Yep, it’s the start of a series! Mack’s debut has that perfect balance of cozy mystery and biting wit, and the ending totally leaves room for more. I love how the protagonist’s voice feels like chatting with a sarcastic friend who can’t catch a break. If the sequels keep this energy, it’ll be a must-read for fans of clever, character-driven mysteries.
I just finished reading 'Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies' last week, and what a wild ride it was! The book has this deliciously dark humor mixed with a gripping mystery that kept me flipping pages way past bedtime. From what I’ve gathered, it’s actually the first in a planned series by Catherine Mack, which is super exciting because the protagonist, a mystery writer tangled in real-life murders, has so much potential for future adventures. The way Mack blends satire with classic whodunit elements makes it feel fresh, and I’reakly hope the next books dive deeper into the protagonist’s chaotic personal life alongside the crimes.
What’s cool is how the book sets up a clear arc for the character—her career, her messy relationships, and that meta-layer where she’s literally narrating her own misadventures. If you’re into series like 'Thursday Murder Club' but crave something sharper and more self-aware, this could be your next obsession. I’m already imagining where the next vacation-gone-wrong might take her—maybe a cruise ship or a haunted ski resort? The possibilities are endless, and I’m here for it.
2025-11-15 07:12:49
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Her Permanent Vacation with the Mafia
KateM
10
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One heartbreak. Too much wine. And a one-night stand with one of the most dangerous men in Sicily.
Ada’s anniversary vacation was supposed to be a romantic dream. Instead, it’s a living nightmare. When her boyfriend’s "best friend" crashes their trip, Ada trades her heartbreak for a lot of wine and a messy, public breakup. She’s ready to be the "psycho ex." She isn’t ready to stumble into the arms of a man who looks like a god and kisses like a sinner.
Dario is dark, tattooed, and—unbeknownst to Ada—part of the Italian Mafia empire. He’s also been drugged, sent into a predatory haze that only Ada’s fiery spirit and curvy silhouette can soothe. Their night is a blur of desperate heat and hungover promises, but by morning, Ada is gone, leaving only a "walk of shame" and a very confused heart behind.
But in the Mafia, you don’t just walk away from a Made Man.
Dario woke up with a clearer head and a singular obsession: finding the woman who "serviced" him while he was at his most vulnerable. He thinks she was part of the setup. He thinks she’s a spy. But the more he tracks her, the more he realizes she’s just a heartbroken woman drowning her sorrows in the Mediterranean.
Now, the "trouble in paradise" is just beginning. Dario doesn't care about her ex-boyfriend, her flight home, or her plans for the future. He’s decided she belongs to him, and in his world, what the Mafia claims, the Mafia keeps.
Ada wanted a vacation to remember. Now, she’ll be lucky if he ever lets her leave.
As a healer, I keep taking in emergency patients around the clock just so I can save up enough money for a luxurious family trip.
But after transferring the money into the family account, my mate, Leonard Cross, announces that he will be taking the entire family on the trip, whereas I'm required to stay at home.
Everyone supports his decision.
"Don't you always take overtime shifts on your day off? That's why I never considered the fact that you can go on this trip with us."
I'm pissed, to say the least. "So, the four of you will be going, eh?"
My sister-in-law, Rita Cross, pipes up, "Cassandra and Hannah will be joining us too."
Cassandra Davis is Leonard's childhood sweetheart, whereas Hannah is the family's pet dog.
It seems that everyone has received an invitation but me.
After staying quiet for another beat, I nod.
"Fine."
Soon, I accept the three-year dispatch request to another place that's offered to me by my workplace. I also take the liberty to put the house—which I own the deed to—on sale.
Since my family supports my career this much, I'm sure they will do the same when I decide to buy myself a new place to live for the sake of my business trip, right?
Moving to Washington from Texas to live with her mother's new family, which includes a stepfather and seven stepbrothers, Katherine braces herself for building walls and embracing isolation. But she doesn’t expect to run into the man she had a one-night stand with just a few days ago in Texas, and he is one of her stepbrothers.
Trying to resist his charm, she finds that one look from him sends her heart racing. However, he’s not the only one with that effect on her—each of her seven stepbrothers begins to show interest in her, and she can’t help but feel drawn to all of them.
