Eleanor is on a book tour in Italy. The main character in her book series is Connor, a character she is planning on killing off to end the series. In real life, the real Connor is like an albatross around her neck, a con man not above blackmail. Now, both of these people, along with assorted others, are on the same tour. An attempt is made on Connor’s life, and he beseeches Eleanor to find out who wants him dead, besides her, not that she would resort murder. Oh, and wait. There are more attempts. And on more people. What’s going on? Never fear, the real author of this mystery breaks the fourth wall with her story author enough times to keep readers from getting confused and keeps us up-to-date with a running commentary of all the clues. It’s a fun read and quite entertaining. There are quirky characters, a stalker, book groupies, an ex-lover, con artists, and more! What’s missing? Not a thing. The audio version is expertly performed by Elizabeth Evans who makes a fun read even better. ( )

I really like Catherine McKenzie as a thriller writer, so I was excited to read this book published under a pseudonym. While it was fun, I thought it tried a little too hard. The footnotes were funny, but also a bit distracting.
I was confused at the mystery, and was not able to figure out the answer, so she did a clever job with that, making nearly everyone a suspect. There was a lot of humor, and tongue in cheek parts, and it was very clean, all positives!
I will definitely read book 2, and hopefully, I will adapt to this writing style. ( )

Eleanor Dash is traveling Italy in honor of the book series that was launched after a vacation there several years earlier. Her publishing company is sponsoring the trip which includes several fellow authors and a group of lucky fans of Eleanor's series. One of the people on the trip is Connor, the man she fell in love with on that initial trip and who starred as a character in the book that resulted from it. Even though Eleanor no longer loves Connor, her readers do. That and a bit of blackmail on Connor's part keep him in the picture.

Harper Dash is Eleanor's sister, personal assistant, and usually her memory. Harper always has the details and itinerary that Eleanor either forgot or never bothered to learn. When Connor confides that he thinks someone is trying to kill him, Eleanor doesn't believe him. Furthermore, she begins thinking about how she can kill him off in her next book and finally be free of him.

After a series of near-misses for Connor and Eleanor which may or may not have been murder attempts, someone actually dies. The trip includes Connor's ex-wife (who was Connor's wife when he met Eleanor, unbeknownst to her), Eleanor's rebound boyfriend Oliver, now also an ex, and other authors with various motives to dislike or distrust Connor. There is no shortage of suspects. Eleanor's reasoning and investigation point to one suspect after another (perhaps further evidence of why she's an author and not a detective) before we finally discover the culprit.

This is a fun little cozy mystery with a lot of fourth-wall breaking, through innumerable footnotes. Eleanor is a mostly likable character, particularly redeemed by her relationship with her sister Harper. Listening to it on audio, the footnotes were maybe the funniest part of the book and didn't interrupt the flow at all. Reading it either digitally or in print I think would have been exceptionally frustrating.

Elizabeth Evans is the narrator who did a wonderful job with the voices, and particularly the accents which helped cement the location. Her pacing kept the story flowing and she was particularly adept at incorporating the footnotes and elevating the humor.

I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher. ( )

Eleanor Dash is traveling Italy in honor of the book series that was launched after a vacation there several years earlier. Her publishing company is sponsoring the trip which includes several fellow authors and a group of lucky fans of Eleanor's series. One of the people on the trip is Connor, the man she fell in love with on that initial trip and who starred as a character in the book that resulted from it. Even though Eleanor no longer loves Connor, her readers do. That and a bit of blackmail on Connor's part keep him in the picture.

Harper Dash is Eleanor's sister, personal assistant, and usually her memory. Harper always has the details and itinerary that Eleanor either forgot or never bothered to learn. When Connor confides that he thinks someone is trying to kill him, Eleanor doesn't believe him. Furthermore, she begins thinking about how she can kill him off in her next book and finally be free of him.

After a series of near-misses for Connor and Eleanor which may or may not have been murder attempts, someone actually dies. The trip includes Connor's ex-wife (who was Connor's wife when he met Eleanor, unbeknownst to her), Eleanor's rebound boyfriend Oliver, now also an ex, and other authors with various motives to dislike or distrust Connor. There is no shortage of suspects. Eleanor's reasoning and investigation point to one suspect after another (perhaps further evidence of why she's an author and not a detective) before we finally discover the culprit.

This is a fun little cozy mystery with a lot of fourth-wall breaking, through innumerable footnotes. Eleanor is a mostly likable character, particularly redeemed by her relationship with her sister Harper. Listening to it on audio, the footnotes were maybe the funniest part of the book and didn't interrupt the flow at all. Reading it either digitally or in print I think would have been exceptionally frustrating.

Elizabeth Evans is the narrator who did a wonderful job with the voices, and particularly the accents which helped cement the location. Her pacing kept the story flowing and she was particularly adept at incorporating the footnotes and elevating the humor.

I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher. ( )

The style may be too much for some readers but I enjoyed the shattering of the fourth wall, the cheeky asides and the footnotes — mostly. At times, they were overly reptitive and lost their humorous impact. There are many characters but the narrative includes reminders of who they are. I appreciated the complexity of Eleanor’s relationship with her sister though other characters were one-dimensional. The book plays fair and not only drops hints but often tells the reader when hints are dropped. The book is similar to Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone but with more of a rom-com feel. Descriptions of Italy were entertaining. The setup for a next book is obvious and I’m looking forward to it. ( )