Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman Book Review

About the Book:

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?

My Review:

This novel was different than I expected from Lippman. Mrs. Blossom is an interesting character and she is certainly brought to life in this novel, fully developed. While she is a nice woman, she is rather naive, accepting someone as a federal agent without even asking for proper verification.

The plot is not what I expected. There is a death after a while, but life goes on for Mrs. Blossom. There is no amateur sleuth investigation going on, just more about her weight and age. Lots about her weight and age.

In the end, there does seem to be an actual plot and a resolution but this novel is more of a character study than it is a cozy mystery.

My rating: 3/5 stars.

About the Author:

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.

William Morrow, 272 pages.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher, My comments are an independent review.

(My star ratings: 5-I love it, 4-I like it, 3-It's OK, 2-I don't like it, 1-I hate it.)