The premise of this was so fun. An author going on a vacation/book tour that ends up also being a murder mystery. It felt very Finlay Donovan-esque. The witty ramblings of an author explaining the ins and outs of publishing while also dealing with crime. It had many relevant pop culture references which added modern charm. The unique writing style was entertaining as the main character broke the 4th wall constantly bringing the reader into the story. My only yuck to this books yum was that, about 1/3 through, I had to double check that this wasn’t the 2nd book in a series. There was a lot of important history with the main characters that felt like it was written as a reminder to something we should have already read in the past. Otherwise, this was a cozy, entertaining, and witty start to what looks to be a great series!

I was given an audio version to this book and the narrator, Elizabeth Evans, did a fantastic job… per usual! I’m hot off the heels of my whirlwind romance with the Throne of Glass series (which she brilliantly narrated). So her voice felt comforting 🥹. I’ve read reviews that state the physical book gets a little *complicated* because the author adds footnotes. With the audio, it is read seamlessly so I didn’t even know that could be an issue.

This was so much fun! It's a different take on the cozy mystery, allowing the reader to be a part of the investigation in a way and I loved it! The writing was witty and humorous, the plot was clever, and the characters were fantastic. I loved everything about this!

So when does Book 2 come out??
I binged this audio in a single day! It was so addicting. Would’ve been a page turner had a read the physical book!
I absolutely loved how the book was written. How it seemed like we were in the authors brain as she was planning out how she was going to write her story. How humor, mystery, and romance were all intertwined to give us a great story line.
I for sure thought I knew who did it, but I would’ve never imagine it was them! Eleanor and Connor are the perfect protagonists. The plot twists and turns kept me guessing until the very end.
This is a must read book & I will be first in line for book 2!

This was a fun listen! I kept changing my mind about the culprit and can honestly say that I did not see that coming!

Eleanor Dash is a best-selling author who is on a book tour. Eleanor is joined by her annoying ex, Connor and her sister. Eleanor never reads the itineraries that her sister provides and is surprised when another ex, Oliver, arrives and well as two other authors.

Connor is convinced that someone is out to get him, and Eleanor thinks he is just being paranoid until things start happening to her. Eleanor is trying to figure out who is to blame - Oliver? Her sister? Connor?

There are a lot of characters to keep track of and just when you think you have it figured out, you will be surprised to learn that it could be someone else.

Elizabeth Evans does an excellent job narrating each character.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced audio listen in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

So fun, clever and entertaining!

I adored how Eleanor repeatedly broke through the fourth wall to give us a sneak peek into the story behind the story, letting us know that she may or may not be dropping a clue here, that we’re about to enter the third act of the book where the exposition happens and we’ll find out if somebody’s trying to kill her — ok, you look worried so I’ll spoil it, I didn’t die!, etc. She wonders aloud if she’s an unreliable narrator, invites us to play along on solving the mystery — there is a book inside a book (inside a book?) going on here, and I was very much here for all of it.

You might think you’re here to find out who’s trying to kill con man Connor, who has been profiting off of Eleanor’s book series for years and is trying to prevent her from killing off his character in that series so his money well doesn’t dry up. But you’ll soon find out that you are actually here for the fun descriptions of lemon spritzes and to-die-for pizza and pasta in Italia, the myriad pop culture references and the eventual surprise twist(s). It has a Knives Out murder mystery vibe but is infinitely more snarky, self-aware and fun. I smiled so often listening to this and think you will, too!

This is an April 30 release. Thank you #NetGalley #MacmillanAudio #MinotaurBooks #CatherineMack for the early listen!! #ARC

Okay, this one was so fun! A quick & easy to read murder mystery. I found quite a few of the characters annoying (mainly Connor and Harper) but enjoyed Eleanor’s character a lot so was thankful she was the protagonist. There were a few turns in the book I didn’t see coming and near the end I still had no idea who the murder was which was a bonus!

I listened to the audiobook of this one (and I LOVED the narrator), but I really would’ve loved to read the physical copy of it to fully grasp the format of the book.

Many thanks to Netgalley & Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to listen to this book before its release on April 30, 2024.

I struggled with this one.. This book turned out to be a murder mystery where the author was one of the suspects. I struggled to remain interested as I listened.

I thoroughly enjoyed the narrator Elizabeth Evans. I feel she did a great job giving distinction to the characters as well as the narration.

Thank you NetGalley and Mcmillian Audio for the opportunity to listen to this book.

This book was so much fun! It was the perfect read for me at the perfect time. It is an amazing debut for a terrific new series. Also, as a fan of the movie “Clue,” this one gave me all of the vibes. It was a fun read, absolutely hilarious at times. This is the perfect read-by-the-pool or read-on-the-beach book. It is a five star read for me!

