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 took me all over Italy on a murder mystery tour and left me wanting Gelato.

This was a fun little fair play mystery that had me thinking everyone was the killer at some point. I will say the clues were small to guest the true culprit but a keen ear might pick up on the small breadcrumbs that are dropped throughout.

I enjoyed all of the banter and the omniscient narrator style of the mystery writer. She was quite witty in her observations.

All of the characters were equally parts frustrating, annoying and funny which made this book entertaining.

This was my first time reading this author but I will be sure to add her books to my future tbr pile

I really enjoyed this read! Finley Donovan vibes, which I loved, but it's definitely unique. Funny, twisty, and propulsive. I'll be continuing the series for sure.

**Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the opportunity to listen to this advanced audiobook copy!**

I enjoyed this cozy mystery by Catherine Mack! It was very humorous and lighthearted! The narrator did a great job with all of the voices. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

This book is for readers who like:
- fourth wall-breaking narration (mostly in the form of footnotes)
- to vacation vicariously
- a will-they, won't-they relationship

A fun romp in the tradition of Finlay Donovan, ETIGOVSD brings readers through the gorgeous scenery of Italy with a murderer on the loose. It's very meta with its acknowledgment of the conventions and forebears (aka Agatha Christie) of the genre.

I mostly listened to this book while occasionally switching to the hardcopy, and I have to say the narrator Elizabeth Evans really elevated the experience. My only complaint about the audiobook format was that it got confusing to distinguish between the main narration and the footnotes, but eventually I just decided to go along for the ride.

The biggest drawback for me was the main character herself. It felt like she was supposed to be messy Milennial, which can be very relatable, but the persona could also be grating at times. She came across as self-deprecating without achieving self-awareness, pointing out her flaws without taking steps to fix them. And some of her narration about writing and publishing came across as a tad condescending.

Still, despite these hiccups, the book was highly readable and entertaining with its cast of charming yet suspicious characters. It's really a great choice for a beach/vacation read, and I loved the backdrop of Italy. I'd be interested in continuing in the series to see how the main character (hopefully) evolves in the course of the series and to see where we end up next!

Narrator: I enjoyed the narration throughout this story. The narrator brought this story to life and I could picture this being how the main character would sound telling the story.

Story: The writing style was unique throughout because not only are we go through the story with the main character (who is an author), but she is also discussing parts of her books and new clips throughout as it ties in with the storyline. For the most part the flow of these elements were done well. But a few of the transitions from the main story to something related to her book, it didn't always make sense to me. I do believe this would translate better in print versus audiobook.

I loved the cast of characters in this story. We have the ex lover, the ex lover's ex wife, the agent, tour guide, and so many other great characters. Each character is well written and adds more to the story to make it better.

For fans of Finlay Donovan, I think you will love this story.

Thank you netGalley and MacMillian Audio for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook.

A book with a signature drink ? This one definitely has one - Eleanor Dash keeps downing Aperol Spritz's like there's no tomorrow "and keep them coming" !
Every Time I Go On Vacation by Catherine Mack is a funny and humorous mystery novel, the first in The Vacation Mysteries series, which I both read and listened to on audio, wonderfully narrated by Elizabeth Evans, who juggles the wide cast of different characters, the drama, and especially the significant number of foot notes masterfully, keeping me engaged from beginning to end.
I want to visit Italy now, there were such vivid and beautiful descriptions of classic Italian tourist locations that l'd love to visit. The reader gets deeply immersed since Caroline Mack uses fictional author Eleanor Dash and has her speaking directly to the audience bringing them in on their adventures and laying open that it may not be the wisest to fully trust her either.
Eleanor is not the most likable of main characters I found her a bit whiny and a bit too dependent on her younger sister/ personal assistant Harper waiting on her hand and foot. She finds herself on a 10 day book tour organised by her publisher from Rome through Pompeii and down the Amalfi coast with quite the entourage that includes her sister, Harper, other authors, fans and a stalker against whom she has a restraining order as well as her nemesis the dislikeable con man Connor Smith, the mold for the main character of her books but also her ex-lover and blackmailer. Add to this a slightly incompetent tour guide and get this show on the road !

