In the summer of 2022, I knew I needed to make a change in my writing life. I’d been working on a new idea and it wasn’t gelling, the way that happens sometimes. Good idea, wrong time, maybe, hard to know. But I was going on vacation to Italy for ten days, and I decided, for once in my life, not to write on vacation. Ha! My brain had other ideas, as it often does. So, as my husband and I were wandering around a very hot tour of Pompeii a title came to me: Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies. Maybe it was because I was surrounded by death: Pompeii is a gravesite and that’s the reason tourists go there—to see all that frozen life, in death.
Anyway, that title was like a thunderbolt—I knew I had to write it, but what was it about? I’d wanted to write a book about an author whose main character was driving her to murder for a long time, but I had put that idea aside. But it felt like it fit, so I picked it up again and shaped it into this book. I was taking a risk, but in the best kind of way, and I’m so proud of the result. I hope that you’ve enjoyed it, too!
I didn’t get here by myself, though. When I told my agent, Stephanie Kip Rostan, about the title and the idea, she was enthusiastic from the start and guided me along the way with excellent feedback and suggestions, like it should be the Canadian that did it because that’s funny. It is! Thank you so much for believing in me and being up for all of my ideas, because there are too many, I know, but that’s just who I am.
Thank you also to my amazing publishing team at Minotaur and Macmillan UK—Catherine Richards, Vicki Mellor, Kelley Ragland, Sarah Melnyk, Allison Ziegler, and Kelly Stone. You have all been so welcoming and enthusiastic and I’m so glad we’re doing (at least) three books together! Aperol spritzes for everyone!
Thanks also to Mary Beth Constant for finding my mistakes, to David Rotstein for designing this wonderful cover, and to the team at Levine Greenberg Rostan for selling this book into so many territories.
A special shout-out also to my film and TV management—Rich Green, Brooke Lindley, and Ellen Goldsmith-Vein for helping make all my dreams come true. And to the team at Fox: Charlotte, Brooke, Jillian, and Deborah, for entrusting me with bringing this book to the small screen.
To my tennis ladies, especially Sandra, for keeping me fit and sane.
To my running ladies, especially Janet, for ditto.
To my lady ladies—Tasha, Candice, Sara, and Christie, for always having my back. And to Tanya, for fast texts and random Twilight jokes.
Finally, to my husband, David, for agreeing to go to Italy in the first place and for being by my side for thirty years and counting. Good thing I went to that boat dance when I was sixteen.
Andiamo!