Ok now this was super cute and fun! I’ve really gotten into cozy-murder-mysteries in the last few years (Finlay Donovan, The Maid, etc), and I’m really happy to find another series that is quick and easy, interesting and immersive but not too heavy.
We’re following Elenor, a massively successful author, who’s in Italy promoting her latest book, and supposed to be writing another. Her ex, Conner, was once the inspiration behind her most beloved character, but is now a needle in her side, and bank account. He’s been taking royalties off her for years, and it’s got to stop. But just when she’s ready to kill off his book character, Conner comes to her for help. Someone is trying to actually kill him. Elenor must use her wits before it’s too late.

Elenor is a really funny character. She’s quippy, relatable and I love that she breaks the fourth wall to share little jabs or details. I loved her snark! The mystery was maybe a tad predictable, but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment. A few moments had me rolling my eyes much like during a Bond movie. But overall the book really entertaining to listen to. 3.5 ⭐️


Thank you so much NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this arc audiobook in exchange for my unbiased review.

This was an enjoyable murder mystery, but for some reason I wasn't 100 percent invested in the story. The reader in me loved that we followed an author, and Eleanor was a funny main character. I liked that she broke the fourth wall and the narrator did a fantastic job with the audiobook. There were parts that dragged a bit, and I found that, although I enjoyed it while I listened, I wasn't dying to pick it back up when I would have to put it down.

I was really excited about the premise of this book, but the side notes the author made to the reader really got on my nerves.

This book was very intriguing and held my interest however I feel I would’ve gotten more out of it by reading the story. The narrator had a lot of characters to take on so it could get a little confusing at times. I think I would’ve appreciated the way that the main character also invited us as the reader to form our own opinions on who was the murderer. Teaching the ins and outs of how the authors mind works at putting together a good story exchanging out ideas along the way. I loved the tongue in cheek references of Goodreads and other social media outlets being the bane of the author’s existence. All in all very entertaining I just would skip the audio version and get the most out of this with the print copy. Thank you to NetGalley for the free advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion

This is my first book from this author. I loved the story although it dragged on at parts. The descriptions of all of the European cities and sites makes the listener just want to travel there to see the scenery. An author is back in the town where her first book was inspired. She is joined by fans and starts thinking that she is narrowly missing death. As she investigates and outlines her next book, you are introduced to many characters, both good and bad. A great story of intrigue and a sister relationship the was so amazing. Thank you #NetGalley for the ARC.

Every time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies is an absolutely entertaining and fresh take on a cozy mystery. This was my first read from author Catherine Mack and I was hooked from the very beginning; I even finished in one day. The format of the book was something I’ve never experienced before and I really enjoyed it. The main character, Eleanor Dash, spoke directly to the reader throughout the story and there were also footnotes that I thought were extremely helpful as the mystery unfolded. As a fan of Taylor Swift, I did enjoy the lyrics throughout the book.

Narrator Elizabeth Evans does a fabulous job bringing these characters to life, especially Eleanor. Her characterizations and inflections kept me engaged and amused the entire time.

I highly recommend Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies if you’re looking for a fast-paced, laugh out loud, fresh take on a cozy murder mystery. I can’t wait to see where Catherine Mack takes this series next.

Thank you Macmillan Audio, author Catherine Mack, and NetGalley for this Advanced Listening Copy.

Eleanor Dash just wants to make it through this book tour and finish writing her Vacation Mysteries book series. Ten days in Italy. In July. With not just one, but two of her exes. And her sister who may or may not want to quit being her PA. And a pack of fans—a pack of fans that just happens to include her stalker. And some other authors who are not necessarily big fans of Eleanor.

As if all of that wasn’t enough to ruin a vacation, Connor, one of those aforementioned exes, thinks someone is trying to kill him, and it looks like he just may be right.

What an absolute blast of a book! Full of humor, intrigue, and a touch of romance, Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies would be appeal to fans of Finlay Donovan and Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone.

It has the meta aspects of an author experiencing mystery and suspense in their own lives that you see in both Elle Cosimano’s and Benjamin Stevenson’s works, paired with dropping the fourth wall like Stevenson and a level of romance approaching Cosimano’s.

I was hooked, and even though I figured things out before the end, I still found myself thoroughly entertained. I look forward to reading the next book in this series!

