No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding 

• Author: Catherine Mack
• Genre: Cozy Mystery
• Publication Date: May 13, 2025
• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Series: The Vacation Mysteries #2

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The second in a witty, USA Today bestselling series following author Eleanor Dash as she goes from wedding guest to murder mystery investigator at her best friend’s wedding on Catalina Island.

Attending your best friend’s wedding should be a piece of (wedding) cake, but not for Eleanor Dash, bestselling author of the Vacation Mysteries series. Because murder seems to follow her every time she goes on vacation and is definitely her uninvited plus-one to the special occasion.

Emma Wood, Eleanor’s best friend since childhood, is starring in the movie adaptation of When in Rome, Eleanor’s first novel. Emma is also marrying Fred Winters, a major movie star and Emma’s co-star, who just happens to be playing Connor Smith, Eleanor’s ex and leading man of the series.

Filming wraps and they invite the whole cast and crew to their wedding at nearby Catalina Island. There may be a storm headed their way—because of course there is—but nothing will stop their nuptials . . . that is until Emma receives a note that says “Someone is going to die at the wedding.”

Eleanor is a professional at this point, and she’ll do everything she can to uncover the murderer so true love can prevail . . . before it’s too late for her and the rest of the storm-trapped wedding party.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, and found the premise to be a fun one. Since I was running late with reading this one, I did switch to the audiobook version for a little bit. Both were equally fun, although Elizabeth Evans does a wonderful job with the narration. 

This book comes with footnotes, and in audiobook form, it comes across as the main character’s snarky inner stream of thoughts. It actually reminded me a little bit of the way Davi’s thoughts are a stream of consciousness in How to Kill the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler. But it was a really fun way to tell the story, and the footnotes never felt bothersome, which is a feat.

I found it really easy to get absorbed into the story, and it begins with some positives that have occurred since the last book—Eleanor’s most recent book is being turned into a movie, her actress/best friend is starring in the movie adaptation, her friend is getting married to her co-star, and Eleanor has her own slow-burn romance simmering. The wedding is being held on Catalina Island, which is under a hurricane warning. On top of all of that, someone has been sending Emma, the bride-to-be, threatening letters.

Although there is a lot going on in the story, it never gets to the point where it is too much or overwhelming. Instead, it kept me hooked to see what was going to happen next. The story is fast-paced and fun, and Eleanor’s snark kept me glued to the pages. I genuinely enjoyed watching her do her thing, because she’s a true amateur, and gets things wrong almost as often as she gets things right. But she does have relatively good instincts when it comes to people (aside from her previous relationship with Connor), and offers a lot of good insight into who people are. 

Something unexpected shows up on the wedding schedule: a murder. In this locked room (locked island?) mystery, a dead body appears rather quickly, after some ominous notes sent to Emma. The events and the setting make this a really atmospheric read—a resort on an island that has mostly been evacuated due to the hurricane, although Emma, her fiancé, and all of their guests (aka cast and crew, no families) are stuck on this island due to the happy couple refusing to delay the wedding. 

You know that it doesn’t end there—family drama, old patterns, and secrets step in to make it hard to tell who might be the murderer. Also, we’ve got Eleanor breaking the fourth wall and speaking directly to the readers, making it feel like I was her sidekick in crimefighting without leaving my house. 

In this book, Eleanor and the side characters really stood out a lot more than in the first book, and there’s more depth to each of the side characters. It makes it feel as though we get to know them better as the series goes on, and I love the direction that Mack has been taking this in. Also, the fact that the MC is an author makes it even more enjoyable, and has me looking forward to more books in the series.  

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