Every Time I Go On Vacation, Someone Dies is the debut cozy mystery by Catherine Mack full of humour and interesting characters. Set in Italy, a group of mystery fans are on a tour with their favourite mystery writer, Eleanor Dash and her ex-lover, Connor Smith, who is the real-life model for a beloved (by fans, not so much Eleanor anymore) character in her books who she really wants to kill off in her books against her publishers’ advice. Only now, it seems, or at least Connor insists, someone is trying to kill him in real life and he wants her help. Eleanor has her doubts about it until she finds herself the target of a determined killer and now she has no choice but to investigate even if it means also helping Connor.

This is a fast, fun, and funny cozy mystery with plenty of twists and turns, interesting characters, and multiple suspects to keep the reader engaged. The story is told in the first person by Eleanor and, in her telling, she adds footnotes. I had both the ebook and audiobook and sort of split my time between the two. With the ebook, this added to the humour. However, I found it tended to break the flow of the audiobook. Still, overall, I quite enjoyed this book in both formats. The audiobook is narrated by Elizabeth Evans who does a great job.

Thanks to Netgalley, St Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to read/listen to this book in exchange for an honest review ( )

This book was so fun to read! It’s perfect for summer beach reading. Set in Italy, a group of authors are on a book tour with some unusual circumstances in the mix.

Author Eleanor Dash is the main tour attraction. She’s been writing for several years and her 10th book in the series is coming up. Evelyn has used the same main character, Connor, who is her former lover that she somehow got stuck with all these years. Evelyn wants to kill him off in the series. She also wants him out of her life.

Each author has a backstory and they all believe someone may be trying to kill Connor and Eleanor, but who? This story is like a game of clue on the Italian coast. I enjoyed trying to figure out who was guilty. There are deaths in the story, but don’t be worried—this is a cozy mystery after all.

Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Minotaur Books for allowing me to read an advance copy. I am happy to recommend this book and give my honest review. ( )

Every Time I Go On Vacation, Someone Dies is the cozy mystery series debut of Catherine Mack. Focusing on a mystery writer and her friends and colleagues, this was a pretty quick read with numerous suspects.

Author Eleanor Dash is on a book tour with her sister/assistant Harper, ex-boyfriend/novel's hero Connor, and several other writers when Connor asks for Eleanor's help because he thinks someone has been trying to kill him. Filled with humor (a lot in the footnotes) and too many suspects to keep straight, El has her work cut out for her. When she's pushed and almost falls down a steep flight of stairs, they start to wonder who has it in for BOTH of them. Taking place over several days in different Italian cities, the perpetrator has to be someone in their group...Is it Harper, who hates that Eleanor got the writing life she wanted? Connor's ex-wife, who divorced him after finding out about Eleanor? Shek, because his marketing budget is being "diverted" to Eleanor's next book? It could be anyone!

The writing is casual, a lot of the time it's as if she's talking directly to you, the reader (which seems to be popular right now). There are several people, and at some point I gave up trying to remember who they all were. I thought I knew the whodunit early on, just not the why, but I was so far off!

All in all, a great start to the Vacation Mysteries series. For anyone who loves books about books, or books about authors, this is a contemporary cozy mystery that hits all the right places for cozy lovers.

Thank you to @NetGalley and @Minotaur_Books for a digital copy for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own. ( )

After the success of her first book, When In Rome, Elenor Dash has been coerced by her publisher to continue writing book after book including her ex-lover Oliver. Not only has she had to tour with him, he’s found a way to extort more and more money from the books she’s writing. Elenor’s had it! She’s ready to murder him, but may have to settle for writing him out of the series. First she’s got to make it through the tenth anniversary of her first book with a tour through Rome. With her trusted assistant (also her sister), her ex, and a group of super fans along for the ride what could possibly go wrong?!
Catherine Mack has crafted a humorous mystery, that employs a really unique format. She’s chosen to include footnotes…a lot of footnotes. I didn’t have a strong opinion when I started, by the time I finished I was struggling with the flow. Some readers have loved them so it’s going to be very individual. I loved vicariously visiting all the different places of the itinerary. It made me dream of sitting under the sun by the sea, with a lovely drink!
I recommend for readers who like unique writing formats, lovers of the Finlay Donovan series, and those that like humorous who-done-it’s!

Thank you to Minotaur Books for the advanced reader copy and the finished copy. ( )

Ten years ago, Eleanor Dash wrote the first book in her vacation mystery series. What many don't realize is she based the plot on her own adventures on an Italian vacation. Of course changing the names to protect the less than innocent except for main character, Connor Smith. The real Connor Smith turns out to be quite the cad who ends up wriggling his way into receiving part of El's royalties for making him a character (of course there's more to it, but that would be spoilery). Fortunately, or unfortunately, for Eleanor, the series is a huge success, but with each success she becomes more and more indebted to Connor.

Now, she's on a tour for the anniversary of the first book while late on her deadline for the 10th (and possibly final?) book. It's time, she's decided, to do away with Connor - the character, not the person - once and for all. Eleanor is ready to start fresh maybe write a new series, maybe take the vacation mysteries in a new direction. Regardless, she's finally ready to be out of his reach and grasp. However, it seems like Eleanor is not the only one with a grudge against Connor - the person, not the character. Connor has become increasingly convinced that someone is trying to murder him. . Looking at every one on the tour they all have a motive for potentially wanting Connor dead including but not limited to Eleanor herself. But then Eleanor, too, has a near deadly experience and one thing becomes abundantly clear: it's time for her to solve another mystery. Honestly, though, it's a lot more difficult in real life than fiction.

Listening to the audiobook was maybe the best way to go into this this story. Told from Eleanor's point of view, she's kind of chaotic and all over the place with her not-so-inner dialogue and I think it's easiest to get the full effect in audio format. However, there are quite a few footnotes in the story and I love a good footnote. I think it's interesting when authors include them, but it was difficult to tell in the audio narration when we were getting a footnote and when it was part of the main story. For that aspect, reading, as opposed to listening, was the best format.

I liked the twists and turns the story takes and how as a reader you feel like you're solving the mystery side by side with Eleanor. Mainly because at various points she is talking directly to readers giving hints or even going so far as to highlight things we should keep in mind. It's also a good indication that Eleanor has a certain knowledge about how everything is going to play out, if you catch my meaning. This is her reiteration of events that have already passed.

I liked the combination of side characters and their tie to either Eleanor and/or Connor. They have all somehow benefitted from or been influenced by the vacation series whether they readily admit so or not. Which also means that each of them is a plausible suspect and Catherine Mack toggles between each of these plausibilities with ease.

Where the story does slightly falter is that I found Eleanor to be a bit too much at times. A little irritatingly scattered to the point where her sister - also her assistant - has to get Eleanor up in the morning and packs for her and tells her where she needs to be/go. She kept making jokes at her expense about how reliant she is on her sister, Harper, but to me that doesn't suffice. It made her come across as a little self-absorbed at times.

Also, I understand the idea of a mystery is to keep the readers guessing until the big reveal but, for me, there were a few too many feints. We'd end the chapter on a cliffhanger with a character's life seemingly hanging in the balance, only to turn the page and it's not what was expected at all. This is fine to keep the suspense, but started to edge toward too much until we finally got some true forward momentum in the story.

Overall, I did enjoy the book. I liked the quirky approach to the storytelling. There's already a clear sign that we'll be getting another book, and I look forward to seeing how the mysteries continue to follow Eleanor around. ( )