A good crime mystery with settings in fascinating locales is to a degree overshadowed by a protagonist who is obsessed with her weight and the perceptions of others regarding it. Muriel Blossom had a loving husband who has since passed, a daughter and grandchildren who care about her, a best friend, and millions of dollars that she accidentally (!) won in the lottery. In her late sixties, she is able to travel independently, have an amorous night with a new paramour, and indulge in a new wardrobe. Yet she is unhappily conscious of her weight, jealous of her friend’s ability to attract men, and carrying guilt over her marital behavior. Throughout the narrative, there are constant referrals regarding her weight though not by her acquaintances, the man she becomes interested in, or her friends but, tellingly, by Miriam herself. Her weight consciousness is reflected in the clothes she chooses to wear, recall of her experience making her way down the aisle on a plane and sitting in the middle seat, and her need to question whether she can climb step, narrow steps. Yet, her focus on her weight is never accounted for in her choice of meals, drink, desserts or treats.
Muriel had worked as an assistant for a detective agency owned by Tess Monaghan (the fictional character in Laura Lippman’s book series). After winning the lottery, Miriam embarks on a river cruise in Paris after first embarking in England. On that flight, she meets Allen, and together they take in the city, eat in fine restaurants, and have a one night fling. Allan stays on in England for business while Muriel moves on to Paris and her cruise. Allan is found dead, in Paris, having fallen from a balcony only the day after Muriel’s departure. Muriel soon realizes that a young man named Danny is following her in Paris and seems to be present each time a series of mysterious events unfold. Danny at first passes himself off as a stylist, then an FBI agent, and later as an insurance investigator. Muriel never asks to see his FBI credentials or after Danny shows Muriel his driver’s license, any further proof of his identity. She is disturbingly gullible and slow-witted regarding her involvement in the intrigue surrounding her. Danny tells Muriel that he believes that Allan stole a valuable artifact. Thus, Miriam becomes involved in a devious plot. Even as situations involving the mystery unfold and Muriel is caught up again and again in the intrigue, the dialogue felt at times more heavily centered on lectures about men, late age romance, friendship, and wealth.
Miriam’s best friend, Elinor, is positively giddy about men and despite her age, her ability to make good judgements is affected by male attention. All the women in this story are used a pawns by men. The women play against each other, keeping secrets and being misleading. Even the new friendship that Muriel makes turns out to be a ruse.
The mystery, the duplicitous characters and the question of how Muriel assists in the solving of the murders and theft could have stood on its own as a sharp thriller. Despite the ongoing heavy-handedness of the theme surrounding Mrs. Blossom’s weight, there is an interesting whodunit with unsavory characters and hard to decipher motives. I have read many of Laura Lippman’s other novels and found Tess Monaghan to be a strong, self-assured woman and would have liked this older, single woman to have had some of the same characteristics. It would be entertaining to meet Muriel Blossom in a new mystery adventure. We need older, independent, sharp female characters who can outwit, rather than be lured in by, the male culprits.
I want to thank NetGalley and William Morrow for an advance copy of Murder Takes A Vacation and the opportunity to write an honest review.

Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman

I really wanted to like this book as several of my friends have suggested I read her mystery series. This one was easy to put down and I struggled to finish it.

It began on a positive, "fun read" note – Muriel Blossom, a retired widow, found a winning lottery ticket and decides to go on a cruise, inviting one of her friends. She begins her trip traveling solo, planning to meet up w/her friend in France. From there, they will see some sights before boarding their cruise.

During the first leg of her flights (she has a connecting flight) she meets and is romanced by a seatmate who convinces her to stay for a short visit in London. This is where it gets a bit wonky. She refers to herself as having worked for a PI, having at least a bit of savvy, but at the same time, seems easily taken in.

She heads on to France and sees, speaks to, a stranger on the way and sees him again in France. And sees him again. Is he following her? What is going on? Suspend disbelief. Really? A retired woman has someone following her? Why? It gets even crazier from there. Initially, I found it interesting, but then I found it dragging. It didn’t help that I didn’t like that she kept referring to herself as fat; she seemed a bit jealous of her friends looks, ability to attract men (a bit juvenile?). Just a bunch of “little things” that annoyed me. Maybe the Tess Monaghan books will be of more interest to me.

