Publication Date: June 17, 2025
Highly acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Laura Lippman returns with an irresistible mystery featuring Muriel Blossom, a former private investigator and middle-aged widow whose vacation on a Parisian river cruise turns into a deadly international mystery…that only she can solve.
Mrs. Blossom has a knack for blending into the background, which was an asset during her days assisting private investigator Tess Monaghan. But when she finds a winning lottery ticket in a parking lot, everything changes. She is determined to see the world that she sometimes feels is passing her by.
When Mrs. Blossom booked her cruise through France on the MS Solitaire, she did not expect to meet Allan on her transatlantic flight. He is the first man who’s sparked something inside her since her beloved husband passed.
She also didn’t expect Allan to be found, dead, twenty-four hours later in Paris, a city he wasn’t supposed to be in.
Now Mrs. Blossom doesn’t know who to trust on board the ship, especially when a mystifying man, Danny, keeps popping up around every corner, always present when things go awry. He is convinced that Allan was transporting a stolen piece of art, and Mrs. Blossom knows more than she lets on, regarding both the artifact and Allan’s death.
Mrs. Blossom’s questions only increase as the cruise sails down the Seine. Why does it feel like she is being followed? Who was Allan, and why was he killed? Most alarmingly, why do these mysterious men keep flirting with her?
After finding a winning lottery ticket, Mrs. Blossom books a cruise through France. She never expected to meet Allan, the first man to light a spark since losing her adored husband. Thus begins a journey down the Seine and a search for a killer in Author Laura Lippman’s Murder Takes a Vacation.
Mrs. Blossom is one of my top 10 favorite characters. She’s a real woman who has made mistakes. She feels foolish and embarrassed when she gets conned and is confused with political correctness. She doesn’t want to offend anyone, so she is hesitant to say anything. Like most women, she wants to be attractive to the opposite sex and is still interested in intimate relations. Mrs. Blossom’s character development throughout the book is compelling as she develops courage and gains confidence.
I was drawn into the story immediately as the plot is fast-paced and kept me on my toes. The banter between Mrs. Blossom and Daniel is entertaining, and the mystery is tantalizing.
Captivating, witty, and utterly delightful, Murder Takes a Vacation will grab your attention and steal your heart.
Since Laura Lippman’s debut, she has been recognized as a distinctive voice in mystery fiction and named one of the “essential” crime writers of the last 100 years. Stephen King called her “special, even extraordinary,” and Gillian Flynn wrote, “She is simply a brilliant novelist.” Her books have won most of the major awards in her field and been translated into more than twenty-five languages. She lives in Baltimore and New Orleans with her teenager.
