and includes the reader. I know this is a gimmick but it was fun. What I didn’t care for was the footnotes. They were so annoying and popping up in the middle of the page because of the bad formatting made it worse. Also didn’t care for the characters but I finished the book.

A fun read with a lot of laughs. I wasn’t sure if this would be a fast read for me but it was. I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

This book will be ✨THE✨ book of the summer! It's funny, suspenseful, and entertaining—everything you want in a vacation read. The sarcastic narrator immediately pulls you into the story. Her hilarious footnotes and snarky commentary make you feel like you are gossiping with a friend. Even though it is a murder mystery, it's a light and refreshing read. Not to say there aren't plenty of tense moments (I was yelling at the narrator at one point). The book was the perfect combination of mystery, intrigue, gossip, romance, and comedy. I was captivated from the first page and sad to reach the end. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the Finlay Donovan series or Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone.

This is book one of a series, and I eagerly await book #2!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending an advanced copy. 🤞 I am lucky enough to get an ARC of the second installment!

Thank you to NetGalley, the Publishers, and Catherine Mack for an ARC of Every Time I Go on Vacation Someone Dies. Oh my gosh I loved this book so much! It was laugh out loud funny, fourth wall breaking, gripping, and I loved the format of this book. It was light hearted in the sense it wasn’t edge of your seat, but it still had you flipping the pages to see who it was. I loved feeling like I was apart of the mystery and the (millennial) humor of it. I am ready for the second book now please lol! Elenor is on her book tour in Italy for the 10th year anniversary of her book series. She’s with other authors that are apart of her book universe. She wants to kill off one of her characters in the book, Connor, in her next book of that series. But what do you know, there is an actual attempt on the real Connor’s life.. that kind of spoils her plans. Elenor writes about murder, she doesn’t actually solve real-life murder mysteries until now. You will not be disappointed with this book!

I was able to read an advanced reader's copy this book through NetGalley.

Author Eleanor Dash is on a book tour in Italy for her 10th book. Unfortunately for her, her ex Chase who is the main character of her novels, is on the tour too. Chase thinks someone is trying to kill him and needs her help. Throw in a bunch of other colorful characters including another ex of hers Oliver, her sister, her stalker, etc and you get a lot of humor as they travel through Italy touring their book and getting into mischief.


This was such an enjoyable read! So much so that I kept trying to look up and read the various fictitious books listed in the story. I really hope there is a sequel and I can't wait to suggest it to friends as a great vacation read.

This one really didn't work for me. I'm not sure if it was my e-reader or what. The book showed up differently in different apps. All the footnotes and numbers and words in different colors or italics really threw me off and were distracting. I'm excited to give this book another try when it comes out on audio, I'm hopeful that format will work better.

This was ok, but just ok. I didn't hate it, but I don't think that I would recommend it.

First, what I liked:
The setting was sublime, and I felt like Mack's writing really gave me those Mediterranean vacation vibes that I was looking for. The cast of characters had some fun personalities in it, but I did wish for more diversity. There were several moments in which I felt like Mack really captured the absolute awkwardness of traveling with a tour group of acquaintances and frienemies. There were some funny moments.

What I disliked:
The footnotes - my god - the footnotes were terrible. I know they were meant to accentuate Eleanor's personality, but they just came across as annoying. They often made no contribution to the story, and were written in a very immature voice. The writing needs some SERIOUS editing. Hopefully it will get a few more rounds of editing before going to print, so maybe this won't be a problem in the final copy. That being said, it was so bad that it was a distraction and impacted my overall vibe with the book. Lastly, Eleanor is such a supremely unlikable character that I could not bring myself to root for her or care about her issues. This was a problem since she is the only narrator. It just really alienated me.

