Ten days, eight suspects, six cities, five authors, three bodies . . . one trip to die for.

Connor Smith is conniving. Not only did he sweep Eleanor Dash off her feet ten years ago while she was on vacation, but he’s also not trustworthy, has a secret past, and is now blackmailing Eleanor. The thing is, someone is trying to kill him and readers need to figure out if it’s a case of life imitating art … or not! You see, this con-man-ex-lover is also a character in Eleanor’s book and she just wants to write him off - literally and figuratively. When things start to surface giving Eleanor pause, she turns to her readers to help. Is this a case of a book tour gone wrong? Or is someone really out to ‘write off’ Connor Smith?

Things I loved:
❤️ Italian setting
❤️ following clues to solve a murder mystery
❤️ great cast of characters
❤️ great cover
❤️ book featuring authors, books, fans, and a book tour
❤️ heaps of secrets and blackmail
❤️ single POV; uncommon these days
❤️ humour/wit

The only thing I struggled with was the formatting - I couldn’t enjoy the footnotes (an integral part of this book) on the Kindle edition. This in no way reflects on this book or the author.

I think this will be a successful series! I saw that it’s been optioned for a TV series, too. I wish the author luck.

I was gifted this copy by St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

5 stars!

I read this book on vacation and it was literally perfect. I love the niche of mystery writers solving mysteries that they find themselves in (similarly to Anthony Horowitz and Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone) and so I was excited for this novel from the beginning and it did not disappoint.

I loved the main character and getting to meet everyone on the tour and see how they were connected to each other. I loved the Italian setting and the inclusion of sightseeing real Italian places (I really felt like I was there). I liked how there were enough clues that I did figure out the solution to the mystery but I was still along for the ride. A great start to a fun new cozy mystery series and I will be reading the sequel (because that ending???)

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was a fun read! I love cozy books and this was a great addition to the genre. The characters were great and the setting was lovely. I’ll definitely read the next in the series.

Thank you so much for the opportunity!

I saw this and wanted to read it asap:
“ Five authors on a ten day tour of six cities.
However there are three bodies and eight suspects! ”
Tell me you are not interested in it! I mean come on now..
It was quite fun and entertaining. I loved the little footnotes, they were quite insightful and well needed honestly.

First, I love the footnotes! They’re like what we ask the book while we’re reading it; little insights into the author’s mind! Eleanor Dash has gotten herself into quite the predicament during this book tour; murder and mayhem abound. The cast of characters are just that, characters. So many twists and turns to the plot that keep your attention; you must keep reading. It’s captivating and suspenseful with just the right amount of humor. A side of romance tossed in for Eleanor was a nice balance. Dive right in to this book for a tour of Italy (scenery descriptions really have you believing you’re there), mystery and suspense as Eleanor Dash and company solve a quirky who done it! I admit I did figure it out but it never stopped me from wondering what else Eleanor and gang would get into next and how exactly Eleanor would wrap it up.
Thank you to NetGallery for ARC!

Book Title: Every time I Go On Vacation Someone Dies
Author: Catherine Mack
Series: The Vacation Mysteries #1
Publisher: Saint Martin’s Press-Minotaur Books
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Pub Date: April 30, 2024
My Rating: 3.4 Stars!
Pages 304

Five authors on a ten day tour of six cities.
However there are three bodies and eight suspects!
Everyone seems to have motives to kill other people – will anyone be left?

I am always drawn to a good cover and this one got my attention but
~ I wish blurbs would not describe a story as ‘hilarious’~ I looked it up
Adjective - extremely amusing very funny, hysterically funny, uproarious
I am sure it is me and my sense of humor but the story IMO never fit this definition. My hope is that this story will be somewhat humorous; in this case it was a fun vacation mystery.
Plus I was not a fan of the the footnotes. ~ I love reading via Kindle as it is so easy to search anything questionable. In this case I skipped the pages listing the footnotes.

One thing I never skip is the Author’s Notes and/or Acknowledgments. I love knowing the inside scoop on the motivation for the story.
In her Acknowledgements, Catherine Mack not only thanks those who helped and supported her, she tells us that when she and her husband were on vacation on a hot tour of Pompeii this title came to her. She mentioned perhaps being surrounded by death. (Pompeii is a gravesite ~ tourists are attracted to see the bodies that were solidified into stone when the city was destroyed. Now more than 100 bodies have been preserved in plaster casts).

Want to thank NetGalley and Saint Martin’s Press- Minotaur Books for this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for April 30, 2024.

