This Weekend Doesn’t End Well for Anyone

• Author: Catherine Mack
• Genre: Cozy Mystery
• Publication Date: April 28, 2026
• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Series: The Vacation Mysteries #3

Thank you to NetGalley, Minotaur Books, and Macmillan Audio for providing me with an ARC of this e-book and audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

The third in the witty and captivating series following bestselling author Eleanor Dash, who once again has to swap her sun hat for her detective hat, when a body is found at a murder mystery writing conference in the Bahamas.

Eleanor Dash can never catch a break. Not only has she had to solve two real-life murder plots in the past year, but both times it was when she was meant to be on vacation. Now she’s finally got a ticket to a relaxing weekend—an all-inclusive resort at the Bahamas where she’s speaking at a conference for murder mystery writers—but she arrives to find a body on the floor of her hotel room. Because of course she does.

With plenty of familiar faces at the resort, any one of them could have been the intended target or the culprit behind it all. Was it Oliver Forrest, Eleanor’s dashing boyfriend who’s in danger of getting dropped by his publisher because his sales are dwindling? Or Connor Smith, Eleanor’s infuriating ex-lover-turned-bestselling-rom-com-author with a sordid past of his own? Or her sister Harper, whose own stilted writing career has been a sore point for years as Eleanor’s has soared? Perhaps it’s one of the other writers also in attendance, as friends, frenemies and foes from Eleanor’s past all seem to be invited to the island.

Surrounded by mystery writers who know all too well the many ways to craft the perfect crime, Eleanor is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery and do whatever it takes to get out of this weekend alive.

I’ve enjoyed the first two books in this fun series, and was ready to dive into a vacation-themed mystery as spring is springing. The beautiful Bahamas setting mixes business and pleasure: Eleanor is speaking at a murder mystery writers conference, along with many of the characters from previous novels, and it’s at an all-included resort. 

At the beginning of the book, we are told that this *is* part of a series but can also be read as a standalone. Once reading, it becomes evident that reading this without any prior knowledge of the events and characters would be a huge disadvantage. The cast of characters is relatively large, but doesn’t necessarily feel so because we know who most of the characters are and have gotten to see different sides of them, but most importantly, how they behave in high-stress situations. Like murders. Plus, there are obviously more people introduced in this book as we wade through what felt like a lot of red herrings. 

There are footnotes in the reading. I received access to both an e-book and audiobook, and found the audiobook was a lot easier to follow than having to disrupt my reading to flip back and forth to follow up on the footnotes. Elizabeth Evans is the narrator and has voiced the series thus far, and her voice has become Eleanor by now for me. She’s got the perfect amount of sass and snark to be able to pull off our feisty MC, and also manages to do a great job with portraying various accents and keeping each one of the many different voices for each character easy to distinguish. I was pretty impressed.

One of the things that really stuck out to me while reading this is how much it reminded me of the Dark Lord Davi series by Django Wexler. The narrator in both books breaks the fourth wall and speaks directly to the reader in asides, commonly through footnotes. Because of how often she speaks to the reader, I’d definitely recommend the audiobook, especially if footnotes are not your jam. I happen to enjoy when the narrator speaks directly to me, and both of these series utilize that technique. Unfortunately, it felt a bit overdone between the number of pop culture references (“Is this play about us?” which was actually spot-on, but still a bit overdone in the book) and certain repetitive phrases throughout. I did love the use of classic mystery novels throughout the story. Quotes as well as comparisons when exploring theories felt fitting and perfectly done, in my opinion. 

A solid mystery, this book incorporates some surprising twists and turns. It’s a fast-paced, snappy story that alternates between Eleanor and her crew of fellow mystery writers and explaining the basic plot structure of a mystery novel since she’s a presenter at the conference. That is one trip I think I would gladly pass up—from the time they land, anything that can go wrong manages to. It doesn’t help that there are a range of interpersonal conflicts, from prior interactions the core group of characters have had. 

I always talk about how much I like to see characters show some growth over the course of a book, and I was really disappointed to see that Eleanor hasn’t really changed at all after three books. Her personality is the kind that you either love or hate with very little gray area, and she acknowledges directly to the reader that she grates on some people and can’t help it because it is really difficult to change your personality. But as I continued reading on and slowly growing to like her less, her self-centeredness was honestly a bit off-putting, and it also put additional tension on some already strained relationships. I empathized with Eleanor in one respect: she’s got a lot of people in her orbit who are forced into proximity with her. Her ex, Connor; a few surprise guests she’s had conflict with in earlier books; Harper, a sister who is working and living in her older  sister’s shadow while Eleanor lives Harper’s dream career; and it wouldn’t be Eleanor Dash if she didn’t make a couple of new enemies along her way. But I hope that she really starts to do some work on herself before she doesn’t have anyone by her side. Besides, how many times can her vacation be scarred with murder before the people around her host an intervention.

Overall, this was a fun and quick read. It was hilarious to read about the standard story structure, and then to see a fitting scene as the book progressed, but the overly frequent asides to the reader became a little repetitive and distracting from the actual story. I genuinely loved the way the relationship between Eleanor and Oliver bloomed over the course of the series, and I guess she’s made one major change, picking better partners. And that’s a tough one to do, but Ollie is such a sweet cinnamon roll while letting Eleanor do her thing, and then be her backup and partner rather than trying to solve every problem and be the hero. Basically everyone is a red herring because it is an exclusive resort, and there isn’t any way to get onto or off of the island. There’s a lot of humor used through the whole book, and the book basically turns into a real-life, high stakes game of Clue with the most creative theories—what else would you expect from a group of people who write murder mysteries for a living? A book I really enjoyed, but I’m hoping to see a bit more depth and growth out of Eleanor, along with the snarky humor that I truly love.

Bottom line: It’s a funny and fast-moving story, chock full of characters in a locked-resort mystery and twists and turns, but I’d recommend the hard copy or audiobook due to the presence of footnotes. Just beware, Eleanor can be a little more abrasive in this book than in previous ones but brings the same witty humor.

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