Can she survive in a house with her seven deadly stepbrothers?
The sequel to The Snow Storm tells the story of Owen, the son and brother of the infamous killers at the now well known motel, dubbed the Murder Motel. Owen is just trying to live a normal life, thinking that he has finally managed to put the past behind him, when a new string of disappearances seem to suggest that he is carrying on in his late father's footsteps. But when a copy cat killer goes so far as to frame him for the murders, he needs all the help that he can get to clear his name. That is where journalist Kate Lyston comes in. She believes that he is innocent and works along side of him to prove it. Will they fall in love at the Murder Motel, or will she be it's latest victim?
During the holiday, I took my whole family on a trip. Just as we were about to head back, more than ten police cars surrounded us at the guesthouse.
The police showed a video. In it, under surveillance cameras, I drove to a forest near a popular tourist town the day before and dumped a corpse.
Even more frightening, there was a strange woman sitting in the car. After throwing away the body, the two of us immediately engaged in intimate acts inside the car.
Hannah Walker slapped me hard across the face.
"No wonder you insisted on going to that tourist town to buy snacks for us—you were using it as an excuse to go on a date!
"After doing something so inhumane, you still had the nerve to do such filthy things in the car?"
However, yesterday, I had clearly gone to the town alone to buy snacks and returned. There was no such horrifying experience at all.
Without another word, the police opened the trunk. When the searchlight swept across it, it was filled with bloodstains from the victim's body.
In the corner, they also found the murder weapon with my fingerprints on it.
I had no way to defend myself. I fell from being a rocket engineer, a hero in the country's aerospace field, to a death row prisoner.
Due to the severity of the case, I was sent to the execution ground in less than a month.
My parents and child, who had been on the trip with me, were blocked at the guesthouse by the victim's family and beaten to death.
However, even as reality dawned on me, I still did not understand what had happened that day.
When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the moment I was about to leave to buy snacks.
Though overworked and overwhelmed, Addyson has the perfect life. She is the owner of a successful company. She lives in the city of her dreams and her best friend is her business partner. While on a forced vacation planned by her bestie she finds the one thing she never knew she wanted.
I get why that phrase creeps people out — it sounds like the plot of a creepy urban legend. For me, it usually starts as a silly pattern: I plan a relaxing trip, then scads of headlines pop up about accidents, funerals, or celebrity deaths. It feels personal even when it isn't. Human brains are wired to spot patterns and attach meaning; if I'm primed to expect bad things while traveling, I'm going to notice each bad thing more sharply.
In the real world, though, the phrase is almost never a literal 'true story' in the sense of a single cause connecting every event. There are a few ways people turn coincidence into a story: selective memory (you forget the uneventful trips), sensational reporting, or even people jokingly exaggerating their misfortunes online. Some films and shows lean on that exact hook — think of how 'Final Destination' dramatizes coincidence — but that's storytelling, not proof. Personally, I try to treat those patterns with a pinch of skepticism and a dash of dark humor; it helps me keep perspective when vacation headlines pile up.
Wild setup, right? I dove into 'Every Time I Go on Vacation Someone Dies' because the title itself is a dare, and the story pays it off with a weird, emotionally messy mystery. It follows Elliot, who notices a freak pattern: every trip he takes, someone connected to him dies shortly after or during the vacation. At first it’s small — an ex’s dad has a heart attack in a hotel pool, a barista collapses after a late-night street fight — and Elliot treats them like tragic coincidences.
So the novel splits between the outward sleuthing and Elliot’s inward unraveling. He tries to prove it’s coincidence, then that he’s being targeted, then that he’s somehow the cause. Friends drift away, police start asking questions, and a nosy journalist digs up ties that look damning. The structure bounces between present-day investigations, candid journal entries Elliot keeps on flights, and quick, bruising flashbacks that reveal his past traumas and secrets.
By the climax the reader isn’t sure if this is supernatural horror or a very human tragedy about guilt and unintended harm. There’s a reveal — either a psychological explanation where Elliot has blackout episodes and unintentionally sets events in motion, or an ambiguous supernatural touch that hints at a curse passed down through his family. The ending refuses tidy closure: some things are explained, some stay eerie. I loved how it balanced dread with a real ache for Elliot; it left me thinking about luck and responsibility long after closing the book.