This was a fun mystery with a gorgeous setting. Traveling around Italy with these fun characters was a blast and this mystery was well done. I particularly appreciated the complexity of the sister relationship. This would make an excellent movie! Thank you to Net Galley for providing me a copy of this book!

I loved this book! Gave some Agatha Christie vibes. I do think the ending was a little confusing, but I definitely didn't see it coming.

Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack is a cozy mystery, I guess. It is about a mystery author who is on her tenth anniversary tour in Italy as that is where the first book took place. On it with her is her sister/personal assistant; a man who had been her boyfriend for the first book and she had named him by name so he was now a permanent fixture; his girlfriend, a couple of other authors, and the man she truly was in love with but had goofed it up. Connor, the original boyfriend, insisted that someone was trying to kill him. No one ever saw anything, and well, he is kind of a drama king. His girlfriend, Isabella, is so young her brain hasn’t formed enough to have many thoughts, so she gets a lot of eye rolls. Harper, her assistant, is making sounds about leaving her job. Oliver, the man she loves, is making it seem possible he still loves her. There is a lot going on. Then someone really does try to kill Eleanor, the protagonist.

I have multiple feelings about this book. She breaks the third wall constantly. I don’t like it as a technique. It plays better in the audio version than it does in the text version. She also uses footnotes which work better in the text version, but are really not a fiction technique and mostly pointless. The book also proves that mystery writers are not necessarily mystery solvers. Eleanor is not the only author present failing miserably at solving the crime(s). The book has no depth. Even the feuds in the story have no real teeth. The original crime, as it turns out, had way more to it than is revealed. The Italian police detective has been transferred because he made such a mess of the first investigation so now he’s investigating again in another city? I guess I just like a more serious book, even if it is a cozy.

Elizabeth Evans is the narrator and I am still trying to decide which I like better, the text or the audio. Evans did a more than adequate job and did well with multiple characters. She made it almost make sense, which the text did not.

I was invited to read Every Time I go On Vacation, Someone Dies by St Martins Press and to listen by MacMillan Audio. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #StMartinsPress #MacMillanAudio #CatherineMack #ElizabethEvans #EveryTimeIGoOnVacationSomeoneDies

Eleanor Dash is the bestselling author of the Vacation Mysteries series, and all she wants to do is get through the Italian book tour celebrating the tenth anniversary of her debut novel, When in Rome. With one more book left on her contract, she has decided it is time to kill off Connor, the main character based on the real life conman she got mixed up with on her first trip to Italy, years ago. But when attempts are made on the real Connor's life, Eleanor gets roped in to solve the mystery and clear her own name from suspicion.

This was a fun mystery with many layers and suspects that unfolded throughout the story to really keep you guessing. With first person narration from Eleanor, there are some fourth wall breaks and winks to the reader as she tries to solve the mystery. While I did have some suspicions at various points, I didn't end up fully solving the mystery before it was revealed. Looking back, you could see where the solution was foreshadowed, which I have found often gives the ending away in mysteries, but that was not the case here. Overall, I found this to be a clever and very funny mystery, and I look forward to picking up future titles in this series.

I had the opportunity to listen to an audio ARC through NetGalley, and while I did still enjoy it, I think the format of the story lends itself best to the print format. There are numerous footnotes and the inclusion of Eleanor's notes and outlines interspersed throughout, which made it a bit tricky to follow in places due to the audio format. I did think that the fourth wall breaks worked particularly well in the audio, however.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an audio ARC to review!

I love a book with an amazing cast of characters! This crew was funny and the story was fun to read. I love a cozy mystery!

Twenty rabid-fan “Bookface Ladies,” a ten day Italian book tour, three dead bodies, and one stalker…what could possibly go wrong?

