This book was made for audio! It’s written like the protagonist is talking to the reader. She includes you in the conversation and encourages you to find the clues. There are moments of side comments, she calls them foot notes, that seem like she’s pulled you aside and is telling them into your ear. It’s a surreal experience. Very much like watching a movie, and the character makes eye contact with the camera.
Everyone is a suspect in this book. Absolutely everyone! The author breaks every character down by motive and means, making it very much like a game of Clue. But as much as it’s a murder mystery, it a lot of fun. There is bickering, sarcasm, lots of alcohol, and even some romance. I believe this is considered a cozy mystery, and I’m ok with that. It was never boring or too toned down. The perfect blend of quirky characters, non descriptive love scenes, and mild murder. As someone who loves dark thrillers, I found this book refreshing and a good pallet cleanser.
The book is the first in a series. Left with a cliffhanger ending, it’s the perfect set up for the next book. I will definitely be listening to that one.

This was a really quick read and I do love a book that gets to the point rather than drag on for needless chapters for the sake of word count.

I definitely didn’t sus out the killer before it was revealed and that’s always great when reading a murder mystery.

My only complaint is the breaking of the fourth wall in such a blatant way. I don’t mind it, when well executed, but beginning a chapter with “Hey fam, how’s it going? Did you figure it out yet?” was a little too much for me. I felt like I was being force fed this particular writing choice. It would have been enough for me to rate this 3.5 stars, but I bumped it up to 4 stars for all of the shameless Taylor Swift references - another bold choice from Catherine Mack.

This was a fun book. It was Italian version of clue with finlay Donavan vibes. I managed to half way figure out the murderer but I won’t give that away.

Even though I liked the book, I didn’t love the author breaking the fourth wall by speaking to the reader (or listener in my case). It breaks the flow of the story and it takes a minute to get back in.

A fast paced, cozy mystery. Sadly, I struggled with this one. I really wanted to love it. The humor didn’t hit right for me and I didn’t connect with the characters. I had an expectation from the synopsis that took a long time to happen. If you don’t like it when the MC breaks the 4th wall, then skip this book. It happens a lot.

Apparently, there are footnotes in the book. I would recommend the audiobook. The narrator was great and the footnotes flowed seamlessly. I love the descriptions of the Italian setting.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher.

Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies, is a fun, light mystery. It breaks the fourth wall with Eleanor Dash, the main character, speaking directly to the reader. Eleanor is the author of 9 successful murder mysteries. She’s currently plotting out the tenth and what she intends to be the final book in the series. Her publisher has sent her, her “consultant”, her sister/assistant, 20 of her ardent fans (including one stalker) and several other successful authors on a ten day tour of Italy. Put aside your qualms that no publisher would send rival authors on a fan fest for another’s work. The implausible reason serves to get enough possible murder suspects in one place. And there will be a murder, even if it takes ages before it occurs. Connor, the “consultant”/inspiration/blackmailer/prior love interest of Eleanor’s, is convinced someone is trying to kill him. And he doesn’t mean Eleanor’s plan to kill off his character in the upcoming book.
There’s lots of humor in this book. I appreciated Eleanor’s snarky sense of humor. For example, she has a blast pointing out how many violent expressions there are in the English language.
The book moves at a brisk pace. I did find that several key scenes never seemed to play out so that I could envision them. Also, a few plot points were implausible. But it was entertaining, nonetheless. And I only partially guessed how this would play out and who was behind things.
I chose to listen to this, which other reviewers had recommended. This is a novel that contains footnotes. In the audiobook, they’re seamlessly woven into the story, relieving the reader of trying to figure out how, when or if to read them. Elizabeth Evans did a great job as the narrator for Eleanor but her male voices never sounded like men.
Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies, is a fun, light mystery. It breaks the fourth wall with Eleanor Dash, the main character, speaking directly to the reader. Eleanor is the author of 9 successful murder mysteries. She’s currently plotting out the tenth and what she intends to be the final book in the series. Her publisher has sent her, her “consultant”, her sister/assistant, 20 of her ardent fans (including one stalker) and several other successful authors on a ten day tour of Italy. Put aside your qualms that no publisher would send rival authors on a fan fest for another’s work. The implausible reason serves to get enough possible murder suspects in one place. And there will be a murder, even if it takes ages before it occurs. Connor, the “consultant”/inspiration/blackmailer/prior love interest of Eleanor’s, is convinced someone is trying to kill him. And he doesn’t mean Eleanor’s plan to kill off his character in the upcoming book.
There’s lots of humor in this book. I appreciated Eleanor’s snarky sense of humor. For example, she has a blast pointing out how many violent expressions there are in the English language.
The book moves at a brisk pace. I did find that several key scenes never seemed to play out so that I could envision them. Also, a few plot points were implausible. But it was entertaining, nonetheless. And I only partially guessed how this would play out and who was behind things.
I chose to listen to this, which other reviewers had recommended. This is a novel that contains footnotes. In the audiobook, they’re seamlessly woven into the story, relieving the reader of trying to figure out how, when or if to read them. Elizabeth Evans did a great job as the narrator for Eleanor but her male voices never sounded like men.

