Kym: Hi Catherine, welcome to the Cozy Corner!
Kym Roberts: The opening line to a novel is so important, especially when it’s for a new series. Authors frequently struggle to welcome readers into their world with a scene that grabs them by the collar. You, however, went for the clerical collar with, “Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. I want to commit a homicide.” It was the perfect intro to your debut in The Vacation Mysteries, EVERY TIME I GO ON VACATION, SOMEONE DIES. Did the chapter come to you before that line, or did the line formulate the chapter?
Catherine Mack: The line came to me first. The book always opened on some version of that line. That’s usually how it works for me—I think of the character, and they come alive to me with an opening line.
Kym: How did you come up with the title because I honestly think some of us have experienced that sense of doom when we pack our suitcases?
Catherine: Haha. I was in Italy with my husband, and I was riffing on Agatha Christie books and Miss Marple and why anyone would invite her on vacation when every time she goes somewhere someone dies. And voila!
Kym: They say write what you know and you did just that. You created an author, Eleanor Dash, as your leading lady. But you took it one step further and had your heroine write footnotes in the book! Actual footnotes! (Or should I say you wrote the footnotes?) It gives the reader a deeper POV into your character’s writing with a bonus glimpse into an author’s process. How difficult was this to accomplish as a writer writing a writer?
Catherine: My experience as an author has been quite different than Eleanor’s so I had to be sure that the footnotes were her experience rather than my experience or at least a universal author’s experience. It was fun though!
Kym: Eleanor is on a dream book tour to Italy that turns into a hilarious nightmare (Is that a thing?) when life imitates her fiction. Do you find that life imitates fiction more than fiction imitates life?
Catherine: Interesting question. I think to write realistic fiction you have to change the way things happen in real life because real life is usually pretty boring. Sometimes life is stranger than fiction for sure, and fiction tends to have cleaner endings.
Kym: What or who was the inspiration behind you creating Eleanor’s world?
Catherine: The title, honestly! And I had a long-standing idea about an author who wanted to kill her main character in real life and then he ends up dead, so I put the two together.
Kym: Eleanor is literally having a book signing tour from hell. What’s the funniest thing that has happened to you or a friend of yours at a book signing?
Catherine: I’ve had signings when no one showed up. Is that funny?
Kym: Did you take a trip to Italy for research purposes or did a vacation end up on your pages as they did for Eleanor? Seriously, are we reading your life story as we turn the pages of EVERY TIME I GO ON VACATION, SOMEONE DIES?
Catherine: I was on a 10-day tour in these locations two years ago when I came up with the idea, so I kept the setting because settings are innocent!
Kym: Do you have a cozy corner in your life where you like to curl up and read?
Catherine: I usually read in bed.
Kym: I absolutely love the direction of this series. What are you working on now, and can you give us a hint as to where we might see Eleanor next?
Catherine: Thank you! I have turned in book 2 which is called NO ONE WAS SUPPOSED TO DIE AT THIS WEDDING and there’s a glimpse of it in the Epilogue. It should be out in 2025.
Kym: Where can our readers find you on-line?
Catherine: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok!
Kym: Thank you for joining us at the Cozy Corner!
Catherine: Thanks so much for having me!
Vacation Mysteries
Ten days, eight suspects, six cities, five authors, three bodies . . . one trip to die for.
"Quick, captivating, and oh-so-much-fun! This delicious mystery is as spellbinding as Knives Out."—Elle Cosimano, New York Times bestselling author of the Finlay Donovan series
All that bestselling author Eleanor Dash wants is to get through her book tour in Italy and kill off her main character, Connor Smith, in the next 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 ten years ago and now can't get out of her life—Eleanor’s enlisted to help solve the case.
Contending with literary rivals, rabid fans, a stalker—and even her ex, Oliver, 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?
Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies is the irresistible and hilarious series debut from Catherine Mack, introducing bestselling fictional author Eleanor Dash on her Italian book tour that turns into a real-life murder mystery, as her life starts to imitate the world in her books.
Mystery [Minotaur Books, On Sale: April 30, 2024, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9781250325853 / eISBN: 9781250325860]
CATHERINE MACK (she/her) is the pseudonym for the USA Today and Globe & Mail bestselling author of over a dozen novels. Her books are approaching two million copies sold worldwide and have been translated into multiple languages including French, German, Portuguese, and Polish. Television rights to Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies and its forthcoming sequels sold in a major auction to Fox TV for development into a series, with Mack writing the pilot script. A dual Canadian and US citizen, she splits her time between Canada and various warmer locations in the US.
Kym Roberts writes by day and is a pro-surfer in her dreams by night. Her humor is often raunchy, her jokes are often bad, but her hunger for a story keeps the adventures coming fast. Experience the thrill & catch the wave of passion, mystery, and suspense with her on her website, on Facebook, and on Twitter.
J
No comments posted.
© 2003-2025 off-the-edge.net
all rights reserved Privacy Policy