Quirky and cute, which is what I expected, but also has an air of mystery and suspense too! I tend to lean towards more serious thrillers, so the opportunity to read this book was very welcomed, and I truly enjoyed every minute of the story. It took me a few chapters to really get into it, as the writing is more light-hearted, but once you got to know the characters, it really sucked you in. Truly enjoyed!!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC, all opinions are my own

Eleanor Dash may be my new favorite book character. She is a bestselling author who writes fiction mystery about a real man, Connor. Connor is taking a percentage of her profits from the books. Eleanor has decided she has had enough of dealing with him and decides to kill him off in her book series. They are on a publishing experience in Italy and it seems like someone is out to kill both her and Connor, in real life.

Hilarious and witty murder mystery that I couldn’t put down! Set in the present day during a book tour where our characters travel around Italy, there’s many twists and red herrings with a big cast of characters and competing motives, means and opportunities. The title grabbed me and the writing style immediately drew me in - I loved all the footnotes with the narrator’s various asides (as a lawyer I may be pre-dispositioned to be partial to footnotes; I think a reader could skip them easily but would miss out on some of the humor and fun). I hope this author follows up on the teaser in the epilogue for another book, as I’d love to read another from her. Highly recommend this one!

*Thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review!

I really enjoyed this novel! It was fun and fresh, a great summer read for me. At first, it took me a while to learn all the characters. But, when I got further in the book, I could not put it down. I also loved the use of footnotes to give a few clues about the mystery. Lastly, I did not see the twist coming, so that was quite fun for me!

At first I was unsure how I felt about this book. Eventually it grew on me. It was a fun romp through Rome and the Amalfi Coast and, despite the murders, amusing and lighthearted. Eleanor is quite funny and sarcastic; I loved that she often broke the fourth wall. The setting, especially along the Coast, is stunning and some of my favorite things about Italy (gelato, Aperol spritzes) are included. Her digs at Goodreads reviews will resonate with a lot of readers and authors! There is even some romance thrown into the mix.

Mack includes a number of foot notes...kind of asides that Eleanor made to further explain or emphasize something. They were clever and entertaining, but distracting and interrupted the flow of reading. Genre bending, this is a mystery/ cozymystery/romcom/travelogue/comedy.

Thanks to @NetGalley and @stmartinspress @minotaur_books for the DRC.

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This book was so much fun! It's unique and funny. I really enjoyed the footnotes throughout. Although, I think they would be easier to follow in a print format.

I have been loving cozy mysteries lately so was excited when work got the ARC and was able to request on Netgalley. I enjoyed this and it was an easy read. I will say, I gave it 3 stars because the humor didn't really work for me. This is like peak millennial humor, which is fine but not really my thing. But also this book has a ton of pop culture references that are going to age it. I wasn't the biggest fan of the main character and breaking the fourth wall. It was an easy and fast read, but not anything revolutionary.

I love this book so much! The writing is fantastic, it kept me guessing, and I loved the twist at the end.
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A cozy mystery
The MC, Eleanor, is an author who narrates the book, she’s messy, likeable, and had me snort laughing
I loved the footnotes! Don’t skip them
A touch of romance
Murder attempts
An evil ex-boyfriend
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If you are a cozy mystery fan, I recommend it - I flew through this while on vacation and look forward to more from Catherine Mack!

This type of book is definitely a first for me. I've never read a book that gives the reader a behind the scenes look into being an author, "breaks the 4th wall" nor have I read a book that has footnotes. Before I get into that, let's talk about what the book is about first.

Our MC, Eleanor Dash, is a best-selling true crime/mystery author who goes on a book tour through Italy with her sister/assistant, her "consultant"/crappy ex-boyfriend, and a small group of other mystery authors. Things start to go awry on this trip when one member of the group thinks someone is trying to murder them. Who could the attempted murderer be? Is it one of the others in their group?

I quite enjoyed that Mack wrote the book to make the reader feel included in solving the mystery. I found myself really trying to solve the-who-dun-its right along side the characters. There isn't a murder until about 60% into the book, with the first portion being mainly about how Eleanor wants to call it quits on writing the series because it involves someone she can't stand and about various (very well described) locations, food and drink of Italy. I really liked that they included a group of mystery loving super-fans called The Bookface Ladies into the periphery of the book tour. There are so many people attending this book tour, everyone is a suspect, creating a ton of red herrings. Each time I thought I might guess who the suspect is, I am led to believe it's someone else.

I felt the footnotes unnecessary and a little distracting. Whenever I would finally get back into the rhythm of the writing, a footnote would appear and take me away from the flow of the book. I had to put the book down on many occasions at first because those footnotes really threw me off. I might have enjoyed the book more had I just waited until the end of each chapter to read them.

Overall, I really liked this book once the action started to pick up pace. It was uniquely and well written, and sets you up for book 2 in the epilogue. I would have given this book 4 stars had it not been for the footnotes, which brought my rating down to 3.75 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and Minotaur Books for the ARC for my honest opinion. Every Time I Go On Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack is set to be released on April 30, 2024.