Short synopsis: Eleanor Dash is an author going on book tour in Italy, and hoping to kill off her main character in her series. But when Connor (the man who inspired her character) barely escapes murder himself, Eleanor is determined to find out who is trying to get away with murder.

My thoughts: Take me to the Amalfi Coast! The setting was pure bliss. A yacht with a warm breeze and a cold drink, throw in some pasta and color me happy.

I thought the premise and formatting of the book was so fun! It’s like a book inside a book, where the narrator/author gives the reader very blatant details throughout to help solve the mystery.

Okay, I knew going in to this one it would funny and more of a cozy mystery. I personally hoped for a bit more humor, and mystery. I think cozy’s are just not for me? It was perfectly fine, and enjoyable.

Read if you love:
- Italian settings
- Whodunit
- Books about books
- Beach reads

<i>Every Time I go on Vacation, Someone Dies</i> was surprisingly a lot of fun! I was honestly quite pleased with how much I enjoyed following the fascinating twists and turns of the plot. I’m usually pretty exceptional at picking up on the truths of the mystery behind just about any novel and, while it wasn’t horribly difficult with this one, it did at least keep you on your toes. I didn’t feel like the reveal was contrived in any way and I, in fact, loved how the whole thing played out.

I think this book has just about everything anyone could want from a mystery series that isn’t meant to be exceptionally dark. It’s kind of funny, really, because I’ve never been one who reads many of the mystery thrillers and I only just realized what all those books were lacking when I read them—humor! The characters in this novel are objectively hilarious at times and so much fun to be around, even when you absolutely hate them as individual people.

I also really liked all the fourth wall breaking—this is, after all, meant to be a book within a book in a small sense. The main character is the author recounting her experience and it was so much fun to read it this way. This mainly appeared in footnote commentary and I loved it. All of that said, I did listen to the audiobook, so I don’t know precisely how it worked in the written format—I’d wager it may work a little better, since there’s more opportunity for clarity in that format. The narrator was phenomenal, though, and did such a fantastic job of bringing the story to light.

This is definitely a work worth your time if you like contemporary comedy in your novels mixed with a side of mystery. Or perhaps it’d be better to say it’s a fun mystery with a side of contemporary comedy?

Either way, I loved it!

What a fun story! Loved how Catherine Mack not only had a fun story to tell but also how she would step back from the story to give “authors note” along the way. It was fun to try to solve the mystery but also made me laugh along the way. Great summer read!

I was given the opportunity to listen to this audiobook because I like Finlay Donovan books. I assumed it would be a lot like the Finlay Donovan books and I was right, in a good way. "Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies" was hilariously good! It was fast paced with a lot of dark humor, which I love. Eleanor, the main character is in the process of writing a book while on her book tour. The story is told from the point of view of her writing footnotes for her next book, while also telling us about the crazy mishaps happening on her book tour.

There is a little bit of everything in the story, romance, action, mystery, and humor. The author Catherine Mack did a good job with that.

My only complaint would be about the number of main characters. It made it a little hard to keep up with the character build because there were so many main characters. I otherwise enjoyed the book.

The narrator also helped me enjoy the book. She did a great job with the different accents and voices between male and female characters. I also felt the sarcasm of Eleanor's personality come through loud and clear.

Thank you to the author and Netgalley for this ARC. The opinions here are my own.

I read the start of this book in the Minotaur Sampler and will say that the footnotes (they're mentioned in this audio, too so you'll know what she's talking about) bugged me a bit, but something about the story was intriguing so I was happy to get this audio version. Eleanor Dash was fantastic and I loved that she broke the fourth wall and spoke straight to the listener, especially since I listened to most of this book on a long road trip and felt fully invested in the story as if Eleanor was drawing me in to tell me the story over spritzes! I won't ruin the reveal, but will say that you'll probably have a pretty good inkling throughout about who's guilty, but it's still fun getting there. I will be recommending this title all summer and watching for the next outing from Mack as well as other books narrated by Evans because she was amazing. A big thank you to Macmillan Audio, Minotaur, and NetGalley for the early listen to this fun book in exchange for my honest opinion. 4.5 stars

Evidently this is part of a vacation mystery series about a writer who ends up solving mysteries. I had never read one of these before and found it quite delightful. The author, Eleanor Dash, doesn’t take herself too seriously and the style in which it was written was not usual. This specific novel took us through Italy while someone tried to kill Eleanor. Everything came together at the end. Eleanor, Harper and Oliver were likable and Connor, while not likable was the perfect antagonist. I would certainly read more of this series. I might be hooked! Thanks Netgalley and Macmillian for the ARC.

I really enjoyed this whodunnit! I was captivated from the very beginning. I hope there are more books to come in the Vacation Mysteries series!