With this book I hoped to get the same vibe as Finlay Donovan, and I must admit that even if initially I wasn't completely convinced by this reading, little by little the humor that lingers throughout the book took hold and the story started off smoothly. It all takes place while traveling in Europe, and this already convinced me to apply for this book, I love traveling settings, not to mention Europe. It's Catherine Mack's first book, and not a bad debut, there are some ideas that could be improved, perhaps making the plot a little more "lively", but otherwise I found it to be an excellent first story! It's a cozy mystery to read this summer, my favorite thing about this story was definitely the footnotes, a very nice twist.
Thank you NetGalley and St Martins Press for the advanced copy.
#EveryTimeIGoOnVacationSomeoneDies #NetGalley

I'd classify this book in the "cheeky narrator breaking the 4th wall of books" genre that has become increasingly popular. It took a while to get into, but it was a decent read. Would make for a great vacation read, so long as you aren't the narrator.

It's the first in a series, so I'm curious to see what the next book is about, which might be pretty high praise.

I really wanted to enjoy this by my goodness. The humor was trying to be shoved down my throat, the footnotes were cute and all but geez. I had to DNF at the 25% mark. I couldn't keep going, maybe I'll try again with the audiobook once it releases!

Humor is center stage (including wonderful usage of humorous footnotes!) in this fast-paced mystery with a great setting.

Eleanor Dash is on a book tour in Italy to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the first Vacation
Mystery tour, along with the hero of the mysteries, Connor Smith, five otherauthora and twenty
super fans. As Eleanor is on the last book in her contract, she wants to kill off the hero to end
her relationship with Connor. As she plots different ways to kill him off in the tenth book, members
of the tour group are attcked, ending in murder. Who is the real target - Eleanor or Connor? Does
it lead back to the real crime the first book was based on? An entertaining read with a cast
of intersting characters.
#EveryTimeIGoOnVacationSomeoneDies #NetGalley

I wanted to enjoy this book so badly. I enjoy cozy mysteries, travel, and books about authors.

What didn't work for me:
--The characters. Most were unlikeable and without enough development to help understand their choices.
--The FMC was particularly annoying and ditzy. It was hard to believe she was a successful author.
--The footnotes. So many footnotes. They weren't formatted well on my edition and were very distracting to read.

Thank you NetGalley and St Martins Press for the advanced copy.

Overall, a great storyline with interesting characters. Loved the setting as well. My downside to this story was there was almost too much dialogue, at times it got a bit confusing. There are also footnotes throughout. Some were worth reading, others distracted from the flow.
I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Loved the humor in this book. The footnotes were an added bit of humor. That said I would have liked a few less characters. But overall a fun read with good characters. Thanks #Netgalley and #StMartinsPress #MinotaurBooks for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine.

2.5 stars rounded up.

There are a lot of characters and I struggled to find a connection with any of them. I don’t have to like characters in a book but I need something to drive me to care about what’s happening to them. I almost wanted to like Harper but something was missing. I think the sister dynamic could have been developed a little deeper and that would have helped.

The story is heavy on dialogue. The way the dialog is written I was constantly confused by who was saying what. It drove me crazy to the point I started skimming long conversations. Maybe this will be better after the final edit.

The murder took place way too late in the book. I actually enjoyed the last 40% of the book. I found myself skimming chunks of the book but not once the murder happened.

I won’t say that I hated the footnotes. But the formatting was so bad it rendered them not worth reading. If I had read this in a physical copy, I may have appreciated them.

This book was a fun read and I loved all the footnotes. It brought a different experience to the reading. A great summer mystery read !

This book was funny and clever- I love an unreliable narrator and the footnotes were hilarious. It was also a clever mystery!

A fun and entertaining read, Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies, takes readers travel mystery with a large cast and beautiful settings.
This is the first book in a new series The Travel Mysteries by author Catherine Mack. This Mystery has humor, a murder, complex relationships, wonderful settings, deceptions, and a disdainful detective, all while giving readers a little behind the scenes at an authors life. Eleanor is a famous author and is working on book ten of her travel mystery series. She is full of whit and spunk and breaks the fourth wall for us multiple times throughout. Eleanor is traveling with several people as part of her publishers book promotions and this is a creative way to contain the eclectic group of suspects. We are given a full explanation of suspects, motives and opportunities when the group creates a murder board at one point. Even with all the help, I did not figure out the entire mystery until the big reveal. This is a fun one, and fans of mysteries will enjoy this entertaining story.

I received an advanced e-copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.