This was such a fun, fast-paced mystery with just the right mix of humor and suspense! Even though I hadn’t read the first book in the series, I had no trouble jumping right in—everything made sense, and the characters were easy to connect with. Catherine Mack’s writing is sharp and engaging.

Thank you to Minotaur Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the first book in the series. “No One Was Suppose to Die at This Wedding” is the follow up and it is quick paced. However, I wanted to like the second one, but there were some things that kept it from living up to the first novel. I felt “No One Was Suppose to Die at This Wedding” was all over the place with the plot and it was difficult to follow all of the characters throughout. In addition, parts of the book was trying too hard to pinpoint other characters as the murderer, but it doesn’t add to the story. Overall, this was an okay novel, just wasn’t as great as the first.

An enjoyable second book in this mystery series. This reminded me of Jen Lancaster's memoirs (due to the clever use of footnotes to talk directly to the reader). Fans of the recent Netflix show The Residence will enjoy this book.

One caution for readers new to the series - there are many references to book 1; this is not a great starting place to jump into the series. However, readers who have read book 1 previously will not need to reread book 1 to enjoy book 2.

Looking forward to many more adventures in this series.

2nd in a series. I highly recommend reading book 1 prior to this one!
A cast of quirky characters - some new and some from book 1 makes this a fun novel to read. Lots of great humor.
I found following the characters and the footnotes a little awkward. The author does say the footnotes are not necessary to follow the novel but the quips and inside info are not to be missed!

This series has been a lot of fun so far.

I really like Eleanor and was happy to see that she was still with Oliver. But Connor is always there in the background. This one takes place at Catalina Island. Eleanor's best friend is getting married to a costar. There is a huge storm heading towards the island and there are death threats. Eleanor starts investigating to keep Emma safe and her wedding perfect. Then the first body is found after some near misses with the others. Just like with the first book, there's a lot of humor and footnotes. I'm glad that the book ended with a hint for a third one.

I gave this book 4 1/2 stars. Thank you to Netgalley for my earc.

WOW! This book was unbelievable, and even better than the last. I DEVOURED this book in less than a day. Totally recommend this series!

The plot was INCREDIBLE, and HOLY CRAP the plot twists were chef's kiss! I am in love with Catherine Mack's writing style and how it is a never-ending flow of entertainment. I really dig the footnotes thing she does, too!

The way that mystery was the main plot, but left room for some romance, was perfection.

I need the next book here ASAP!

If you loved Every Time I Go On Vacation, Someone Dies, you will love No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding. I was so happy to be able to read an ARC of this book by Canadian author Catherine Mack.

What it's about:
Eleanor Dash is headed to Catalina Island for the wedding of her best friend Emma to famous leading man Fred Winters, who are filming the film adaptation of Eleanor's book When In Rome.
With a major storm coming & evacuation orders for the island, Eleanor, OIiver, Harper, Connor, Emma, Fred and some others are left on a pretty deserted island when threats start to arrive and bodies start piling up.

What I thought:
This was just as fun as the first book. I love Eleanor's ongoing internal monologue, her wit and sarcasm, and how she "speaks" to the reader (and the footnotes)!.
Just like the first book, she's leaving clues throughout, but I get so distracted by how entertaining it is, that I stop thinking and trying to figure out who did it.
Overall, I think this is a really fun, entertaining, cozy murder mystery.

Eleanor’s mystery book, “When in Rome,” is being made into a movie. Her best friend is playing the lead and fell in love with her costar during filming. Now, the whole cast and crew are on a remote island off the coast of California for their wedding. New and familiar characters arrive, a storm is brewing on the horizon, and threats start to arise. “No One Was Supposed to Diet at This Wedding”, but things don’t always go as planned. Many of the characters have surprise connections and motives at play. Eleanor must jump in and do her best to solve the case before her best friend is murdered. This story was just as fun as the first installment of the series. The writing style is cheeky and filled with humor. I loved the combination of wedding, Hollywood, island, and mystery-solving!

