Tess Monaghan. Can’t help a smile from appearing on your face. This is one of those characters that just light up a scene. Laura Lippmann has done a miraculous job of keeping her current and candidly one of the best investigative characters in literature. Muriel Blossom, AKA Mrs. Blossom is a delight. Self-effacing. Humorous and yet ignorant of that trait. In trust, Mrs. Blossom sees herself as invisible. Seeing herself as a large woman Mrs. Blossom has spent most of her life trying to find a place. Happily married for many years until her husband’s death was the one time she felt loved. In MURDER TAKES A VACATION we are introduced to an interesting cast. Some truly crucial to the story which evolves around the disappearance of a statue of a bird. Decidedly valuable. At times it is hard to ferret out the possibility that we are surrounded by folks with evil intent. Dialog is smooth, classic, humorous, and pointed. Again another talent of Laura Lippmann. If she writes it, it is important. One of the things I love most in any story. Which is why anything penned by this prolific author appears on my bookshelf. So we find ourselves on a vacation with Mrs. Blossom and her best friend Elinor. Touring France. Going on a French river cruise. Shopping, and dining. All these things were easily checked off. But in the background, there are some possibly unsavory characters looking to get their grubby hands on that missing statue. So along with touring our Mrs. Blossom is going to be investigating with the unrequested help of several people. Keep in mind that Mrs. Blossom has been known to be an assistant of sorts to Tess Monaghan on a case. Her greatest talent has always been her ability to be unnoticed. But now in MURDER TAKES A VACATION Mrs. Blossom is center stage to all the activity. A page-turner from start to finish, MURDER TAKES A VACATION, is a delightful read. Quite the perfect beach read for this season. Laura Lippmann’s turn of a sort of Murder on the Orient Express.
Highly acclaimed New York Times bestselling author 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 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?
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