No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding, Catherine Mack

I cannot explain it either. One look at the blurb of this and you'd think I'd be backing away at the fastest possible rate. A couple of chapters in and I was wondering what on earth I thought I was reading. I mean there is so so so much about this novel (and it's predecessor EVERY TIME I GO ON VACATION SOMEONE DIES) that should drive me bats. The clever asides, the mindless prattle, the gen (whatever) speak, the needy slightly batty central character - writer Eleanor Dash and her romantic complications (mostly in her head), her sister's somewhat subdued life (mostly because Eleanor is so needy), her boyfriend's whiplash state of mind (again ... Eleanor), her ex and another cast of horrible, yet compelling people.

In this case, her role as bridesmaid at the very sudden wedding of best friend Emma and her co-star / fiancé Fred, comes at the end of the film shoot for the movie (starring Emma and Fred) based on Dash's first novel - the aforementioned Every Time I Go on Vacation .... This shoot came with a cameo appearance for Eleanor (somewhat mangled by her inability to shut up), and a bunch of complications that seem to come with small worlds like movies. The director's an old school chum, and most definitely not a fan of "the writer" as she refers to Dash throughout the shoot, the screenwriter is shacked up with somebody that used to be shacked up with Dash's ex. Who is on the set because he's a consultant to the movie and doing a bit on the side as a private investigator for the producer. Who has a past with Emma, and an attitude about everybody and everything. Then there's the runner / assistant who has also been coerced into the job of wedding planner - as the end of the shoot sees most of the cast and the hangers on heading for nearby Catalina Island for what, nobody is supposed to know, is going to be Emma and Fred's real life wedding.

At this point you'd be forgiven for having a dose of the vapours, but throw in an electrified hot tub; a sabotaged ropes course; a stabbing (or two) within the ranks of the cast and crew; the murder of a maintenance man; a hurricane and an ignored evacuation order for reasons which really never make sense; a lot of mobile phones appearing and disappearing; a single, very new to the job, cop left on the island; and a good line in silly mayhem and the vapours could lead to a full on lie down. 

Yet somehow it doesn't. There's no getting away from the fact that this is really silly, comic crime fiction. Very silly, comic crime fiction really, and for whatever reason that I can't explain, I like this series. Blame the heat, it's fried my synapses obviously.