Every Time I Go On Vacation Someone Dies is a mystery novel about an author who goes on a book tour through Italy and finds herself in the middle of a real-life murder investigation.

Eleanor Dash decides it's time to kill off the main character of her popular "Vacation Mysteries" novels. They were inspired by her ex-lover Connor, and he's been getting a cut of her royalties for a decade. But first, her publisher sends her on a book tour in Italy that is made up of various people, including Collin, her sister-slash-assistant, her ex-lover Oliver, various other authors, fans, and people connected to Collin. But Collin thinks someone is trying to kill him during the tour (the real him, not the book character), and when it starts to look like Eleanor is also a target, she'll have to use everything she knows about solving mysteries to find the murderer before they kill her.

This is supposed to be a witty and entertaining mystery with a relatable lead character and a lot of twists. Eleanor breaks the "fourth wall" and talks to the reader often about her career, love life, and thoughts on pop culture. But I never felt like the reader gets to know the woman behind the quips, and she basically serves as a narrator for this really odd book tour. The other characters are just there to serve as suspects, and their presence doesn't really add anything to the plot.

This might be a good fit for readers who prefer their mysteries low-stress with a lot of humor and food descriptions. But I need a little more grit and realism in my mysteries, and this just didn't feel substantial or memorable to me.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

🎧 narrator notes: Every Time I Go On Vacation Someone Dies is narrated by Elizabeth Evans who does an excellent job with both the female and male voices in addition to the various accents.