Thanks to Laura Lippman, NetGalley and William Morrow for an advanced copy of this book.

I am a big Laura Lippman fan. Her latest book, Murder Takes a Vacation is one I really enjoyed. Pick it up on pub day!

muriel blossom was a very interesting and fun protag if a bit less knowledgable than I'd expect (which makes sense as she mainly did surveillance and also apparently has some memory issues). the mystery was fun. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

An overseas getaway, a suspicious death, and Laura Lippman at the helm—what’s not to love? This brisk whodunit plays with classic murder‐on‐holiday tropes in a really fun way. Lippman’s writing is sharp, and the tension gradually builds until everything explodes in the final chapters. Definitely a highlight of my month to read.
I loved the main character starting to find herself in her later years. The plot was clever! After reading this book, I went and purchased a previous book by Lippman as I enjoyed her writing style so much.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have read a few of Lippman's books before and I always enjoyed them. While I did enjoy this book, bit was so different from the other's I read. The main character, Mrs. Blossom, is a 68 year old widowed grandma who is naive and kind and her voice is so different from Tess, who I've read in all the other books. Mrs. Blossom is on a trip to Paris after winning the lottery and I enjoyed her story and her voice. I liked all the travel aspects of the story. But, poor Mrs. Blossom falls victim to a schemer who immediately realizes how gullible she is and how easy she will be to manipulate. Without spoilers, multiple times throughout the book I was thinking, come on! Open your eyes!!!!

I really liked the mystery of this story. The story kept me intrigued, but not necessarily a page turner. I would recommend this book if you like a cozy mystery more than a psychological thriller occasionally. This was a very cozy read. I would continue reading books that Lippman puts out!

I really hope by the time I'm Muriel's age I don't think about how other people must be thinking I'm fat, or at least I hope I don't think about it as often as Muriel does. It's bizarre honestly, a murder mystery is happening in the background while Muriel bemoans her lack of love-life and assuming everyone thinks she's actually the biggest woman alive. Maybe for other readers it felt relatable but for me it did not. The structure is strange, and I couldn't buy Muriel as a former PI assistant capable of solving anything. The beginning with Allan was so suspicious that I struggled with Muriel's skills/ her opinion on other people. I am probably the only reader who recognized the deep cut reference to the podcast Dead Eyes which I loved, so that was great.

I enjoyed this book and was invested in the outcome. Mrs. Blossom shows promise for growth in future stories (I hope). My biggest issue with this book was the focus on her weight. She was constantly paranoid that she was being judged and singled out because of her size. She is written as an intelligent woman and I wish she would realize her worth is not dependent on her body size. Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC.

This was a good book, and I enjoyed meeting Mrs. Blossom and following her on her adventures. The plot was nicely executed and the mystery kept me both intrigued and in suspense. So many players had a role in telling this tale and it was fun watching Mrs. Blossom come into her own self-worth, despite the nefarious doings that surrounded her.

I have a very up-and-down relationship to Lippman's writing. Her descriptions (and cover art!) nearly always draw me in, but I find my enjoyment of the books to be very uneven. Some I love and some I just cannot get into at all. Unfortunately, this latest was one of the latter.

Muriel sounded like my type of character, but her presentation - with its focus on her physical size and naivete - just wore me out, and quickly. The plot felt plodding and the characterizations just didn't work for me. By the time she got to Paris I was already so over her willingness to simply follow Allan and do whatever he said that I couldn't even stand it.

I never read the Tess Monaghan stories. Maybe if I had, I would have understood this character more - but as it was, as a standalone read, I must confess I found her rather pathetic and stereotypical and not at all someone I could relate to. This one did not work for me at all...

I really enjoyed this cozy mystery from Laura Lippman, including the tie-in to the Tess Monaghan mysteries! Muriel Blossom is on the trip of a lifetime after winning the lottery--a French river cruise. On the plane to Europe, she connects with Allan, a gentleman who might just reawaken some feelings she hasn't had since her husband passed away. But things start to go south quickly--Allan is murdered in Paris, and Muriel finds herself in the middle of the investigation. Strange events continue to occur once the cruise starts, and Muriel doesn't know who can be trusted.

A light and fun read!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is was good, but difficult for me to get into at firsts. I love Laura Lippmann; this just wasn’t my favorite of her books. I thought the characters were well developed but it was just difficult to connect early on.

