My Review of Every Time I go on Vacation Someone Dies discusses the unusual tone and format of this closed group mystery set during an Italian book tour. Will you like it? Let’s find out!
Every Time I Go On Vacation Someone Dies by Catherine Mack
To be published on April 30, 2024 by Minotaur Books. Thanks to the publisher for the advance review copy. I read this book in April 2024.
Jen’s Quick Take on Every Time I Go On Vacation Someone Dies
- A comic, “break the fourth wall” closed group cozy mystery
- A LOT of backstory, footnotes and asides which, for me, slowed down the book
- Some anti-book reviewer sentiment by the narrator (no offense taken)
- Perfect for fans of Benjamin Stevenson’s Everyone on this Train is a Suspect and Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone
- If you aren’t familiar with this type of format you might want to try out a chapter and see
Review of Every Time I Go On Vacation Someone Dies
I don’t write reviews for me. My intent is to help YOU decide if a book is for you.
I review books that I think will appeal to a subsection of my website readers. And I do think that a lot of people love comic mysteries. Me, not so much.
I’m also a bit “eh” on this new trend of in-my-face narrators who talk my ear off, ramble, and then as I’m zoning out, suddenly address me directly, Jane Eyre “dear reader” style.
But that doesn’t mean YOU will not like Every Time I Go On Vacation Someone Dies, so here goes:
Every Time I Go On Vacation Someone Dies (I know the title has commas, but they confuse Google) is about Eleanor Dash (no, not Dashwood!) a wildly successful novelist who is embarking on a tour of Italy.
This tour includes Eleanor, Eleanor’s sister (Harper), Eleanor’s ex (Connor), Connor’s ex (Allison), Connor’s new girlfriend (Isabella), Eleanor’s awkwardly pushed away crush (Oliver), plus a Book Tokker, Eleanor’s stalker, a busload of fans, a couple of fellow authors, and a tour guide. Those are the suspects.
The problem (for me) was that for a fast-paced comic mystery, this book had a ton of backstory.
This included the fraught ten-year history of Eleanor and Connor’s relationship (which had to do with a bank robbery, the Italian mafia, and Connor’s blackmailing Eleanor out of 20% of her royalties) the history of Connor’s cheating on his ex Allison, and the history of Eleanor and Harper’s relationship. And the history of Oliver and Eleanor’s relationship. All told by a chatty narrator. With footnotes. And epistolary elements from Eleanor’s author journal. For me, it was quite a lot to take in.
Every Time I Go On Vacation Someone Dies did have some truly funny (to me) moments
Most of these involved snarky commentary on the publishing industry (including snark directed at Goodreads and book reviewers). The descriptions of the Italian cities and towns the group visited and the food they ate were definitely fun to read.
I couldn’t bring myself to read every single footnote, mostly because the flipping back and forth while I was reading drove me CRAZY. I do not recommend reading this as an e-book and even in a hard copy there will be constant page flipping. But the footnotes I did read were very funny.
Weirdly, this book reminded me of a streaming show I really like
Both the book and the show have meandering, wildly improbable plots, characters who occasionally talk directly to you, odd twists and turns, and then funny moments that take you by surprise. Can you guess the show?
I guess I prefer to watch that kind of content than read it, but I do NOT want to deter you. If you like comic/cozy mysteries, give Every Time I Go On Vacation Somebody Dies a try.
The author recently posted on social media that Sarah Weinman of the New York Times called the book “hilarious and not at all annoying.” So read it and see what you think. And come back and let me know!
You could also check out my list of Books Like White Lotus on HBO, which includes books about travelers and vacationers that are more sinister than comic.