Wanna hear a funny? As I was listening to this book I kept thinking it would be great for fans of the Finlay Donovan series by Elle Cosimano, Later I saw that Elle was the first reviewer on the publisher’s website, so there ya go! 🤣

Eleanor Dash wrote a bestselling book (by accident!) that catapulted her to fame — and into a book contract for the Vacation Mystery series. But she made one mistake. She didn’t change the name of her main character: her ex-boyfriend Connor Smith, who turned out to be married, a con-artist, and now he’s blackmailing her for a take of her fame and fortune.

Now Eleanor is on a 10th anniversary book tour with Connor, his ex-wife, Eleanor’s more recent ex Oliver, and a host of rather competitive authors and crazy fans — all of whom become suspect when people start dying! ☠️

This is a fun, hilarious romp through Italy. Despite the fact that people are dropping like flies and no one can be trusted, you’ll find very little suspenseful angst in this mystery. But you will be entertained — Catherine Mack’s writing style in this book is very engaging, with frequent breaks in the story where the narrator speaks directly to reader.👌

I listened to the audiobook and can’t heap enough praise on Elizabeth Evans! She knocked the narration out of the park, and this may well be a book that is even better on audio!

I would point out, however, that the book opens in a church with Eleanor confessing to a priest for obviously the first time in her life. Fictional characters often treat religion with disdain, but this one felt flippant and mocking, which didn’t sit well with me. Keep that in mind if it’s something that affects your reading choices.

If you want a laugh out loud audiobook experience and an escapist read that doesn’t require a heavy dose of mental commitment, grab your earphones and download 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘐 𝘎𝘰 𝘖𝘯 𝘝𝘢𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘋𝘪𝘦𝘴. It published on April 30th, so you don’t even have to wait for it!

Thank you to Catherine Mack, Netgalley and Macmillan.audio for the complimentary advance copy! It was my pleasure to write this candid review.

This is the type of cozy mystery that I always enjoy. It was witty, had great dialogue and a nice cast of characters. There were a couple of things that annoyed me, but not enough to keep me from enjoying this delightful audiobook.

Elizabeth Evans did a very nice job with making Eleanor and the other characters come to life. She did a great job with all of the emotions and especially the witty sarcasms and dialogue that this book was full of. She was a little bit weak on distinctive voices for some of the characters, especially the men, which made it hard at times to understand who was speaking, but otherwise she was a delight to listen to.

Eleanor was such a fun character to spend time with. I loved her humor and her commentary on what it was like to be a well known author. I especially loved her relationship with her sister Harper, who is also her assistant. There were some very nice and tender scenes between these two and you could really feel the love between them Speaking of love, I liked the soft and light romance between Eleanor and Oliver. It was nice and didn’t overtake the story which I really appreciated. Connor was a piece of work, but I did enjoy his banter with Eleanor and the other characters. I unfortunately had a harder time keeping track of the backstories of the other suspects, and often forgot who they were and how they fitted into the overall plot of the story.

The plot of the story was pretty well done. I was pretty sure who was behind the murder attempts and the actual murder pretty early on, but I hadn’t figured out the motive until quite late in the story. Always a good sign in a mystery book, especially of the cozy variety. The writing was pretty solid, although as I mentioned above I had a hard time keeping track of all of the more minor characters and how they related to Eleanor and the overall plot. This had a little bit to do with it being an audiobook, as it is sometimes harder to keep track of characters when I am listening to a story. The author also did a great job with the pacing and the setting. I totally felt like they were in Italy.

So this all sounds good, but I did mention that there were a couple of things that annoyed me. The big thing was that whenever a new character was introduced, Eleanor would describe them by comparing them to someone who was supposedly famous, and I say supposedly because most of these people I had never heard of. I am a reader, not someone who watches a whole lot of TV or movies or keeps track of who is hot right now. If I had been reading the book I might have looked these people up, but I probably wouldn’t have bothered. I just found the assumption that everyone knows who these people are irritating.

The other thing was how the footnotes were handled. I don’t mind footnotes in fiction books, in fact I often find them amusing or even helpful. But they don’t often translate well to audiobooks. In the case of this book, it seemed like most of the footnotes weren’t necessary, because they fit so seamlessly into the narrative. I wasn’t sure sometimes if it was a footnote or not. Again this wasn’t anything so horrible that I didn’t find the book enjoyable, but it was annoying at times.