Murder Takes A Vacation was a nicely paced fun cozy/thriller with a little bit of everything. Adventure, suspense, murder, romance, humor, all centered around an international art theft. Mrs Blossom is such a refreshing character. I love that she seems to gain confidence in herself as the book progresses. I hope there are more Mrs Blossom books in the future.

I am a Laura Lippman fan, and this intentional swerve from her normal is intentional. That said, I love a cozy mystery, I loved the setting for this, but I just could not care about the characters. To me, all their words and actions felt entirely unbelievable. Muriel is supposed to be observant and a former PI, but she keeps falling for these mens' bs? I slogged through the book as a result.

Murder Takes a Vacation follows the character Mrs. Blossom, a widow, who one day finds a lottery ticket that changes her life. Mrs. Blossom decides to see the world after the passing of her husband, who was more of a homebody. They did not travel much, and thus Mrs. Blossom books a cruise to France and meets a handsome man name Allan on her transatlantic flight. The two seem to hit it off, and it is the first time that Mrs. Blossom has felt that spark since the passing of her beloved husband.

I think the characters were well developed and easy for me to picture. I pictured Mrs. Blossom looking like the actress Laura Dern and Allan, the handsome gentleman on the plane, I picture resembling Richard Gere. It was nice to have visuals in my mind of what I thought or how I felt these characters looked. It made it easy to jump into the story and follow these characters on their journey. I was definitely invested in Mrs. Blossom and Allan's relationship, and just in the character of Mrs. Blossom herself. I can see facets of Mrs. Blossom in many people I know and even facets within myself, so she was easy to relate to, but some of the things Mrs. Blossom did, I thought "okay girl, let's take a moment to think about this." I guess that is why she is relatable because I think we have all been in a situation where we just did, without thinking, and sometimes it turns out okay, sometimes it turns out wonderful, and sometimes it can have devastating consequences, and become a painful lesson.

I really loved that Mrs. Blossom put herself out there and wasn't scared to go all in. The only thing I would have liked to see more of, is her enjoying her fortune. Mrs. Blossom seemed to be very thrifty and continued to live as if times were hard. I would like to see her splurge on something without thinking of money or feeling guilty for wanting it or buying it. A vacation is for spoiling oneself while you are on it, if you have the means to. Mrs. Blossom more than have the means to splurge while on vacation.

I really enjoyed this one because I liked the characters and would love to read more about Mrs. Blossom and her adventures. This was a really fun, cozy mystery and entertaining read.

I enjoyed this book. I would highly recommend it. An adventure in France and a murder tied to a missing statue.

Murder Takes A Vacation was a quick, enjoyable read. I would probably call it a cozy thriller. Muriel Blossom, part time PI wins the lottery and takes off for a rare bit of international travel. The cozy part, murder of a character we don't really know, mixes with the thriller part as Muriel completes her vacation and solves the crime. The book is a departure from author Laura Lippman's darker mysteries but is as well written as I've come to expect.

Thank you for the ARC of this book
This is the first book I have read by this author
I enjoyed her writing style and could visualize being in the places she wrote about.
It’s a murder mystery but it’s also about love, loss, finding yourself being older and over weight
And enjoying life in the moment.

This was a fun and low-stakes mystery that felt both modern and old-fashioned in the best way. I love that Mrs. Blossom got her main character moment (or, week) and as a reader I felt invested in her emotions and motivations. The plot moved at just the right pace; it never got bogged down or went off the rails. I understand and appreciate what Lippman was trying to do re: fat positivity, but I think that ideally body size would simply be less of a topic — we get the point even if it’s a good point. Overall, I recommend this for a lighter read, which no doubt we can all use more of in 2025.

Thank you to William Morrow Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book early.

I'll start by saying I've read other books by Ms Lippman that I enjoyed a lot more. I wanted to like Mrs Blossom more, but was totally annoyed by the endless musings that I was skipping pages just to get thru them. I kept waiting for her to be taken advantage of, esp when she's supposed to be smart, but taking gummies from random strangers. I enoyed the descriptions and scenes of France much more than the interaction of the characters. Over all, this was just an ok read. Quick and easy, if you sped thru the dry spots.