a hollywood ending
Eleanor Dash wrote a book. And that one book changed her life and the lives of those around her. Over and over.
She was just a teenager when her parents were killed in a car accident, and when she took over raising her younger sister. Eleanor put her dreams of college aside while Harper finished high school. And when Harper went off to college, Eleanor used some of her inheritance to go to Rome. In Rome, she met Connor, and they fell in love while investigating a string of robberies in town. That story didn’t end how she expected, but she turned it into a bestselling novel.
That novel is now being made into a movie, and her best friend Emma Wood is playing the part of the protagonist. The role of Connor is being played by Fred Winters. And like their characters in the movie, Emma and Fred have fallen in love. After they wrap shooting the film on Catalina Island, they’re planning a small wedding. Eleanor and Harper are invited, as are others from the movie. Eleanor brings her boyfriend Oliver, and Connor is invited as well.
Just as the whole gang is back together, getting ready for a Hollywood wedding, complete with a photographer from People magazine, there is a storm brewing. A couple of them, actually. There is the actual hurricane that weather reports say is heading their direction. And there is the storm of anxiety that comes when Emma hands Eleanor a note saying that someone was going to die at the wedding.
At first, they’re trying to figure out if there is an actual threat or not. But when Emma, Eleanor, and Harper were heading to a series of pools to relax and Harper’s phone dropped in the water, it was clear that had the women gotten in, they would have been electrocuted. The police can’t help, as most of them have already evacuated the island. But as the weekend continues, there are actual murders. Eleanor feels like the answers are there for her, if she just looks hard enough. But first, she’ll have to keep Emma, Harper, and herself alive until the storms have passed.
No One Was Supposed to Die at the Wedding is a crime adventure novel full of snark and well, frankly, backstabbing. Everyone at the wedding has secrets, and the pressure of the wedding is bringing it all out into the open. Revenge, infidelity, gambling, blackmail, and that is just the start. The way this story unfolds is a little bonkers but lots of fun, with the comic timing of one not-a-detective detective bringing laughs throughout.
I listened to the audio book of No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding, narrated so beautifully by Elizabeth Evans. She gave each character a distinct voice (and there are a lot of characters to keep track of), and even added some charming accents to keep this audio book rolling along. Eleanor is narrating the story herself, no third person writing here, and she loves to add snarky footnotes throughout the book. In the narration, those notes are added as they show up in the narrative, just with a little extra attitude, so they don’t slow down the listener at all, which I appreciated.
I enjoyed this book a lot, but I will admit that there is a lot going on and a lot to keep track of. There are a lot of characters, and author Catherine Mack does a good job of using context clues to keep readers on track with them, but there is still a certain amount of mental work to keep it all sorted. And when you get toward the ending, there are a lot of story loops that get a little bonkers to put together. Still, I had a lot of fun going on a trip with Eleanor and company again, and I look forward to the trip to Greece she talked about at the end, even though I know that it will not end well for everyone involved.
Egalleys for No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding were provided by Minotaur Books and an early copy of the audio book was provided by Macmillan Audio, both through NetGalley, with many thanks, but the opinions are mine.