The narration by Elizabeth Evans is fantastic! I enjoyed her accents and voices for all of the different players. It was easy to tell each of the characters apart, and she plays up the humor in the footnotes and asides perfectly. I give this audiobook 5⭐️ for narration.

I received an advance copy of the audiobook from Macmillan Audio and NetGalley. All review opinions are my own.

3.5

A solid audio but having footnotes read in an audio book was very strange. I probably would’ve enjoyed it more reading rather than listening. The Italian setting was great and the mystery was done well enough to keep me second guessing myself until the end. I also wished the author would’ve taken the opportunity to deliver phrases that were plays off of pop culture or lyrics with more emphasis. Like slightly changing the words to “It me high, I’m the problem it’s me” should definitely be delivered via singing!

Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies: Audiobook 4 stars. This was a fun little book, and I enjoyed the narrator too! This book reminded me of a “Whodunit” meets a “Cozy Mystery”. I didn’t take it too seriously, and it makes for a good palette cleanser. I enjoyed how this one was written. It’s like the main character, who is an author btw, stops to talk to the audience or speaks to the audience/reader via her thoughts. You know those shows where everyone freezes on the screen and the main character speaks to the camera. It reminded me of that. I enjoyed it! I’ll be picking up the next book in the series! Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for an advanced copy.

The narration of this book was so fun! I loved the breaking of the fourth wall, and the conversations with the reader.

I really enjoyed the whodunit aspect of this mystery and the incorporation of pop culture references, especially Taylor Swift, Looking forward to continuing with this series!

Every time I Go on Vacation someone Dies was delightfully funny with a twist of a whodunit with a dash of murder. I would highly recommend this book. The author does a great job with misdirection and deception which is what I look for in a mystery book. It took me a minute to figure out who ther murder was and I still didn't have it all put together. Solid 4.5 stars!

I AM SO GLAD I DID THE AUDIO FOR THIS ONE for the laugh alone 😂🤣

What do you do when everyone seems suspicious? What do you do when you can’t stop listening to find out who did it? What do you do when you have to wait for book 2! 🥲

I will admit it took me a little to get into this one and I wasn’t understanding the hype BUT then as I got about halfway I truly couldn’t stop. Every time I thought I knew who it was there would be something else that would make me second guess that. But on top of the mystery, I absolutely loved the comedy behind this one.

Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies, by Catherine Mack, is the first story in the Vacation Mystery series. This story is focused on a best-selling mystery author who writes her serial crime novels in various vacation locales. The format of this story is really quite unique. There are footnotes and times when the main character and narrator talks directly to the reader, essentially breaking the fourth wall. The narrator is a quirky, opinionated, snarky persona. While being a murder mystery, this story is quite also humorous and rather avant-garde.

Eleanor Dash based her original crime story on a personal real life event and love affair she had while touring Italy. When she didn’t change the identity of Connor, the main male character in her novel, he forced her to pay a share of her royalties. Nine novels later, she is desperate to be free of him financially and personally, but her fans and publisher won’t release her from her contract. Just when she threatens to kill off her main character, someone actually threatens his life while they are on tour in Italy. With another author stealing her plots, her super fans preferring Connor over her, and an ex, whom she never got over unexpectedly showing up on tour, things quickly get out of hand and the suspects are plentiful.

This is a highly unusual cozy mystery of sorts, though it’s probably more of a comedic light-mystery, similar to Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series. Eleanor comes across as rather brusque and abrasive at times and makes some really poor choices. Her sister is also a character whom I think we are supposed to like, but who comes across as extremely self-centered and selfish. With none of the characters being particularly likable, I wasn’t as invested in the outcome as much as I’d hoped to be. I also found the plot to be a tad confusing at times with all of the extra chatter to other characters as well as the audience. On a minor note, I truly dislike when authors spoil other real life books.

That said, Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies is an original, clever mystery with plenty of twists and surprises, and though it didn’t entirely draw me in, it proves to be a light, fun, atmospheric summer read. The audiobook is narrated by Elizabeth Evans from MacMillan Audio and she portrays the character exactly as I imagine her to be. She definitely reflects the attitude and irreverent tone of the character perfectly.

