This is Kelsey Patterson with the Sioux City Public Library and you’re listening to Check It Out.
Today, I’m recommending Catherine Mack’s Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies, the first in a new series starring amateur sleuth and fictional bestselling author Eleanor Dash.
All Eleanor wants is to get through her Italian book tour and kill off her main character, Connor Smith, in the next installment 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 10 years ago and now can’t get out of her life—Eleanor is enlisted to help solve the case.
Contending with literary rivals, rabid fans, a stalker—and even her ex 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?
Wildly entertaining and written in an unusual format that includes colorful commentary from Eleanor—including behind-the-scenes insights on writing and publishing, plot notes for her next book, and asides where she gossips directly to the reader about all the people and craziness going on around her are interspersed throughout the story. Eleanor even goes so far as to challenge listeners to identify the murderer before the big reveal.
Award-winning narrator Elizabeth Evans gives a masterful performance, demonstrating her talent for accents and voices in how she perfectly captures the personalities of each of the characters. In addition to the tense murder scenes, listeners are treated to how Evans expertly voices the vivid descriptions of the beautiful Italian scenery and mouthwatering pizza, pasta, and gelato.
Readers looking for a light, funny, fast-paced yet original mystery will be delighted as they listen to this book.
Use your library card to check out Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies at the Sioux City Public Library or on the Libby app today.
Support for Check It Out on Siouxland Public Media comes from Avery Brothers.