Overall I do recommend this book, I think it would make a great beach read. It is light and funny, and the mystery was well done. I look forward to picking up the next book in this series and checking out some of this author’s other works under her real name Catherine MacKenzie. Her other books look like more serious mysteries, which I think would be something that I would enjoy more.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

3STARS

This unique mystery was a fun, quick read. The narration was good and I enjoyed the storyline.

The story is humorous, sassy, and has a good mystery. A fantastic arm chair travel read. I loved the author’s footnote commentary throughout the story, and the narrator did a phenomenal job of weaving them in, so that you literally felt like the character was speaking to you during the story. I also had a chance to see the uncorrected e-book proof of the book, and I can understand why some people found the format a little messy with all the footnotes. But as someone who reads a lot of informational books with footnotes, they don’t bother me. I would love to see how the footnotes look in the printed copy.

Every Time I Go On Vacation Someone Dies is a cozy mystery with no graphic on-page sex or violence, but it has a bit more edge to it. If you like very comforting cozies with no swearing, this book is not for you. But if you want a mystery that won’t keep you up at night, give you a thrill, make you laugh, and allow you to enjoy a good escape without minding some swearing, then give this audiobook a try!

Thank you to the publisher for the advanced copy to listen to.

Quirky interactive cozy mystery from the perspective of an author to the readers. This audiobook was good. The narrator did an excellent job. There were lots of bookish references which I loved. The main character in this story travels abroad with a group of other authors so there were foreign language in the audiobook which was great. During the trip someone was murdered so the main character was investigating on who the killer was.. readers are encouraged to join in. The narrator read this book but sounds like having a conversation with readers. Normally one point of view bored me but this one didn't.

The story is of the author, Eleanor, 35. She had an awesome experience abroad in her 20s and decided to write a book about it. She changed everyone's names except the guy she was swooned by. The book became an unexpected success. She was excited and told the guy but instead of being excited for her, he chose something else and it made her mad... but because her story was a success, she made it into a series of 9 books. Now she wanted to kill him in her 10th book! She has been thinking about it but then, the guy came to her asking for her help because he believed his life is in danger!

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the complimentary audiobook!

Hijinks, hilarity, mystery, murder; blackmail, and a stalker. All while on a holiday book tour in Italy. I meant to listen to this audiobook while I was on holiday ( a cruise, not to Italy), but my vacation was busier than expected. I did listen to parts while flying to and from which really helped the time go faster. Character reactions to their situations did seem a bit far fetched at times, but isn't that the point of fiction? But if you've watched any true crime then you know people can make the less obvious and not so wise choices. This was a fun book that had so many twists and turns and many characters who may or may not be guilty. The ending gave me Agatha Christie vibes and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Title: Vacation Mysteries Series, Book 1

Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

Summary: Bestselling author Eleanor Dash’s book tour in Italy turns into a real-life mystery mirroring her novels. The inspiration for her character, con man Connor Smith, survives an assassination attempt, leading Eleanor to untangle a mystery involving rival authors, fans, and her ex-lover, Oliver.

What I liked about the book:
Breaking the fourth wall, engaging the reader directly.
Appetizing descriptions of Italian food.
Hearing about the travels
Intriguing mystery plot.

What I disliked in the book:
Mentions of how good the mc ex was in bed. We didn't need to know about that.
Heavy language ( f bombs, s*** etc)

I look forward to reading the second book in this series!

Thank you to St. Martins Press, the author and NetGalley for letting me listen to the audiobook for an honest review.

DNF at 30%
Very childish characters and plot. One sister is a writer and now the other can't be? Dumb. A man has been blackmailing you for 10 years and you're just like, okay, oopsie, oh well? Dumb. Your stalker is on your European tour. No problem.

Thank you, Netgalley, for the advanced copy of this book. Unfortunately, it is not for me and I did not enjoy it.