Elizabeth Evans – Carol's Notebook

This Weekend Doesn’t End Well for Anyone by Catherine Mack

May 5, 2026May 5, 2026 by CarolNo Comments

Eleanor is attending a writer's conference in the Bahamas, with all the usual folks, and the first thing she finds is, of course, a dead body. This Weekend Doesn't End Well for Anyone is the third in the series and has a ton of returning characters, so you might be better off to read them in order. I find this series both entertaining and annoying. Eleanor is not the most likeable main character. Most of the attendees at the conference have a grudge against her of some kind, which actually seems reasonable. She's rather self-centered and jumps to conclusions easily. The story is told from her point of view but the schtick is that she constantly breaks the fourth wall and loves footnotes. I will say that both of those work really well in the audio version, presuming her whole personality and attitude doesn't bother you too much. The footnotes you can't even tell are footnotes, they just blend into...

No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding by Catherine Mack

May 22, 2025May 27, 2025 by Carol4 Comments

Eleanor’s first novel, When in Rome, is being made into a movie and she is spending a lot of time on set. To make it even better, her best friend, Emma, is playing the lead role. After filming wraps, the cast and crew head to Catalina Island for Emma's wedding to her co-star. And then we find out that Emma's been receiving threats and that someone is going to be killed at the wedding. My problem is I don't like Eleanor and she's the one telling us the story - in the first-person with tons of her internal thoughts, asides, and footnotes. Maybe it was too much? Funny and clever are good, but not when they become the whole point. Maybe it was just trying too hard. She's self-centered and doesn't seem to register the feelings of the people around her, even her sister. We have lots of characters, all of whom are suspects, but there's more theorizing about motives than...

Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack

April 19, 2024May 21, 2025 by Carol3 Comments

Every time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies is a great title and the setting is fabulous. Bestselling author Eleanor Dash is on a book tour in Italy with several other authors, her ex-lover, and about 20 contest-winning fans. A fictionalized version of the ex-, Connor, is one of the main characters in Eleanor's mystery series, and he has been using that to his advantage for years. Now, however, Connor is convinced someone is trying to kill him. Of course, Eleanor does want him dead, but only the fictional version. This book was fun enough. We've got murder, lies, gorgeous scenery, and even a touch of romance. Eleanor is a good character. She's writing the story that we're hearing. (I listened to the audiobook.) She breaks the fourth on a regular basis, either pointing something out to the reader or reassuring us. She also includes a lot of footnotes, but on the audio, they just blended in to the narrative, so...