This was a unique read with its almost stream of consciousness dialogue and somewhat eccentric cast of characters who are reflective of a modern day Agatha Christie caper. Throughout the book, best selling author Eleanor Dash keeps up a running inner monologue of observation and introspection, that may or may not be spoken out loud, as she is surrounded by rival authors, former lovers, and probably the bane of most authors' existence - the necessary but annoying and sometimes fickle fans. There is plenty of humor, mostly with a dark edge, and it becomes increasingly obvious that someone is out to kill someone. The specifics of who, on both counts, remains in question for a good part of the book. There are twists and red herrings aplenty, certainly enough to keep the most discerning mystery reader guessing or maybe confused. Sometimes it is difficult to tell the difference. The setting - Italy - has its moments, as well. If you are looking for something different but intelligent, a truly idiosyncratic read that will keep you entertained, give this book a try.

Be aware that there is some language included. Although it is not frequent by any means, the protagonist/author seems to take some juvenile pleasure in including it to poke at those readers who are offended by such language. Therefore, in keeping with her assessment, I gave it a 4 rather than 5 star rating. See above about necessary but annoying fans.

The narration is excellent.

Thank you net valley for this arc!

This cozy was fun! I like how the author breaks the fourth wall so to speak. The story moved around a nice pace, and the setting was great. I listened to this on audiobook and the reader did an excellent job!

I had such a fun time (minus y'know, the murder) reading this. The way it is told where the narrator/ author is talking directly to the reader makes it unique from what else I've read. The main character is snarky and sarcastic which I loved. The relationships were all so different between the characters. Some 'twists' I could guess from the beginning, others were surprising. The footnotes are flawless in the audio version as they're read as part of the text, with few references to them actually being footnotes which make sense in the telling of the story. (I read the first few chapters of this in the last Minotaur sampler ebook and could imagine they might get tiresome after a couple chapters -- clicking back and forth between footnotes and the chapter text).

This is a mystery but it is also super fun and the vacation setting was well-described, it sounded so beautiful!

Supposedly this will be the first in a new series. The narrator many times mentions "that's for another book" lol

Big thanks to Macmillan Audio! :-)

Thank you to Netgalley, Macmillan Audio, and Catherine Mack for an advance listening copy of Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies in exchange for an honest review. This is a debut novel for this author in what we can hope is the beginning of a vacation mystery series. We find ourselves in Italy with bestselling author, Eleanor, as her life turns into a real life murder mystery like something straight out of her books. The story flows nicely and we meet some fun characters that really help build up the plot. I love the different love connection aspects of the storyline and it added a little fun spice to the plot. I was happy with the ending and I thought I had everything figured out and I absolutely did not (so thats always fun!). This would be the perfect cozy to cozy up with on the beach or on your next vacation- you can grab a copy on April 30th, 2024!

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review.*

I listened to the audiobook and I thought the narrator did a very good job. You could tell the difference between all the characters as she spoke and I almost forgot it was one person doing it.

I didn't know what to expect with this one because I was just looking for a fun, summery read. And this was exactly that. There were murder, there was chaos, there were lots of Taylor Swift references, and lots of humor. It was light and airy, while also mysterious.

The author wrote this in a unique way. It was like the narrator was talking directly to me every once in a while. I listened to this one, so I'm not exactly sure how that looked on the page, but it felt like a fourth wall break, which is so much fun to me.

The vibes of this book kind of reminded me of Knives Out/Glass Onion in the way that solving murder/attempted murders is a serious thing, but there was no shortage of humor to make the book feel less daunting and more fun. I enjoyed this style.

🔍 Whodunnit
🔍 Snarky humor
🔍 Fourth wall breaks
🔍 Light and airy
🔍 Taylor Swift references
🔍 Everyone's a suspect
🔍 Many red herrings

It didn't feel like you got to know the characters too well. You knew enough about them to get through the book, but only a handful felt like they were even semi-developed. But this was probably so that the author didn't reveal too much and could keep everyone as a suspect.

If you vibe with this book's main character, you'll probably love it. She sounds so much like someone I would befriend in real life and I think that's why I had so much fun.

Catherine Mack’s Every Time I Go On Vacation Someone Dies is a cozy, who-dunit type mystery. I listened to this on audio & loved the narrator. The story was great, the narrator held my attention- all in all a super fun read (listen). I can usually tell within the first few minutes if I will like an audiobook & this narrator hooked me from the beginning. Very entertaining & just what I needed!

Thank you NetGalley & Macmillan Audio for an ARC copy. .

DNF at 50% because there isn't enough plot to keep me invested, just the same loop of things and hinted at "secrets to be revealed later". Also I'm sorry I cannot stand the footnotes. I've read books with footnotes that have worked seamlessly and this book they are just intrusive and kept taking me out of the narrative (and were pointless and mostly sassy/whining).

I love the idea of a mystery writing being involved in solving a mystery, but have we even gotten to the mystery part? Also I get it's the POV of an author/authors but they dismissive and slightly haughty tone used whenever talking about (AND TO) readers really put me off. The MC is such a pick me girl that I could not connect with her.

What a fantastic beach read for this summer! A whodunit with as many laughs as suspects. It will definitely keep you guessing right until the very end. I listened to the audiobook version, and the narrator was fantastic. She completely pulled you into the story and held your attention from start to finish. I'm impatiently waiting for a sequel!