Eleanor Dash is a writer of a very popular book series, “The Vacation Murders” - and she is on a book tour in Italy. She is also surrounded by a group of people who have a lot of feelings about her, particularly her sister Harper, Oliver her ex, a fan that she has a restraining order against, and her main character Connor - who is also her ex, and they both have secrets they would like to keep. She wants to get Connor out of her books. There are dead bodies to contend with, personal feelings and relationships to deal with, and a group of suspects, who truly are all suspects. All will be explained in the end.

There are a lot of twists and turns in this one. Some you won’t see coming, some the narrator (Eleanor) will tell you up front. As someone who loves a good mystery, I really liked this format. There are also “footnotes” in this series which I really enjoyed. This book is also getting a lot of comparisons to “Knives Out” - I completely agree with them. I had so much fun listening to this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the chance to listen to this book - it releases on April 30th. Elizabeth Evans is a fantastic narrator! This is listed as book one in the series - and trust me, when you finish this, you will want book two. I will be purchasing a hard copy of this one so that I can reread the footnotes. I highly recommend this book!

This was a similar premise to Everyone on this Train is a Suspect, which I didn't love, but Every Time I go on Vacation Someone dies was way cuter! Same idea where the narrator is an mystery author who has stumbled into their next book, and breaks the fourth wall to give you all the clues you need to solve it in the end. These characters were very likable for the most part and felt relatable as the real author littered this book with pop culture references. Some of it was a little predictable but again, cute and well done.

Wonderful setting. Thank you Macmillan Publishing and NetGalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review. This novel was hyped and had an interesting synopsis, which was why I asked to read and review it. I love mysteries, and the idea of vacation and murder-every time- was so intriguing! This was not at all engaging- it was incredibly easy to guess the murderer even with the confusing footnotes peppered distractingly throughout. Who edited this? Definitely struggled to finish this lackluster story. The narrator butchered the accents horrifically in my opinion. Is MC Eleanor supposed to be likable? Is Conor? Definitely not Oliver? I couldn’t stand any of these characters or their personalities. Not even briefly. One of the many annoying quotes from the book: “OMG seriously who titles these things?” The footnotes and cluelessness were so annoying. I felt nothing but distain for this plot and these characters. It was hard to finish reading this to review it. I would not recommend this book to anyone, but I understand it was not to my liking and I am in the minority- tedious read from beginning to end. Definitely not my cup of tea. 1/5

🎧EVERY TIME I GO ON VACATION, SOMEONE DIES by Catherine Mack is narrated by Elizabeth Evans and was a really fun mystery series starter!

Eleanor Dash is on tour for her vacation mystery series and all she can think of is how to kill off her main character and end this series for good. Unfortunately, her main character is based on a real person and he is not so keen on the idea, especially since he believes someone is really out to kill him. When someone does turn out to be murdered, this book tour turns into a race to find the killer before the they find the next victim.

I had a lot of fun with this story! It was a lighter, fun cozy murder mystery in a great location that had me guessing and suspicious of everyone. I will be ready to see what Ms. Dash gets up to next!

Thank you to @macmillan.audio for @minotaur_books & @netgalley for this ALC and making me wish I were on vacation in Italy! This books publishes on April 30th, so just in time for your summer vacation!

This is a light hearted, fourth wall breaking, Taylor Swift mentioning, murder mystery book. We are following writer Elenor as she goes on a book tour in Italy with an interesting cast of characters. One of the guests on the tour is Connor Smith, Elenor’s main character in her books and he is also someone she wants to kill. Elenor and Connor have a tumultuous past and Elenor would like nothing more than to see him dead. When someone actually does try to kill Connor, Elenor begins to worry that someone on this trip can’t be trusted.

I did the audiobook for this and there are many times where the fourth wall breaks and the narrator will say “Pay attention to this” or “this information will be important later” things like that. If you don’t like that type of writing you won’t like this book. I found it okay, but a little annoying sometimes. Our cast of characters are a bit unlikeable, the same as our protagonist Elenor. As Elenor will tell you multiple times in the book, she is an unreliable narrator, so there are times you suspect her as the killer or don’t trust her.

Overall, I thought this book was ok. I predicted who the killer(s) were fairly early on in the book. The book ended on a cliffhanger and I’m not sure if I would read book two. If you are looking for a not so serious ,light summer read then this might be the book for you.

Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

*This is a review of the audiobook of this novel. The narrator did a good job with all of the male and female voices!

This was an easy listen, entertaining and light hearted. This is the first in what is to be a series of “Vacation Mystery” books.

As you know from the blurb “All that bestselling author Eleanor Dash wants is to get through her book tour in Italy and kill off her main character, Connor Smith, in the next in her Vacation Mysteries series―is that too much to ask?” Apparently it is!!