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Eleonor is back and better than ever in Catherine Mack's "No One Was Supposed to Die at the Wedding"! This time around, she's funnier and far more relatable as she navigates my absolute favorite cozy mystery setup – an isolated island with a storm brewing on the horizon. Talk about perfect timing for a murder, right?

What struck me most about this installment is how much more human Eleonor feels. Her constant worry that her relationship might crumble adds this beautiful layer of vulnerability that made me connect with her on a whole new level. We've all been there, solving murders while simultaneously panicking about our love lives. Okay, maybe not the murder part, but you get what I mean!

Her detective work had me giggling and gasping in equal measure. The way she pieces clues together with help from the supporting cast creates this delightful dance of personalities that kept me thoroughly entertained from start to finish. Each character brings something unique to the investigation, making the sleuthing process feel like a group project gone wonderfully right.

Can we talk about those fourth-wall breaks and footnotes? They're like having a secret conversation with Eleonor throughout the book. These narrative quirks might not work in every story, but here they're absolutely perfect, pulling you deeper into her world with each aside.

For anyone who loves their mysteries with equal parts charm and tension, this locked-room whodunit delivers everything you could want – quirky characters, atmospheric setting, and a protagonist who feels like she could be your slightly more adventurous friend. This book reminded me why I fell in love with cozy mysteries in the first place.

Thank you, Minotaur Books and NetGalley, for my free books for review.

Best selling author Eleanor Dash is attending the impromptu wedding of her BFF Emily to co-star Fred Winters. But the weekend celebrations on Catalina Island are dimmed with the approach of a rare hurricane. Someone has been sending threatening notes to Emily about her impending nuptials. And the bodies start to pile up. Cut off from help due to the hurricane, it's up to Eleanor, Connor, Oliver & co. to investigate the deaths and hopefully allow the wedding to take place.

Sadly, book 2 is not as fun and engaging as the first book. Eleanor's internal monologues and use of footnotes is hard to follow in this digital ARC file. The ID of the culprit was not a huge surprise.

3 stars

I received a digital ARC from Netgalley and St Martin's Press. All opinions are my own.

Elenor Dash is back with her second vacation mystery. This time Elenor and her regular cast of characters are solving murders that occur when the stars of the film production of her book “ When in Rome” celebrate their wedding. Things get as crazy as they did in the first book.

I will say, this writing style is not going to be for everyone. The plot is not overly complicated, characters aren’t very deep and motives are pretty obvious. However, the story is light and provides a bit of sarcasm and laughter which you don’t see in most mysteries. An easy read when you are looking for something to cleanse the palette.

Thank you to St. Martins Press-Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a funny and cute mystery novel but overall the writing style was not for me. Having footnotes in a fictional work took me by surprise (I did not know this was a sequel). It takes away from the story if you plan on reading a digital copy.

Eleanor Dash is back! And as we know, where Eleanor goes, bodies are sure to follow! Eleanor is scattered and chaotic and I adore every bit! This is a fun coxy mystery that doesn't take itself too seriously and isn't afraid to make fun of itself. This story had its share of twists and turns, and red herrings too keep you guessing until the end. Thank you Minotaur Books and NetGalley for an ARC. Already looking forward to the next book in the series!

The wedding? On Catalina Island. The guest list? Movie stars. The drama? Off the charts. The problem? Someone’s getting murdered before the vows are even exchanged.

📚 Reasons to Read No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding
Second book in series – Eleanor Dash is back and sharper than ever, bringing her vacation mystery expertise to another high-stakes event.


Movie adaptation – The wedding drama gets even juicier with actors, egos, and Eleanor’s ex playing her fictional love interest.


Spontaneous wedding – It’s supposed to be a dreamy post-filming celebration... until a murder threat turns it into a nightmare.


Catalina Island – A stormy, secluded island makes the perfect backdrop for a glamorous yet chilling whodunnit.

One of the things I love about this series is the way the main character, Eleanor, talks to us. She uses funny jokes, footnotes, and lots of internal monologue to bring us on the trip. It does take place pretty close to the first book, Everytime I go on Vacation Someone Dies, so if you haven’t read that one yet, you should. Some of the characters are morally grey, but you still really love hanging with them. The ending was kind of expected, but also a twist I didn’t see coming. And that’s all I can say. There is a book 3 coming, and if you read all the way to the end of this book, the title is revealed!

