Every Time I Go on Vacation Someone Dies by Catherine Mack Book Review

About the Book:

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?

Clearly, because when an attempt is made on the real Connor’s life—the handsome but infuriating con man she got mixed up with ten years ago and now can't get out of her life—Eleanor’s enlisted to help solve the case.

Contending with literary competitors, rabid fans, a stalker—and even her ex, Oliver, who turns up unexpectedly—theories are bandied about, and rivalries, rifts, and broken hearts are revealed. But who’s really trying to get away with murder?

Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies is the irresistible and hilarious series debut from Catherine Mack, introducing bestselling fictional author Eleanor Dash on her Italian book tour that turns into a real-life murder mystery, as her life starts to imitate the world in her books.

My Review:

This is a novel written in a unique and entertaining way. Footnotes, for example. Who ever heard of copious footnotes in a novel. (For the record, I skipped most of them.) But Mack says she always wanted to add them so did. And there are a few other interesting features like boxed text and the narrator talking to readers.

The characters are developed well. Eleanor is a kick, going on a trip but not reading the itinerary. That gets her into all kinds of situations she does not enjoy. Harper, her sister and efficient assistant to the rescue. Connor is well portrayed as a troublesome past love and current irritant.

I like the plot where a famous author wants to get rid of one of the characters in her novels (who also happens to be a real person) but other people die. There are a number of suspects from jealous authors to stalking fans but Eleanor is on the case.

This is an enjoyable and clever mystery with fun locations and a good dose of humor from time to time.

My rating: 4/5 stars.

About the Author:

Catherine Mack (she/her) is the pseudonym for the USA Today and Globe & Mail bestselling author of over a dozen novels. Her books are approaching two million copies sold worldwide and have been translated into multiple languages including French, German, Portuguese, and Polish. Television rights to Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies and its forthcoming sequels sold in a major auction to Fox TV for development into a series, with Mack writing the pilot script. A dual Canadian and US citizen, she splits her time between Canada and various warmer locations in the US. Photo credit: Fany Ducharme

Minotaur Books, 344 pages.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

(My star ratings: 5-I love it, 4-I like it, 3-It's OK, 2-I don't like it, 1-I hate it.)