The best way to describe Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack is as a delightfully engaging mystery that provides countless laughs and unexpected detours. While this is a debut for the penname, the author behind the novel is a seasoned veteran with over a dozen novels to her credit. That said, Catherine Mack is poised to become a new fan favorite, so I hope she has been practicing her new autograph.
Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies might look like a cozy mystery—a subgenre with which it does share much DNA—but it would be more accurately defined as a traditional mystery, even straying into thriller territory on more than one occasion. This hybrid serves to make the whole endeavor feel fresh and unique.
Readers interested in the behind-the-scenes workings of the publishing industry will find a wealth of information here—albeit wrapped in the veil of fiction. Eleanor Dash is the bestselling author of nine books in the Vacation Mystery Series. She’s currently on a research/marketing trip to Italy working on the tenth novel. She secretly plans to kill off the lead male character in the series—Connor Smith—who is based on her real-life ex with the same name.
Connor, who is idolized by the faithful and exuberant female fans of the Vacation Mystery Series, is along for the book tour and when Eleanor finds out that someone is really trying to kill him, fact and fiction collide. Also along for the tour are some other authors using cross-promotion to boost their sales, inspire ideas, and maybe some other less wholesome activities.
Over the course of ten days and six cities, Eleanor weeds through the facts looking for the key to solving a string of mishaps that put all their lives in danger. Between dueling love interests, a fervent stalker, the complexities of sibling bonds with her sister, and a publisher anxious for news of the next book, Eleanor certainly has her hands full.
Catherine Mack makes what is really quite a complex storyline feel like vacation fodder through the use of humor and short, fast-paced chapters. She even employs the use of footnotes—which she immediately tells the reader can be skipped as they are not integral to the plot—that might seem like a chore, but which quickly become one of the many highlights of Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies.
Through it all, it is the characters that truly sing here. Eleanor is instantly loveable, though a bit of a train-wreck in many ways. Readers can’t help but hope for the best for her and each new revelation shows the challenges she faces. Many secondary characters will rise to be favorites of Every Time I Go on Vacation, Somone Dies’s fans. Thankfully, this is the start of a new series, so we’ll see many of them again in the future—the ones that make it out alive, anyway.
There’s unlikely to be a more fun read this season. Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies has something for everyone. The descriptions of Italy alone will have you ready to renew your passport. Come along on this madcap adventure now, and join the throng of readers anxiously awaiting Eleanor’s new excursion—No One Was Supposed to Die at this Wedding is coming soon.
BUY LINKS: Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack
Disclaimer: A print galley of this title was provided to BOLO Books by the publisher. No promotion was promised and the above is an unbiased review of the novel.
