I would classify this as a cozy little mystery. I loved the characters: quirky and sweet. This is one of those books that's not a thriller, but a mystery with a little romance. A very mild and tame mystery story that would be great for those that like a little who done it, but not thrillers.

I found this a fun and enjoyable mystery starring Mrs Blossom, a sixty-eight year old widow on a big vacation. She gets pulled into an international art theft in France and is unsure who she can trust. Fun summer read.

This is a cozy mystery following an older American woman on vacation in Europe. It was fun, but not particularly memorable.
I’ve read a lot of Laura Lippman and this is a lot lighter and cozier than her normal style. Totally enjoyable and well-crafted.

Oof. This book was not my cup of tea.

The absolute fixation on Mrs. Blossom's weight honestly made me cringe so many times and her absolute obsession with pages upon pages of side thoughts that were absolutely not relevant to the story made me skim the rest of the book just so I could get to the ending. As much as Mrs. Blossom claimed to be very good at her surveillance PI work, she sure did seem to be taken in by absolutely everyone. Even I knew who was the villain as soon as they stepped onto the page...

Mrs. Muriel Blossom of Baltimore found a lottery ticket in a parking lot and became an instant millionaire. Widowed ten years, Mrs. Blossom decides to take a river cruise with her oldest friend Elinor. But first she spends several days on her own in Paris, where she meets Allan Turner, who shows a good deal of interest in her, much to her surprise. Mrs. Blossom, as she is known throughout the book, is what might be called “zaftig,” and her size is something of an issue several times in the course of events. Before she can make it to meet her friend and get on the boat, she’s met another man, one Danny Johnson, who may or may not be gay, may or may not be an FBI agent, and may or may not be after her money. The police show up at Mrs. Blossom’s hotel to tell her that the man she’d recently been kissing in her hotel room was dead, having fallen from his hotel balcony in Paris. She learns that somehow she is involved in the theft of a missing statue, and that her deceased friend Allan and her unwelcome acquaintance Danny are involved. She and Elinor make it to the boat, where Mrs. Blossom’s sightseeing plans are somewhat altered by Elinor’s new love interest, Marko. But she carries on and ends up meeting a charming and even wealthier than she is older woman named Pat, who is traveling with her brother. All these loose ends come together on the balcony of Mrs. Blossom’s stateroom one night, where she learns the true provenance of the statue, her part in it, and the identities of her traveling companions. This was a very entertaining departure from Laura Lippman’s Tess Monaghan series. Tess makes a few brief appearances here, but Mrs. Blossom, her goodness, and her loyalty carry the day. A very good read.

Murder Takes A Vacation is a wonderful combination of Agatha Christie and Jessica Fletcher from the Murder She Wrote series. It's an enjoyable who-done-it with wonderful locations and tempting cuisine. But there is so much more to this mystery as our heroine, an older woman who is a widow now at a crossroads in her life with some regrets to come to terms with. Yet who would ever imagine that a murder could be so much fun!

Muriel Blossom is a senior whose husband passed away a decade ago. She lives for her daughter and grandchildren. But, through no luck of her own she won the lottery! Which should be great news but unfortunately, she has just found out her daughter and her family are moving to Japan! And she was not invited to go with them.

So, Muriel and her best friend Elinor decide to go on a European cruise! This should take her mind off of her sorrows...or so she thinks. Muriel used to work for a detective agency many years ago and looks at life and the world a bit differently than others. So, when she meets a charming man, Allan at the airport well, she is suddenly smitten, yet a bit reserved. Why on earth would he be interested in a frumpy old woman?

But she begins to see him differently and as they make their way to Paris where they will separate, Muriel decides to take a risk. Something she has never done since her husband's untimely death years ago. And she finds she's enjoying the attention. But as luck would have it once they arrive in Paris and go their separate ways Muriel discovers Allan has died. Muriel's radar begins to see something is not right, but alas she will be leaving on the cruise in a few days.

Suddenly she meets another stranger named Danny who decides Muriel needs a makeover and talks her into buying herself a new wardrobe. But again, Muriel feels in her gut something is not right. When she discovers Danny is on the same cruise, well she firmly believes something is going on. But what?

What she discovers is there is a missing statue, a Pakastani jewel encrusted one. And now she believes Allan had something to do with its high jacking! So, Muriel begins to investigate onboard the ship and discovers no one is who they say they are, except for her best friend Elinor of course!