The story was completely awash with red herrings and plot twists that hit like the hurricane pummeling the island in this book. The book truly felt like a roller coaster and I found myself wondering throughout the story if any of the characters were who they were pretending to be. The author did such a great job with the wrap up only to throw a final monkey wrench into the story that I truly did not see coming. It even seemed like no one was going to survive the wedding. El was the true star of the story with everyone relying on her to put things together and secretly hoping she wouldn't. Her sister and Oliver were very supportive of her but probably the least interesting of the characters on the island.
The story was presented in a truly unique manner, the author was speaking to us in what I guess could be considered breaking the fourth wall in a book. I have never read a book with quite that style and I admit it made me feel very connected to the action. There are a lot of times throughout the story that the author alludes to book one which I need to read. I think the author found a gold mine with this series and with its clever plot twists. The only thing I did not like was the footnotes which I read others reviewed negatively in the previous book. My advise if this footnotes both you is to do as I did and simply ignore them. I don't feel I missed anything by ignoring them and wouldn't mind if they were not a part of the next story.
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Book 2 in The Vacation Mysteries kicks off with a bang - another murder at an event when there shouldn't ever be one. A film is being produced about the protagonist's first book, quite similar to the actual first book in the series, and it all begins with a note predicting a future death. Toss in some Agatha Christie moments, and you've got books layered in books layered in books in this one. But it's fairly easy to stay current in the plot, as the author catches us up on pertinent info. Relationships cross lines a few times where I had to remember what actually happened in the book versus what is playing out in this sophomore effort - and not in a bad way. Editing must have fun in this one! The murder mystery is good - brings together some history we knew and history we didn't know. A bevy of film characters, each developing a motivation for wanting someone dead. But there's more than one death again, and it creates a conundrum for our interesting amateur sleuth and fiction writer protagonist. I liked this one more than the first book in the series, mostly because the characters are becoming more real and less of a caricature... I think given the plot, they have to be to stand out in a book within a book becoming a film, right?

Another fun and ridiculous murder mystery starring novelist Eleanor Dash. One of her books is being made into a movie starring her best friend Emma. Emma is marrying her costar Frank in a surprise wedding at the end of filming. Before the wedding weekend, Emma gets a death threat and of course Eleanor is on the case. A hurricane is headed their way and of course nothing goes to plan with the wedding. Just when you think you have it figured out, something new happens and you're guessing again. It took me awhile to really get into this book and overall I enjoyed it. I just found it a bit slow getting going. Once I was really into the story, I was excited to keep reading.

*3.5 stars*

Thank you to Netgalley and Minotaur Books for the eARC of this book.

I liked the first book in this series, and I really like the books by this author’s other name, Catherine McKenzie, but I didn’t enjoy this one as much.

Eleanor Dash is a mystery author who had someone die on her vacation in the first book in the series. She wrote a book about that, and now it’s being made into a movie. Her best friend Emily is starring as her in the movie version. Emily is marrying Fred, the leading man, who is playing Connor, Eleanor’s ex-boyfriend. Are you following? There are lots of actors playing real people and backup actors playing those actors. There are boyfriends and ex-boyfriends and various cast and crew and producers, etc. and I found it hard to keep track of who was who, even though I read the first book. Lots of twists and turns and a breezy pace. Maybe I just wasn’t in a breezy-pace-constant-twists sort of a mood when I read this. This might be a TV show, and maybe I’d have an easier time following if I was visualizing the characters on screen who was who.

NetGalley provided an advance copy of this novel, which RELEASES MAY 13, 2025.

I enjoyed the first book in this series even though it dragged quite a bit in the end, but I was very disappointed in this second book. The characters are all very interesting except Eleanor. Her antics get on your nerves almost immediately and the plot is just lame. I miss the publishing aspects of the first one as well.

Another funny and fun one from Mack - but then, I'm a sucker for footnotes and potentially unreliable narrators and sisters.