EVERY TIME I GO ON VACATION SOMEONE DIES
Catherine Mack

Eleanor is going to Rome on a much-needed vacation. Well, kind of a working vacation. It’s more like a work trip. She’s writing the second novel in her murder mystery series, which takes place in Rome. Title to come. And she’s on a book tour through Italy.

One of her goals for this vacation is to read a lot of books by the waterside, make a bunch of new fans, and most importantly, figure out how to kill a character in her series named Connor. Connor the character is named after a real-life person, named Connor and Eleanor has struggled to both kill off his character and cut ties with him in real life.

While on vacation someone tries to kill the real Connor, ending her book tour and their relaxing vacation. Eleanor is the first to start theorizing about who would’ve wanted the real Connor dead (herself being high on the list), and we follow along as she solves the mystery.

Recently, a handful of books were all released around the same time that broke the fourth wall. It is repetitive to me at this point but EVERY TIME I GO ON VACATION SOMEONE DIES may be the first one of those books you’ve been able to get your hands on at the library. There is a reason for that.

This one was the least successful of the five books I’ve read this spring that break the fourth wall. It has Finlay Donovan in Italy vibes going for it. The mystery and the elements are cozy, I just wasn’t impressed by the story or the writing.

Thanks to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books, and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copies!

EVERY TIME I GO ON VACATION SOMEONE DIES…⭐⭐⭐

This is the review I will be posting on my instagram in the next few days:

#BookReview:
𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝑰 𝑮𝒐 𝒐𝒏 𝑽𝒂𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝑫𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒃𝒚 𝑪𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝑴𝒂𝒄𝒌

🏷️ Topics: Funny, Mystery, Over-The-Top, Breaks Fourth Wall
⚠️ Trigger Warning: Taylor Swift 😂

Get ready for a vacation you won't forget, because a murder mystery has never had summer vibes like this! 🏝️☠️

Are you heading to the beach? A day at the pool to lay in the sun? Spring cleaning to declutter your bookshelves? Pop this audiobook on with your earbuds, and enjoy the ride! The witty, lighthearted banter juxtaposed with a thrilling crime spree makes this an incredibly fun read that you could binge on a day.

Catherine Mack gets meta with her new murder mystery series by writing about an author who writes a murder mystery series. Breaking the fourth wall, the MC regularly speaks directly to the reader, which adds a fun layer. It also makes the audiobook that much better because it almost feels conversational, unlike most other books in this genre.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed the Finley Donavan series, Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, and Dial ‘A’ for Aunties.

📖 Published by Minotaur Books
🎧 Audiobook Produced by Macmillan Audio
🗣️ Narrated by Elizabeth Evans

Many thanks to Minotaur Books and MacMillan Audio for early access via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion. This will publish at the end of April!
This is the second book in a row that I’ve read which takes place in Italy! I'm not in Italy, but the ruins I visited had a bit of European flair - not to mention amazing views after hiking straight uphill to get to them.
This book follows author Eleanor on a ten-day tour of Italy with some other authors and the winners of a bookface contest. Eleanor has written nine books in the Vacation series, and she is struggling to write the tenth, as she wants to kill off a main character - and is even open to ending the series. She has her reasons for this, unbeknownst to even her sister manager. There is some conflict between the sisters, too. Unfortunately, accidents start happening on the tour, which makes it seem like someone wants at least one of them dead. The accidents ramp up to a death before anyone truly believes there is an issue.
This was a fast, fun book. The descriptions of Italian views, food (pasta!), and Aperol Spritzes made me want to book it over to Italy ASAP! I mostly listened to the audiobook for this one, and I definitely recommend it. The narrator is engaging, and I found that the footnotes (over 200 of them) were distracting as I followed along on my eARC but made perfect sense to hear, as they came across as parenthetical observations, seamless to the listener’s ear. This is listed as the beginning of a new series, and I would happily listen to another book along the same lines. I think readers of Finlay Donovan would enjoy this book.

Every Time I Go On Vacation is such fun modern take on the murder mystery genre. The narrator who is our protagonist Eleanor Dash breaks the fourth wall and talks directly to the reader. I think it's best to go in blind, and just enjoy the ride. This book is filled with great characters, and really keeps you guessing, even with Eleanor giving the readers hints, lol. The setting of Amalfi coast was wonderful. The book has a satisfying conclusion and the author sets up book 2 of the Vacation Mysteries series perfectly.
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced listener copy. Elizabeth Evans was a wonderful narrator. I highly recommend this book, it's a fun read. 4.5 stars.

Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies is a clever murder mystery where the protagonist is a murder mystery author. The main character, Eleanor Dash, is a funny girl's girl kind of character who lets you in on all of her thoughts about writing mysteries, how she got into writing, and what sort of trouble it's brought her. I love getting her stream of consciousness, which comes through footnotes, sidebars, or her many wry comments to the other characters. She also drops purposeful clues along the way and invites you, the reader, to help solve the mystery. After the reveal, she provides a bit of hindsight knowledge which is interesting if you've been keeping notes on red flags.

This book is as delicious as the meals and scenery described. Eleanor talks about the food they are presented in multiple locations in Italy and it is mouthwatering. She also details the colorful locations, including Rome, Capri, Sorrento, and Ravello, making you want to plan your next holiday there. The narration of the book is by Elizabeth Evans who is superb! She has so many characters to portray (at last 10 main characters), in Italian, British, and American accents, and does a remarkable job throughout.

The title and cover alone sold me…then add cozy mystery, set in Italy and I am all in!

Eleanor Dash is a best selling author who desperately wants to end the book series that made her famous. Eleanor’s mistake was basing her main character on Connor Smith, a man she desperately wants out of her life. Since the success of the series Connor has been profiting off his likeness (getting royalties for his name LOL) and making Eleanor miserable in the process.

Now as Eleanor plots the demise of the literature version of Connor it seems someone else may be plotting Connor’s real life demise. Eleanor and Connor have been on a press tour around Italy when someone takes a shot at killing him but their motley group of traveling companions is full of suspects and does Eleanor really want to stop Connor’s demise?

Picking up Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack is one for not only cozy mystery lovers but with the main character being an author you could say for book lovers but this first book is also for the travel lovers with the setting being around Italy. The character do have that slight tough of quirkiness you’d find in a lot of cozies and there were plenty of twists along the way in the story. With a lot going on in the this first book I felt I could have gotten to know the characters a bit better but when finished I rated this at three and half stars and would return to the series.

I seriously thought I had this figured out multiple times. It was such a wild, fun ride! I love when books break the fourth wall, and this one did it in such a fun way! I was offered this book because I enjoyed the Finlay Donovan series, and it did not disappoint! It had the same "casual" vibe, and the characters were so chaotic and fun. I will definitely be picking up the next book in this series when it comes out.

The narrator seriously made the story so much more engaging and overall, I would definitely recommend this to readers who love to laugh and love thrillers, but maybe need a break from the hard hitting reads!

This was such an entertaining, humorous, and fun mystery novel. It was made up of unique characters, murder, plot twists, a little romance, humor, and serious atmospheric vibes of Italy. The way in which this book is written is so unique as you feel as though you are a part of the book that is being written by the MC all while trying to solve a murder mystery. The footnotes within the book were my favorite and added an extra layer of entertainment.
This is the first book in The Vacation Mysteries Series and I can’t wait to see where Catherine Mack takes us in book 2!

Thank you Minotaur for the #gifted copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book was more light and airy than I expected. I am used to darker thrillers/mysteries; but this was great! I loved the humor and romance thrown in with the mystery/thriller aspects. The breaking of the 4th wall was also hilarious. I want more books in this series! Thank you NetGalley, Minotaur Books, and MacMillan Audio for the free audio ARC for my honest opinion.

This was a fun book!

The format includes some footnotes and a little bit of the breaking of the fourth wall; I wasn't sure how to feel about that at first but it ended up working for me by the end of the book.

This is a fun, light mystery with many possible suspects and a bit of romance and family relationships woven in. There is obvious set up for multiple books and I will be reading them FOR SURE!

Audiobook note: the narrator, Elizabeth Evans, is brilliant! However, in my mind cannon, she is the voice of Sarah J. Maas romantacies, so I was disconcerted at first to hear her voice in another genre altogether. She killed it, though, so great job, Ms. Evans!

Perfect! Perfect! Perfect!!! I loved everything about this book! Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of the audiobook in return for an honest review. Elizabeth Evans is one of the best narrators, in my opinion, so when I started listening to this and heard her, I KNEW this book was going to be good. However, it wasn’t just the narration that made this book a perfect read for me. I loved how the book was set up, with the first person narrative AND breaking of the fourth wall. This made the book seem more like a collaborative work between the characters and the reader and it was so much fun. I am so excited for more of this series and I’m already planning to go buy a physical copy of the book once it released because I need it on my shelf 🙌

I thoroughly enjoyed the audiobook I recently listened to. The narrator's performance was exceptional, and she brought the characters to life with her engaging delivery. Without her flawless execution, I might not have completed the book. Although the plot and storyline were well-designed and intriguing, they didn't translate as well in the audiobook format. I felt that I missed out on the intricate details of the setting and the depth of the characters that were better conveyed in the written book. That being said, the characters were brilliantly written, and their humor was a breath of fresh air.