Was Allan killed? But why? And who is Danny? Why won't he leave her alone?

Murder Takes A Vacation is an exciting mysterious read, with clues galore. You will fall in love with Mrs. Blossom for not only her way of thinking, but all the lessens she will learn as well as secrets she's been holding on to for years which will change her life forever!

Thank you #NetGalley #WilliamMorrow #LauraLippman #MurderTakesAVacation for the advanced copy.

I struggled to get into this book and ultimately had to DNF about 3 chapters in. Hoping to give it another try soon

I enjoyed this read overall but had trouble getting invested in it because I didn't like Mrs Blossom's character very much to start with. I didn't realize she was a character in previous novels so maybe my experience would've been different had I read some of those.

3,5 stars rounded up. This was a cute, sort of cozy mystery with a fun setting. It's the kind of mystery that works best if you just go with the flow and try not to overthink things. It wasn't a particularly exciting book, but it was easy to read and had likable leads. That's always a plus.

I read an ARC of this book from NetGalley. All comments are my own.

I love an older protagonist (Killers of a Certain Age, Thursday Murder Club, Mrs Plansky...). This one didn't do it for me. The MC is so naive and much more helpless than she should've been. She talks about her weight quite a lot, though she isn't bothered by it, but she's constantly ready to be offended about it. She's far too gullible.

Thank you for the ARC. I purchased a copy for my library. I wouldn't read others with this character.

The ending was cute but not cute enough to read through the rest of the book. I have read Laura Lippman before and enjoyed it, so I was trying this out as the book description piqued my interest. I thought since it was less than 300 pages, I would fly through it and that was not the case, at all.

An overweight, newly wealthy, older woman decides to take a vacation with her best friend. The anticipated cruise is foiled by both of them "finding romance" with terrible men. After being followed, attacked, and having her room searched more than once, Muriel helps discover what happened to am ancient art piece that was being searched for.

Thank you HarperCollins Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC.

Muriel Blossom is a plus sized widow, taking her first trip out of the United States. Muriel is an appealing protagonist, finding her way first to London, then to Paris for a river cruise with her best friend. While on the plane, she meets Allan, a handsome older gentleman, the first to show interest in Muriel in years. Their quick association plunges Muriel into a mystery over stolen goods, and a murder. I really enjoyed the story, especially as a fan of river cruises myself and as an older woman. There are not many books focusing on this age group, so this cozy mystery was a pleasant surprise. Recommended. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

I received an ARC in return for an honest review.

This is a cozy mystery that was light on the story, character and plot. There were so many holes in the story, the characters were ridiculous and the plot was just......dull.

To be fair, I did read the entire book. But I did so only to see if it got better. If you like cozy mystery with a little substance than this is for you!

This book is ancillary to a series but I didn't feel like I was missing anything by not having read previous books. Mrs. Blossom, Muriel, was an assistant to an investigator, but now she's about to have an investigation of her own.
Muriel's life has turned upside down a few times recently; her husband died, the family (grandchildren) moved to Japan and left her behind, and she won the lottery. It's the last that allows her to take a fancy vacation in Europe.
On the way, she meets Allan. He seems attracted to her and, while she's shy to believe it, she is willing to vary her journey plans to stay with him. Unfortunately, the romance doesn't last long and she's back on track for the travel plans she was given. There's a young man (forties), Danny, who is following her. But his story keeps changing as to why.
Lippman explains that, in the previous books, she was accused of fatphobia based on how she described and treated Muriel. This book is... maybe bettter? She had sensitivity readers but I'm not sure how much she listened to their reviews. There's still a lot of focus on Muriel's frame.

Three and a half stars
This book came out June 17, 2025
ARC kindly provided by William Morrow and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

I really liked this book and the main character is great. I will admit the very beginning of this book had a couple of things that made this rating a 4 star instead of 5. As I got further into the book I understood why the author might have added them to show how lonely the main character is, but they still didn't seem believable to me.

Overall, the setting is great and I would read more books in a series. I haven't read anything about this book being anything other than a one off, but the author leaves space at the end for two of the characters to have more of a story.

This book is perfect for anyone who loves mystery, with non-graphic murders and a great setting.

