Murder Takes a Vacation

Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman (2025) 261 pages

Mrs. Blossom has been widowed 10 years. After she happens to find a winning lottery ticket on the ground, she decides to take a riverboat cruise that originates in Paris. Mrs. Blossom is a large woman who doesn't expect to find romance in her life again, but on her flight to London, she meets Allan, who helps her with logistics and sits near her on the plane. He helps her when she can't make her next flight to Paris, getting her situated on a train the next day, instead. She's starting to swoon over the man, surprising herself. When Allan is found dead, the police find Mrs. Blossom because he had taken a photo of her that he apparently shared with someone via text. Meanwhile, because her last employment was following people for a private detective, she notices that she is being followed. She confronts the guy whom she keeps seeing (Danny) and it's not really clear who he is and whether he can be trusted, especially when he ends up taking the same riverboat cruise that she's on. All she knows is that he tells a story of an antiquity that disappeared long ago that may have some connection to Allan. And that he has a good eye for clothing.

So who was Allan and why did he die? Who is Danny really? And why did her room get searched in Paris, and again on the riverboat? She can't find anything that Allan might have slipped into her luggage.

The novel is a fast read, with characters that resist being pigeon-holed. Mrs. Blossom is a character in Lipmann's Tess Monaghan series. I haven't read any of that series, but it didn't get in the way of enjoying this book.