However, I did find the middle of the book to be a bit long and repetitive. The same ideas and concepts were repeated multiple times, which made it feel drawn out. Despite this, I was still invested in the story and wanted to see how it ended.

This was my first time experiencing Catherine Mack's work, and I was impressed by her storytelling ability. I am eager to explore more of her literary works and see what other stories she has to offer.

I just reviewed Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack. #EveryTimeIGoonVacationSomeoneDies #NetGalley

Absolutely loved this! I'm usually not a fan of cozy mysteries, but I was completely invested and didn't want to leave when the book was over. I had so much fun with the the fourth wall breaks and enjoyed it more because the audiobook embedded the footnotes within the story (I heard the footnotes are literal footnotes in text copies, which would've probably gotten on my nerves).
I'm a little annoyed that this is a debut book as I can't read anything else by Mack right away. Hurry up with book two! 😂
Thank you so much to Netgalley for the ALC!

This is one of the best books I’ve read in a while. There were book recommendations, digs at authors, digs at the publishing industry and fun jabs at crazy readers. The thought of Agatha Christie picking fights with one star reviewers on Goodreads will live with me. Hilarious! All this paired with a really fun plot and a top notch mystery. I loved the footnotes and will be anxiously awaiting Catherine Mack’s next story. Every time I thought I had things figured out I ended up being wrong but I did figure out who the “bad guys” were and it was a great ending. The setting was amazing and it was like having an adventure in Italy..

I enjoyed the narrator but the Italian accents weren’t fabulous. It would have been better if they had just read it in a normal voice.

Thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for a copy of this audiobook. It was fabulous.

Read as an audiobook narrated by Elizabeth Evans.

This was an enjoyable, atmospheric read. There was a good balance of plot, exposition, and action, and I enjoyed Eleanor’s slightly rambling POV. I thought the plot and setting were good, if needing a little suspension of disbelief at times, and I liked that the main character’s messiness had real consequences in the story. This book translated so well to an audiobook, you would almost think it was designed with that in mind. The narrator did an amazing job with the accents and making her characters sound unique, as well as adding extra personality to the main character’s narration throughout the book. I highly recommend audiobook format for this read.

This book was written with frequent fourth wall breaks in the form of liner notes, and in the audiobook version they were inserted into the narration at the appropriate times. I thought these were generally fun, but I felt that it got a little excessive in the last third of the book. I also think it may not translate well to ebook format, but as an audiobook it was mostly seamless. As for the mystery aspect, I was able to guess a few of the big reveals, but I didn’t think they were too obvious and I second guessed myself multiple times. Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this ARC. This is my honest review.

4/5 A witty, sharp, vacation mystery.

I really enjoyed this book, but I think I prefer the written version as opposed to the audiobook. There is just something about the way it reads out loud that loses me a bit. I had a much better read with the book. That said it was fun, charming, witty, kept me guessing and well developed characters. Definitely a recommend from this reader.

I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by NetGalley.

This was such a fun book! I really enjoyed the fmc and her whole attitude/vibe throughout this book... as well as her relationship with her sister, Harper. I also enjoyed both Connor and Oliver, I hope that they show back up in the next book. Elizabeth Evans was the *perfect* narrator to tell this story, like seriously, PERFECT. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this audiobook!

Bestselling fictional author Eleanor Dash is on an Italian book tour that turns into a real-life murder mystery when her life starts to imitate the world in her books. Elizabeth Evans is one of my favorite narrators, but I'm not sold on this novel being a great fit for an audiobook. It was clear from listening that there's footnotes being read, but sometimes it was hard to guess what was a footnote and what was part of the story, and I found this to be very distracting. The story itself was clever and humorous. Fans of cozy mysteries will appreciate this novel, but I suspect (having only listened to the audio and not having seen the printed book) that this particular novel lends itself towards reading rather than listening.

This was such a fun read. I love how it’s narrated for the reader to follow it like a novel/outline mix. The narrator did a fantastic job. Would definitely read more from Cathrine Mack. Thanks to NetGalley for the chance to review!

I really wanted to love this one but for whatever reason there was just something that kept me from giving it the full 5 stars. I did like the characters and I liked how the story kept twisting and you never really knew what was happening.