If this book were a macaron (and given the fact that it is mostly set in France, I find that the best pastry of choice) you would want to eat it in one bite. From beginning to end this book was an absolute delight, and a breath of fresh air when it comes to the lead character Mrs Muriel Blossom. She is a woman in her 60s, full figured (with no wish to change it) and just the sort of person you'd want to solve a crime with. Her experience working with a private investigator (and as she would tell you, her age) gives her the upper hand when it comes to blending into the background.

However, when she shows up at the airport to fly to France for a river cruise along the Seine, she didn't expect her trip to have quite as much intrigue as it did, nor that her life would end up being in danger at every turn. Filled with descriptions of some of the well-known spots in Paris and stops they make along the Seine, this book will keep you guessing who is involved in the theft (and resulting murder) and who isn't.

Uh oh. I'm older than Muriel Blossom, definitively overweight and did not hate this novel just because these are parts of her she obsesses about. I enjoyed this novel as a light, fun read with a protagonist I enjoyed. Muriel won the lottery and is taking a trip to France and a river cruise on the Seine with her oldest friend. She was widowed many years ago, is in her early 60s and is way more interesting than she gives herself credit for. She once worked surveillance for Tess Monaghan. She's moving back to Baltimore after an absence to live with her daughter's family and help with her children. Her daughter and family are moving to Japan and Muriel isn't invited. The thing is, nobody out there but Muriel obsesses about her age or weight and she calls people out when they do stereotype her in some way. And frankly, this is a novel of adventure and growth. That's the whole point. While she did spend time learning about and enjoying art over many years and has an adventurous streak, Muriel hasn't had the means or imagination until now to take risks and she evolves throughout this story. I will not be a critic of a person for being rather conventional, after living a conventional adult life, yet having a past where she went clubbing and took some chances she regrets and some she loves to remember.

Muriel gets unstuck in this novel. A friendship of many years is featured. A mystery is involved. There's a lot of sleuthing and false starts and some danger along the way and this is a very pleasurable adventure with a very normal person whose life and self worth is changed by the end. Get a grip folks.

I liked this book, but I didn't love it. The atmosphere was really fun! I love being in an isolated area with a small set of characters. I wanted a stronger mystery and stronger characters. I feel like we had a lot of the mystery in the beginning and the end, but not throughout. The ending to the mystery just felt like it was all explained instead of us and the main character putting the clues together throughout. I liked our main character, but she really brought herself down a lot. It was an easy read, but unfortunately it will be forgettable to me.

Thank you to Atria and Netgalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman
Harper Collins, released June 17, 2025


What a delight! Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman is a huggable mystery. One of those books where the main character, Muriel Blossom, reminds you of someone you know and love like your mother, grandmother, older neighbor, or yourself. Muriel, a widower and recent lottery winner, decides to take a bucket list Parisian river cruise with her life long friend, Elinor. Possibly because of Muriel’s age (68), plumpness, and overall compassionate demeanor, she becomes a dupe within a crime. But, as the story unfolds, we learn that Muriel is much smarter than anyone thinks.

I had a lot of fun with this book. Laura Lippman is a seasoned mystery/detective writer with numerous awards and it shows. It is a heist turned into a murder mystery wrapped up in 270 pages. Muriel Blossom proved to be a great travel companion with her warmth, humor and wit. Mrs. Blossom hinted at being bitten by the travel bug. Yes, more Muriel Blossom adventures please. The pacing was great and I often found myself laughing out loud.

This book is a perfect book club read with themes such as aging, identity and second chances. But, this is also a fun cozy read - go ahead, allow yourself the indulgence of traveling with Mrs. Blossom. I give it five out of five stars.

Thank you Harper Collins for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Murder Takes a vacation is about Mrs. Blossom who is going on vacation with her friend. Mrs. Blossom decides to go early and explore Paris. On the plane trip she meets Allan. Allen then passes away which starts a chain of events that happens on her Parisian river cruise.

This book was okay. I just couldn't get into the characters. Mrs. Blossom too much about her weight. Every other page it felt like she was so worried about her weight, and everyone was judging her by her weight it really took away from the story. The other characters just didn't really seem like to have much of a personality in my opinion.

I did like Danny though I though he was the most interesting character in the story. I did enjoy the mystery. The story would have been more interesting if they put some of the mystery throughout the book verse telling most of the story at the end of the book.

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow Publishing for the arc copy.