Vacation Mysteries #1
This book takes the form of a very traditional mystery, and turns it on it’s head, standing back a bit to look with fondness at the genre. There are other writers looking at mysteries in the same way – Elle Cosimano, Anthony Horowitz, Kat Ailes, Benjamin Stevenson and to and extent, Kemper Donovan – but like Cosimano, Ailes and Stevenson, Mack’s take is humorous. These are not stories written by dumb people. The stories are smart and the mysteries are clever and tricky, with fairly laid out turns of the plot. Mack invites the reader to join her somewhat hapless main character in detection, and honestly, as a reader, you might do a better job than Eleanor Dash.
Eleanor is a major bestselling author. She got her start almost transcribing an adventure she had with a long ago boyfriend as they unraveled a series of Italian robberies and were able to point the police to the culprits. The boyfriend, Connor, whose name she didn’t change in the book, is the swoony secondary character, and now, ten books in, he’s also an anchor around her neck. They’ve long ago parted company but because she used his name, he comes in for a cut of her massive royalties, plus he’s a huge fan favorite on her book tours.
The book takes place on a tour of Italy with Eleanor’s fans – the self named “Bookface” ladies – who are accompanying Eleanor and a small group of other writers as they tour the country and do some serious eating and drinking together. The tour includes book signings and “time” with Eleanor. Eleanor is accompanied, as always, by her sister Harper, who works as her incredibly organized and capable assistant. The two have been close ever since their parents died when they were fairly young, and Eleanor is almost a sister-mom to Harper, though Harper also seems to serve that role herself despite being the baby sister.
The book includes snarky side comments in the form of footnotes – if you find those irritating you could skip them, but they are pretty funny. She does sometimes point out “this is a clue” or “I’m foreshadowing” and some of the reveals about her relationship with Connor come in the footnotes. Along with them on the tour is another writer, Oliver, Eleanor’s true love, who she shoved aside as she has trouble handling her feeling or dealing with commitment.
The main mystery involves some repeated death threats to Connor, though Eleanor is slow to believe he’s not making it up. A few too many incidents seem to point in that direction, though, and Eleanor may also be a target. When someone is murdered (way too late) in the story, the group assumes the role of amateur detectives, making charts and figuring motives.
The pleasure of this book is the setting and the characters, drawn well by the author, and the humor, which erupts on every page. Mack is not a tight plotter, however, and the book is in fact laced with references to the fact that as a writer, she’s a “pantser” (i.e., she writes by the seat of her pants), not a plotter, which seems evident though the wrap up to the story is pretty well done. She also, for the hard core mystery fan, drops references to some of the fan cons beloved by mystery readers – Bouchercon, Left Coast, and Killer Nashville.
I felt it was a tad long and the murder should have come sooner but this is still a fun read. The author points out to the reader she’s a liar, making you think, and she does use beloved tropes with affection – the suspects gathered in the library, the somewhat foolish policeman, the gathering of everyone at the end to reveal the killer – which leads me to wonder what will happen in book two. This one ends on a cliffhanger, so stay tuned. — Robin Agnew