No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding

Mack’s fast and funny sequel to Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies finds bestselling mystery author Eleanor Dash in California, where the film adaptation of her first novel, When in Rome, is being shot. The stars are Eleanor’s childhood best friend, Emma Wood, and Emma’s fiancé, Hollywood heartthrob Fred Winter. After filming wraps, the cast heads to Catalina Island to celebrate Fred and Emma’s wedding. While severe weather threatens to thrash the coast of California, Eleanor privately frets about an anonymous note she received promising that someone will die during the nuptials. All goes well at the ceremony, but during the reception, Eleanor discovers a dead body with a cake knife sticking out of its back while searching for a bathroom. Equal parts horrified and exasperated, she launches an inquiry into the killing and digs up some uncomfortable truths about the people closest to her. Mack complements the twisty plot with Eleanor’s brisk and biting first-person narration, chock-full of amusing asides (often in footnotes) that examine the movie business and the craft of mystery writing. This one goes down smooth. (May)