Eleanor Dash is the author of the Vacation Mysteries. Her first book: When in Rome reached the New York Times best seller list for six months. A book she wrote by accident. After returning home from a life changing trip to Italy she had the urge to write what happened: how she met Connor Smith and fell in love, how they got embroiled in solving a series of robberies that ended in a murder.
She has a younger sister, Harper, who works as her assistant. They live together at their late parents’ house in Venice Beach, California.
She continued the series writing one book a year and as the ten year anniversary of her first book is approaching, the publisher organized a book tour with her fellow writers, a tour that will take them to six Italian cities for ten days.
Too many suspects, too many motives.
I really enjoyed this mystery, the scenery, the plot, the characters. I recommend it if you like the genre.
Thank you Netgalley @netgalley, Catherine Mack @catherinemckenzieauthor and Minotaur Books @minotaur_books for the ARC copy.

Oh my gosh, this book is SO MUCH FUN! It’s been ages since I read a mystery and this one was an absolute BLAST! Like a snarky younger cousin of all my old favorite cozy mysteries. 😍
A mystery writer as narrator, a stalker, a blackmailer, an assistant, and a handful of other colorful characters gathered on a working vacation near the scene of a crime that occurred ten years in the past. It’s supposed to be fun, right? Until the bodies start dropping.

This book is DELIGHTFUL and I will 100% be coming back for more.
10/10 recommend for mystery fans!

I received an eARC from the publisher via Netgalley, all opinions are my own and a review was not required.

This was such a fun book! I enjoyed this so much! Trying to figure out a whodoneit situation as your reading was a blast! The cliffnotes! Loved it! Highly recommend you grab this! Thank you netgalley for the ARC!

I’m still laughing! The title grabbed my interest! Now…..footnotes. I hated them in high school….Deplored them in college. But, I loved them here! They are cutesy-funny! 237 of them! You ,it’s read them for they are a hoot but also may include clues. The story is paced well and keeps the reader’s interest. Connor should crawl back into the sewer where he came from! He is so slimy! Ugh…. But, I would love to see Harper get her own book deal too. Hopefully, she does then she is no longer taking care of El, but is now her colleague as well as her competition! Just do NOT have her hooked up with Conner (Sewer Creature).. I am looking forward to. The next book, which I hope does take place at Emma’s wedding! BUY THIS BOOK TOO!

This was a cute and cleverly written. The only drawback was the addition of the footnotes. I’m hoping that it is just the e-book affected, but I found it really hard to follow and broke the flow. It was frustrating at times, and for that, 4/5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy. Publication date April 30, 2024.

What a fun read! While a bit predictable overall, I was quickly immersed in the main character's world and loved the dynamic personalities of the central relationships. The writing style was just casual enough to digest quickly with the addition of the sarcastic (and foreboding) footnotes, but with hints of prose and beautiful descriptions of the Italian landscapes. I'm also thankful for the comparison of nearly every character to a celebrity IRL, it was so much easier to keep everyone straight in relation to the plot. I'm excited for more from this series! - 4.25 stars

Special thanks to St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books, and NetGalley for the advance copy!

Thanks to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this ebook to review.


Eleanor Dash is a successful murder mystery writer. She is currently on a 10 year anniversary tour for her Vacation Murders book series. Accompanying her on this tour is her sister, Harper, her ex boyfriend, Connor, who inspired the series and is blackmailing her, 3 fellow authors (one of which is another ex boyfriend, Oliver), Connor's ex wife, Connor's current woman of the week, and Connor's ex partner.
It seems that someone wants Connor dead. Or do they? Maybe it's Eleanor they want dead. Or maybe it's both. Or maybe they're not the target at all. Everyone's secrets could make them the target, or the potential murderer.

This is a fun, light hearted murder mystery book. It's a quick, easy read. The fact that my suspicions of who the suspect was was correct did not take away the fun of the book. My only criticism of the book is that I found some of the footnotes annoying, and too many pop culture references, which is just something I don't care for, it doesn't really take away from the story. Though I didn't think they added anything either. I'll most likely read upcoming books in this series. An excellent summer/beach read. I give this 3.5 stars out of 5.

I tried and tried and tried to read this on my kindle, I know it is probably a great book but it didn't work in E-book format for me. The author uses a ton of footnotes in this story and maybe they would work in book format. I know they are meant to be cute and funny. They drove me crazy on my kindle, I would sometimes have to go back 2-3 "pages" to find what the footnote was referencing, and it got really old. Then, when I tried to ignore them completely, I felt like I was missing part of the story. I'm going to check this book out once its available at my library so I can finish reading it, but I wanted to give my feedback on reading it on a kindle. I'm giving it 3 stars since I don't feel like I can give it a fair review yet since I haven't finished it.

So much fun - all the unreliable narrator intimations and inner thoughts and the whole premise - can't wait for the next one!

This book is just pure fun! I loved the Italian setting! It is about a book within a book and a trip planned by the publisher, with fans of the author and things go wrong. The authors humor in the book and in the footnotes is so fun and this was a book I read in 2 sittings because I didn't want to put it down! Eleanor is the author of the series in the book and I loved her point of view and humor. The characters on the trip with her, including her sister, ex, other ex and also other authors was just a hysterical group to travel with. It's hard to describe how the footnotes in the story work, but they are fantastic too! I highly recommend this book and the best part, it is part of a new series so I'll absolutely be reading book 2!

This is a book that is mean to to be read as a paperback, one you want to keep on your shelf and read over and over. I enjoyed every single page, loved the voice of the main character and Catherine Mack will now be an 'auto-buy' for me on a go forward basis!