Every time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies is a great title and the setting is fabulous. Bestselling author Eleanor Dash is on a book tour in Italy with several other authors, her ex-lover, and about 20 contest-winning fans. A fictionalized version of the ex-, Connor, is one of the main characters in Eleanor’s mystery series, and he has been using that to his advantage for years. Now, however, Connor is convinced someone is trying to kill him. Of course, Eleanor does want him dead, but only the fictional version of course.

This book was fun enough. We’ve got murder, lies, gorgeous scenery, and even a touch of romance. Eleanor is a good character. She’s writing the story that we’re hearing. (I listened to the audiobook.) She breaks the fourth on a regular basis, either pointing something out to the reader or reassuring us. She also includes a lot of footnotes, but on the audio, they just blended in to the narrative, so weren’t distracting. The narrator did a good, both with Eleanor’s voice and tone and differentiating the other characters. I will say the whole book author as narrator would have struck me differently if I hadn’t recently read Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect (also a bunch of authors and fans on a trip and a murder) and was in the middle of Close to Death, both of which do it better.

The mystery itself was fine. I did guess who the bad guy was but not the motive, even if it should have been obvious.

Overall, it was funny and entertaining, but not outstanding. It would make a good summer pool read.