Eleanor is a well known author and is on a book tour in Italy with several other authors. She is in a writing funk and wants to end her best selling series.

Connor has shared that he knows that someone is trying to kill him. None of the others believe him until things start to heat up.

This was a fun mix of characters, lots of different personalities.

*Connor Smith, the ever philandering dashing man, once a love interest with Eleanor. He is also the main protagonist in Eleanor’s books. She plans to kill him off in her next book!

*Harper, Eleanor’s sister and personal assistant

*Oliver, an author who also had involvement with Eleanor. Does he still love her? Does she still love him?

*The “BookFace ladies” who are excited to be with their favorite authors. They won a contest to be included in this tour.

The group visits six cities which are well described. By the end of the tour there will be three bodies!

Who killed who? What is the motive behind the murders and what do they have to gain?

I went into this one wanting a fun escape from some of the thrillers that I’ve read. There was a lot of humor and lots of descriptions of wonderful food and drink! Count me in for the next book tour!

I received an audiobook from the publisher and MacMillan audio through NetGalley.

Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies

What a fun premise! A mystery author (Eleanor) wants to kill off her main character, who is based on a real person. But when someone tries to kill him for real, all sorts of funny things happen.

Some of the chapter names are call backs to other mystery books so I loved that too.

Plus it’s set in Italy and the descriptions of driving on the winding coastal roads was so accurate. It made me want to take another trip there ❤️

I thought the narrator did a great job too.

I hope there will be more books about Eleanor and her friends.

Special thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the advance audio book edition in exchange for my honest opinion.

Publication date 4/30

Story review: This was SUCH a fun reading experience. It felt similar to Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone and The Fury. The humor was relatable and not too forced. I loved the “breaking the fourth wall” aspect. The twists at the end were just… so satisfying! They truly shocked me

Narration review: Elizabeth Evans is one of my all time favorite narrators. She does the absolute best “snarky humor” and the best character voices

While I was a big fan of all the T.Swift quotes and references, the writing style of Every time I Go On Vacation, Someone Dies took a bit to get used to.

I listened on audio, so I’m not sure how the print book displays, but the narrator speaks to the reader quite a bit, through asides and footnotes. At first, I thought it was fun, and it made me, as a reader, a co-conspirator… but in the last third of the book, I felt like she was quite boastful. Like, “na na na na na, I’ve solved it, have you? Ha ha” And it’s like, actually Catherine, I had this one called in the first day of their trip.

The who-done-it portion was fun to follow, though all of my predictions were spot on.

A solid 3 for this quickie read. Would be good poolside, or, you know, on the Italian coastline somewhere, with a lemon spritz!

*thanks to #NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC for review!

Elenor goes on a book tour with several other writers when it appears someone is trying to kill one (or more) of them. As a mystery writer herself, she’s encouraged to try to find out who did it.

This was a fun read. At times I found the narrator a little bit annoying - she did a lot of talking to the audience and breaking up the story. I might have liked it more if I had read it rather than listened to it. I enjoyed the story and I figured out the murderer early on - go me!

#netgalley #EverytimeIGoOnVacationSomeoneDies

Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies is perfect for fans of Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone.

All Eleanor wants is to finish her book tour in Italy and finish her Vacation Mystery series that will kill off her main character, Connor Smith, who is also her ex-boyfriend. However, Connor believes someone is out to kill him and wants Eleanor to figure out who is behind the attempts on his life. Can Eleanor survive crazy fans, two ex-boyfriends, an incompetent tour guide while figuring out who is behind an attempted murder?

This was a fun cozy murder mystery. I loved Eleanor as a character. She was so witty throughout the book and the footnotes on her ideas of killing off her main character was entertaining. I loved how her character consistently broke the fourth wall and brought the reader into solving the mystery behind the murders. The ending leaves on a cliffhanger and repeatedly makes mention of a second and even a third book. I am interested in seeing what's next for Eleanor.

I highly suggest the audiobook for Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies. I was granted the opportunity to review the e-book and the audiobook. I stopped reading the e-book after a couple chapters. I found the footnotes to be distracting from the main story but enhanced the audiobook.

Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies comes out April 30th.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to review this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A murder mystery book about a murder mystery writer. This one is the type of book where the narrator speaks directly to the reader - which is not my cup of tea. With that being said, it was an enjoyable book, and I love the authors other novels. This one just was rather implausible in the antics, the murder, AND the police officers involved. Thanks to NetGalley for the read. The narrator did a nice job and was a steady voice for the novel.

Thank you Macmillan and NetGalley for an ARC of Every Time I Go on Vacation Someone Dies.

Unfortunately, this book was not for me. I found it to be overly campy and unrealistic. The forced one-liners get in the way of any real dialogue.

Silliness boarding on feeling like a parody throughout made it difficult to finish.