Book Review for Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman

 

Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman

Published: June 17, 2025 by William Morrow

Genre:  Cozy Mystery

Taken from Goodreads: Highly acclaimed New York Times bestseller 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 is not the kind of woman to play the lottery. She is practical, a devoted grandmother, and has a knack for blending into the background, which was an asset during her days assisting private investigator Tess Monaghan. But when Mrs. Blossom finds a winning ticket in a parking lot, everything changes...including Mrs. Blossom. She is determined to see the world that sometimes feels as if it’s passing her by.

But 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 new, mystifying man, Danny, keeps popping up around every corner, always present when things go awry. He claims that Allan was involved in the transport of a stolen, precious piece of art, and he’s convinced that Mrs. Blossom knows more than she lets on, regarding both the artifact and Allan’s murder.

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?

What follows is a charming one-of-a-kind mystery from one of Time magazine’s “essential crime writers of the last 100 years.” The perfect combination of cozy and thrilling, this novel and the delightful Mrs. Blossom are sure to be unforgettable.

My Thoughts:  A cozy mystery is the perfect description for this book.   Mrs. Blossom (which is how she is referred to throughout the book) wins the lottery and plans a vacation.  On this vacation she meets numerous men who all flirt with her and/or end of dead.   What is going on?   

Murder Takes a Vacation is a quick and easy book to read.   The story moved along quickly with the various characters being quirky and fun.   The various locations in Europe were fun, as someone who has never been I could experience a firsthand look through Mrs. Blossom’s tours and adventures.  

This book is perfect for someone looking for an easy to follow who-dun-it story.   The ending is unexpected and perfect.   

Thank you William Morrow for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

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Meet the Author (taken from her website):  Laura Lippman was a reporter for twenty years, including twelve years at The (Baltimore) Sun. She began writing novels while working fulltime and published seven books about “accidental PI” Tess Monaghan before leaving daily journalism in 2025. Her work has been awarded the Edgar ®, the Anthony, the Agatha, the Shamus, the Nero Wolfe, Gumshoe and Barry awards. She also has been nominated for other prizes in the crime fiction field, including the Hammett and the Macavity. She was the first-ever recipient of the Mayor’s Prize for Literary Excellence and the first genre writer recognized as Author of the Year by the Maryland Library Association.

Ms. Lippman grew up in Baltimore and attended city schools through ninth grade. After graduating from Wilde Lake High School in Columbia, Md., Ms. Lippman attended Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Her other newspaper jobs included the Waco Tribune-Herald and the San Antonio Light.

Ms. Lippman returned to Baltimore in 1989 and has lived there since. She is the daughter of Theo Lippman Jr., a Sun editorial writer who retired in 1995 but continues to freelance for several newspapers, and Madeline Mabry Lippman, a former Baltimore City school librarian. Her sister, Susan, is a local bookseller.