Eleanor Dash from Venice Beach, CA wrote a successful series of murders that took place during a vacation in Italy. All the names were changed except one: Connor. She met him there, fell in love and returned writing books about robberies on the trip that ended up as murders.

Ten years later, her relationship with Connor was long gone except this con man was getting a percentage of her earnings because she used his name. She wanted to end the series with him being murdered. She returned to Italy with a book group. That’s where suspicious acts of murder were possibly aimed at her. Who of the seven possible suspects was trying to kill her?

It's a quick read with lots of dialogues and footnotes which seemed out of place in a fiction book like this. I wish there was more about the different sites they visited. I didn’t care for most of the personalities of the characters especially Eleanor and Connor. However, the ending was a nice surprise. I loved the design of the cover. It’s colorful and definitely sends a fun vibe for summer reading.

My thanks to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read a copy of this advanced book with an expected release date of April 30, 2024.

This was a fun & fast read! I snagged it from the “read now” section on NetGalley, and it did not disappoint! I couldn’t put it down. This is a perfect story for the summer.

While on a book tour for her murder mystery series, Eleanor is living out her own plot. She’s trying to figure out how to kill off a fan favorite character that’s based on her terrible ex. Meanwhile, her ex is convinced someone is actually trying to kill him. The book tour they’re on has a cast of characters involved, murder attempts, blackmail, and a semi-unreliable narrator (a self proclaimed lier).

The writing flows seamlessly, chapters end on cliffhangers, and i flew through it without realizing how much I was reading in one sitting. It’s single POV, and every chapter ends with funny footnotes that act as commentary from the narrator.

Thank you to the author, publisher, & NetGalley for my advanced digital copy!

Author Eleanor Dash is on a book tour in Italy and she just wants to get through the tour and find the best way to kill off her main character in her series. The main character of her books also happens to be a real person, Connor Smith, who has been blackmailing her for part of her royalties. They also have a romantic past together which complicates things. Then, Connor believes someone is trying to kill him. And then someone really dies.

This book was a lot of fun. It's a light cozy mystery read packed full of comedy. The author's sense of humor really shines through. I enjoyed all the footnotes that were a part of each chapter. I've read one book previously with a similar style of explaining the crime and encouraging the reader to participate in solving it and didn't care for that one, but in my opinion this one was masterfully done. The tour around Italy was enjoyable. Cozy mysteries aren't usually my go to, but I really enjoyed this one.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I did not like the main character from the beginning. How can an author not appreciate her readers when she is on a author tour with them? I did not like the idea of having to read footnotes. I found them very annoying.

Fun, quick, cozy mystery. Enjoyed the “trip” to Italy and the perspective of the narrator/author. The footnotes were distracting and hard to read in the kindle. I’m not sure they were needed but overall this was a good read.

This was a fun read - I really enjoyed this book. I'm so glad that I got the chance to read it early and will definitely be recommending it to multiple people who enjoy these types of novels. I enjoyed the characters and especially enjoyed the writing by this author. I'm excited to see what the author comes out with next as I'll definitely be reading it! Thank you to the publisher for my early copy of this book!

cozy-fiction, contemporary, book-within-a-book, chick-lit, verbal-humor, situational-humor, farce, whodunit, blackmail, better-in-print, twisty, sisters, writers, new-series, first-in-series, Italy, threats, laugh-riot****

Cute, fun, light read! Not to be read in a place where you wouldn't feel comfortable snickering or downright laughing out loud. She wrote the first mystery and it was incredibly popular. But. She gave the "hero" the name of the guy she was with and he rewarded her by blackmailing her out of some major profits. And. Her (better looking/more put together) sister goes everywhere with her. Then the creep catches up with her claiming that some mob or other has threatened his life. Tough, because she has enough murderous intent, herself! The action and laughs never cease or even slow down. There are footnotes which pretty much equal asides, but were something of a distraction for me. Enjoyable.
I requested and received an EARC from St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books via NetGalley.

DNF.
The main character was shallow & forgettable.
More cringe than comedy.
The footnotes… more annoying than endearing


Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is light and fun despite the bodies that accumulate over bestselling author Eleanor Dash’s 10-day-trip to Italy. She’s with her ex, the good-looking Conner, who she wrote about in her first novel and can’t seem to get rid of, though she’s determined to kill him off—in her tenth novel. But then it seems that he’s had a few real threats to his life. Then, it seems, that Eleanor is at risk, too.

Also on the trip are other authors. One who steals plots directly from Eleanor but does so in a more literary fashion, thus getting better reviews from critics. Another author isn’t doing so well and envies the marketing budget Eleanor’s books get. Another person on the trip is a rabid fan Eleanor has a restraining order against. But who in the crowd has a reason to kill both Eleanor and Conner?

