Synopsis from Goodreads:
Ten days, eight suspects, six cities, five authors, three bodies . . . one trip to die for.
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.
My Review
Mystery author Eleanor Dash is ready to end her vacation mystery series and she decides to kill off her main character, Connor. The real-life Connor is Eleanor’s ex and not the nicest of guys. This is her way of getting him out of her life. Their publicist sends them on a book tour through Italy along with a few rival authors, devoted book fans and another ex-boyfriend Oliver.
Things take a nasty turn when someone tries to kill the real Connor. Can someone be taking a fictional story too seriously? Connor pleads with Eleanor to help him find the killer before he winds up dead. It’s not long before they realize he’s not the only one in danger when a dead body turns up.
This is a funny, captivating page turner. Humor, as well as mystery, is laced throughout this book. There are many LOL moments. The characters are well portrayed - some quirky, some serious and a few dangerous. I loved the Italy setting. The author made me feel as if I was on tour with them too.
One problem I did have was the formatting of the book. There are many footnotes throughout the book which I never saw in a fictional book before, but I found them to be distracting and would occasionally pull me out of the story. I read this as an E-ARC, which made flipping back and forth to the footnotes a bit bothersome. I see from other reviews that it was handled well in the audiobook and wasn’t a problem at all. So, readers might want to try that instead of reading the e-book. Once I got used to the footnotes, it was clear sailing and I enjoyed this mystery.
I found the storyline to be cleverly written with a full cast of suspects. Throughout the entire book I kept changing my mind as to “whodunit”. I do enjoy a book that keeps me on my toes. There was a sneak peek into the next book, and it looks like another good story is on the way. I’ll be looking for it.
Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge 2024
NetGalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge 2024
Cloak & Dagger Reading Challenge 2024
European Reading Challenge 2024 (Italy)
FTC Disclosure: I voluntarily reviewed a free Advance Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own.
Sounds like quite a clever plot twist.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to see you enjoyed it since my copy arrived this week. I decided to get it in Hardcover instead of trying to read the eARC specifically because of the footnotes. I thought it might be an issue.
ReplyDeleteThe Spellman Files also had footnotes. I got a huge kick out of them, so I'm curious how another author will handle that.
This sounds great! Excellent review and critique, Yvonne.
ReplyDelete