Better than Finlay Donovan? It just might be. I loved this book more than I honestly expected to. As a woman of thirty-seven, I certainly identified with the main character, Elenor. This poor woman has been yanked into a book tour in Italy with the one person she hates most, but can’t seem to get rid of. We’ve all had that ex who was like a pestilence- lurking at every corner. Connor is certainly that person for Elenor. A consummate man child.

I certainly hope we can expect more from Catherine Mack with these characters, because I absolutely love them. This is going to be a great beach read or listen. The narrator is AMAZING. She nails all of the different characters and their accents.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Every time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies is a great title and the setting is fabulous. Bestselling author Eleanor Dash is on a book tour in Italy with several other authors, her ex-lover, and about 20 contest-winning fans. A fictionalized version of the ex-, Connor, is one of the main characters in Eleanor’s mystery series, and he has been using that to his advantage for years. Now, however, Connor is convinced someone is trying to kill him. Of course, Eleanor does want him dead, but only the fictional version of course.

This book was fun enough. We’ve got murder, lies, gorgeous scenery, and even a touch of romance. Eleanor is a good character. She’s writing the story that we’re hearing. (I listened to the audiobook.) She breaks the fourth on a regular basis, either pointing something out to the reader or reassuring us. She also includes a lot of footnotes, but on the audio, they just blended in to the narrative, so weren’t distracting. The narrator did a good, both with Eleanor’s voice and tone and differentiating the other characters. I will say the whole book author as narrator would have struck me differently if I hadn’t recently read Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect (also a bunch of authors and fans on a trip and a murder) and was in the middle of Close to Death, both of which do it better.

The mystery itself was fine. I did guess who the bad guy was but not the motive, even if it should have been obvious.

Overall, it was funny and entertaining, but not outstanding. It would make a good summer pool read.

Eleanor Dash is on a book tour in Italy promoting the latest book in her murder mystery series. Along with a group of other authors, Eleanor soon realizes that their trip is starting to resemble their books as murders begin to take place. She must discover who among them is responsible before it’s too late.

I really loved the title of this book, the main character, and the narration. I did find it confusing that there were so many other characters and not enough time spent on each one. As such, I didn’t feel connected to any characters other than the main character. I did appreciate the humor and the setting descriptions as well. Seeing as this is the first in a new series, I would be interested to see how the story and characters evolve in the next book.

Thank you NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for an ALC of this title in exchange for my honest review.

This is a very meta take on a cozy mystery novel. The main character, Eleanor Dash, is a best-seller murder mystery novelist who narrates her mad-cap adventure through Italy and continually breaks the 4th wall. There's a pretty big cast of suspects, multiple murder attempts on a few of the main characters, and plenty of reveals to keep you guessing.

This does work quite well on audio. The narrator, Elizabeth Evans, does a great job, and the book is genuinely entertaining, but unfortunately, this gimmick kind of wore on me by the end, and I lost interest. I felt like I wasn't really invested in any of the characters and could figure out what was going on pretty easily.

Overall, this was a fun and over-the-top cozy mystery that would be perfect for fans of the Finlay Donovan novels. Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan audio for providing the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

This was an interesting book. A mystery about a mystery writer. I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would, but I did enjoy the aspect of the authors traveling to Italy for a fan event. People get murdered, all the authors are suspects, and at the same time they are trying to solve the mystery. It gave off a classic “whodunit” feel. Definitely a book you would enjoy if you like Agatha Christy.

The audio was well done and very enjoyable to listen to.

Fun, travel based whodunnit. Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies is an entertaining cozy mystery, that drags at time (especially waiting for the first victim). The characters were not as likeable as I expected and the dialogue/comedy didn’t really work for me.

The breaking the 4th wall was interesting and worked in the audio. Elizabeth Evans does a great job narrating (although it would have been nice to have a male narrator for all the men characters)

Thanks McMillan Audio and NetGalley for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

I decided to request this audiobook after I saw it being raved about so much on Booksta. This audiobook was a lot of fun to listen to. It was a refreshing take on a cozy mystery. It gave me Finlay Donovan vibes and I love me some Finlay. Although I found myself laughing out loud at certain parts, there was a mystery going on and I was suspicious of everyone. The plot was well paced and the narrator was phenomenal! Her ability to change her voice and do different accents so effortlessly was great. There was some fourth wall breaking and it really worked for this book. I wasn’t phased or thrown off by it. Overall, this was a great story with an amazing narrator. I can’t wait for the next book in the series.