NetGalley provided an advance copy of this novel, which RELEASES APRIL 30, 2024.

I loved this book!
I thought it was so witty , with a gorgeous setting, and an interesting plot, I couldn't get enough of it. As a reader you felt like a part of the story instead of an outsider looking in with the footnotes and the check in chapters. If you love a witty mystery, this book is for you!

This is one of those quirky reads where the heroine is a bit of a hot mess and doesn't apologize for it. Eleanor Dash is a best selling author, profiting off of fiction inspired by real events. However, her main character, Connor Smith, is actually someone in her life who is nowhere as dashing and charming as in the books. After her series continues to succeed and Connor has no remorse for exploiting the proceeds, Eleanor's only solution to end his parasitic hold is to kill off his character. Easier said than done. Because then art imitates life. From there, this book goes on a literal tour where Eleanor and her entourage of fellow authors, friends, colleagues, fans or what have you travel from place to place in Europe and now Eleanor is living in a true to life version of the game of Clue. One of those whodunnits where everyone is a suspect or has a motive. I like a good mystery like anyone else, but Eleanor was characterized as rather flighty and nonchalant, so it was hard to take her seriously when she was having actual brainstorming sessions using any intelligible information. The author tried to keep the tone of the book light and somewhat of a satire, and when the truth comes out, I'll admit that was a surprising twist. I understand trying to make Eleanor relatable, but her scatterbrained personality was not endearing to me, making it more difficult to root for her.

3.5 /5.0 Stars

This fun little romp through current day Italy, was a delightful cozy mystery, dressed up as an over the top book tour, replete with fans in tow. With the scenes set so well and having performed in all the highlighted locations within the story, I was immediately transported to the Amalfi Coast and Rome. I could smell the delicate scent of lemons floating on a warm gentle breeze; taste the rich earthy wines and savor the magnificent pasta creations. It was fun reliving all these wonderful experiences through the book's writing.

The story itself brought together several authors, with Eleanor being the featured writer. The writers traveled mostly together privately with the occasional interaction with fans who won the privilege of traveling with them, but on a separate transport. There was some tension among the characters and as personal items started disappearing, the list of suspects was lengthening. Eleanor and her former beau, Oliver, joined forces trying to work out who was behind the thieving. Just when they thought they'd got a handle on it, one of the suspects dies right in front of their own eyes. As the stakes rise, will the duo be able to solve the mystery before another writer perishes?

This was an interesting format for a cozy travel mystery read. The writing incorporated footnotes at the end of each chapter which provided a bit of additional background to the action of the chapter. For me, I wish I had read a physical copy of the book so that I could easily flip back and forth as each footnote arose. But, having an e-copy of the book, I just read the footnotes as I reached the end of each chapter. The writing itself was solid and the story, often amusing. All in all it was an entertaining read.

I am grateful to Minotaur Books for having provided a complimentary uncorrected digital galley of this book. Their generosity, however, has not influenced this review - the words of which are mine alone.


Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publication date: April 30, 2024
Number of Pages: 352
ISBN: 978-1250325853

This mystery was about Eleanor Cash who was an author. The star of her books was Connor. Connor blackmailed her to pay him royalties. Eleanor had had an affair with Connor but she didn't know he was married. As soon as she found out she broke it off with him. Harper, Eleanor's sister, was her assistant. She, too, had a fling with Connor but that was after his divorce. Allison was Connor's ex-wife. Oliver was Eleanor's ex, someone she never got over and wanted to get back with. Isabella was Connor's current girlfriend. Shek was an author who had a grudge against Connor because Connor got him involved in us scheme that caused him to lose a great deal of money.

Marta, who worked in the publicity department of Eleanor's publisher, put together a trip to Italy that included all the people aforementioned and other authors, and 20 fans. While in Italy, it became known that someone was trying to kill Eleanor, and Connor insisted someone was trying to kill him as well. So the book was all about getting to the bottom of the threats. In the midst of all of this, Shek was killed. So now, they had to figure out who was trying to kill Eleanor, who was trying to kill Connor and who killed Shek.

I have to say that this book really held my attention. It wasn't as intense as other mysteries I've read, but it was enough to keep me reading. The book was written in first person using Eleanor's voice. The characters were all believable and the storyline was easy to follow. At times it was a little corny, nevertheless, it was a pretty good read. I gave it four stars.

This was a super fun book! The mystery was great. It was predictable but at the same time it wasn’t. I had a lot of fun reading this one.