Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies
Expected Publishing Date: April 2024
My Rating:
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 rivals, 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.
Trigger Warnings:
Major (large part of the plot): Murder
Minor (small mentions):
Characters
- Eleanor Dash – author of series started with When In Rome, based off of her fling with Connor in Rome and their taking down of bank robbers
- Harper – Eleanor’s sister and her tour manager, jealous of Eleanor because she had wanted to be a writer as well
- Connor – the muse for the series that Eleanor wrote; he is also blackmailing her to pay him a percentage of the sales of the book and to keep writing the series
- Inspector Tucci – the detective in the Rome case that didn’t believe Connor and Eleanor
- Allison – Connor’s ex wife
- Oliver – Eleanor’s ex that she still has feelings for, she cheated on him with Connor so they broke up
- Emily – Tik Tok-er; young, fresh author that stole the plot of When in Rome, Eleanor’s book
- Shek – Mystery author, has the same publisher as Eleanor, had gotten into some sort of screenplay deal with Connor a few years back
- Guy – Connor’s business partner when Connor was in the private investigator business
- Isabella – A woman Connor picks up when he arrives that follows them around on their vacation
My Review
I’m forever looking for books that make me feel how I feel when I read the Janet Evanovich books or the Finlay Donovan series. This one is right up there! The way the narration of the book plays out is written at a level where it’s easy to read and enjoyable to almost feel like you are part of the story.
I thought I was hopping into the middle of a series, but this is the first one. The author does a good job of sprinkling in the past to bring us up to speed, sometimes humorously.
The foot notes were a little challenging to follow on the kindle since you had to jump to the end of the chapter to read them – you could go without reading them, but they did at a lot of fun. I liked the premise of them, it was just a little challenging to jump back and forth (especially since I’m lazy, and usually rather comfy, and just have my thumb on the page turner part of the kindle so having to click the footnote link was extra work).
This book captures the charm of Rome with the intrigue of a whodunit – every member of the tour group harbors their own secrets and reason to want Connor (and Eleanor for that matter) dead. A fun, semi-lighthearted mystery with a sprinkle of romance and unique plot/format – highly recommend!
Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.
Spoilers/Summary
Shek is murdered on the boat when they are toasting their champagne.
Eleanor thinks it’s Connor that is actually trying to murder them since all of his claimed attempts were when no one else saw while hers were all public.
It turns out that Sylvie – the tour leader that knows knows nothing about the places they are traveling, Marta – a coordinator at the publishers, and Isabella are all related. Sylvie was married to the head of the mob that Eleanor and Connor got arrested. Johnie, who was murdered, was her son. Marta and Isabella are her daughters. They decided to plot all of this to kill Eleanor and frame Connor in revenge for getting the head of the mob arrested, where he eventually died in prison.