I do like Laura Lippman, but it's a good while since I've read any of her books. Murder Takes a Vacation is essentially an engagingly old-fashioned crime caper involving a stolen artefact and precious stones. At the unexpected centre, and the undoubted highlight of the story, is the utterly delightful Muriel Blossom, a sixty-something widow from Baltimore, embarking on her first ever overseas trip.

With her daughter and grandchildren moving to Japan - with no place for Mrs Blossom - and her beloved husband Harold ten years dead, life is looking a bit empty. On the positive side, money - rather a lot of it - has surprisingly arrived. So why not spend some on a spot of international travel?

Mrs Blossom's adventure takes her from Baltimore to London to Paris to a river cruise, both alone and with her oldest friend Elinor (who's on the lookout for husband number 4), encountering various people including some charming older men who may or may not be trustworthy...

Mrs Blossom is a larger lady, and her references to and reflections on this recalled the "traditionally-built" Mma Ramotswe of No 1 Ladies Detective Agency fame. (Actually, a Blossom/Ramotswe partnership would be a definite force to be reckoned with.)

This definitely feels like a series - let's hope so.

In Murder Takes a Vacation, we join Muriel Blossom, the 68 year old American widower and grandmother on her first trip out of the US, to have a French river cruise on the Seine after finding a rogue lottery ticket and winning big.

She is introduced to handsome stranger, Allan, who helps her deal with flights and starts her holiday with a little bit of romance.

We later find that Mrs Blossom has inadvertently placed herself in the middle of an international art theft plot, and maybe her friends aren’t as trustworthy as her good nature is tinting her view of them.

I liked this book, as it was a broad side step from the other books about older folks solving crime, focusing on the loss of loved ones, the loss of identity we can sometimes feel whilst travelling to a new place, and the solidity of life long friendships.

I hope we see more of Mrs Blossom in the future, even just to see she gets the happiness I firmly believe she is owed!

I'm sadly disappointed with this. I was really hoping I'd love it as I love an elderly sleuth and I feel I would've if our mc didn't spend most of the story speaking about her weight and age. The premise of this was exciting an elderly ladies first time out of the country and she ends up embroiled in a mystery but it fell kind of flat for me. There wasn't much to the mystery element either. I feel there will be many people that do enjoy this though.

In Murder Takes a Vacation, Laura Lippman brings supporting character Muriel Blossom—familiar to fans of the Tess Monaghan series—into the spotlight with warmth, humor, and a touch of melancholy. What begins as a long-overdue Parisian holiday quickly turns into an unexpected mystery when Muriel's charming airplane seatmate turns up dead just a day after they part ways. With a supposed FBI agent now trailing her and whispers of a stolen artifact surfacing, Muriel is reluctantly pulled back into investigative mode.

Lippman excels at creating grounded, human characters, and Muriel Blossom is no exception. A middle-aged widow with a past as a private investigator, Muriel is smart, self-deprecating, and quietly observant. Her self-esteem struggles and discomfort with how others perceive her body are woven into the narrative, sometimes to excess. While some readers may find the frequent emphasis on her weight frustrating, others might see it as a realistic portrayal of how Muriel navigates a world that often underestimates her.

The mystery itself is cozy yet layered—perhaps slightly overcomplicated in places—but it remains engaging thanks to the strength of Muriel's voice and the lively cast of supporting characters she encounters on her river cruise. Though the final twist may not surprise seasoned mystery readers, the emotional payoff and character development make it worthwhile.

A gentle, satisfying mystery with heart—perfect for fans of character-focused crime fiction who believe the genre still has room for joy between the murders.

Thank you, NetGalley & the publisher, for approving me to read this arc and write this review

I have always enjoyed books by this author, but this is probably my favourite. You wouldn’t exactly call it cosy crime, but it’s very close. I so hope this is the beginning of a series about Mrs Blossom as she has wandered her way into my heart.

Murder Takes A Vacation is a new book from Laura Lippman that focuses on a character, Mrs Blossom, who is on a trip to France for a river cruise in the Paris region. Though various circumstances, she gets involved in a search for a missing statue which is clearly much sought after. A gentler book than I was expecting (or hoping for), it is more river cruise travelogue than murder mystery, and the constant use of the character name of Mrs Blossom rather than Muriel felt irritating and unnecessary, and didn't serve a purpose. The regular remarks about her size, from her character, also wore a little thin too. Not bad, but don't expect lots of fast paced action or shocking twists!

After winning the lottery, Mrs Blossom takes a holiday in Murder Takes a Vacation (2025) by Laura Lippman. Flying from Baltimore to London, then Paris, Muriel Blossom joins her childhood friend on the cruise ship MS Survival. Muriel meets a young man, supposedly working for the FBI tracking down a stolen artifact and who seems to follow her everywhere. As she enjoys the sights of Europe and potential romances, Muriel gets caught up in a game of subterfuge, that climaxes in a dangerous finale. Supposedly the beginning of a new mystery series, it’s more a gentle travelogue, with a somewhat naïve protagonist and lacking sufficient crime credibility. Overall, an enjoyable enough crime-lite tale that is a three star rating. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own, freely given and without any inducement. With thanks to Faber and Faber Ltd and the author for an uncorrected advanced review copy for review purposes.

I loved every single thing about this book. Mrs Blossom is the most glorious protagonist! The novel is set after Mrs Blossom has won a lottery ticket. She has come to France to enjoy a cruise down the Seine with her best friend. Unused to travel, Mrs Blossom makes friends with a called Allan on the flight over. At first, she thinks romance is in the air but this dream is rapidly quashed when Allan is found dead in a Paris hotel. What follows is a joyous romp of a crime novel packed full of brilliant characters. The plot is fabulous, the setting is dreamy but more than anything what makes this book work is Mrs Blossom herself. She is a brilliant creation and I very much hope we will meet her (and Danny) again in future novels. Thank you to the author and publisher for a wonderful read!

mrs blossoms life is about to change after she finds a winning lottery ticket. she is going to take that trip. and what a trip she is about to take!
on the plan at the beginning of her trip to Europe she meets Allan. the sparks fly and his interest in her is mutual from her side. this means something as it is the first time since she lost her husband. they plan to get in touch again after the flight but this is put a sunder when the Police inform her that Allan is dead.
and now so many people seem to be interested in her. was it Allan or something about him that kicked this off? most of her unease seems to be coming from a man called Danny. this man seems to just keep being there. especially when things go awry.
this was a cosy mystery with the added bonus of a great character to follow. then how through no fault of her own and a chance meeting events take over her own choices. shes in the middle of this thing with no idea why or what people even think she has to do with it!
the pacing was great and it felt like we were on this little adventure of our own alongside Mrs Blossom and trying to figure out how the pieces fit together.
the humour and witty flow to this book was something that always gives these kind of books that lovely edge to it.

I really wanted to enjoy this book, as an avid reader of Agatha Christie and cosy mysteries the vibe that the blurb sold was one just for me.

Unfortunately I don't think the book held up to my expectations. Some of the dialogue is stunted and feels heavily scripted and not all plot lines are finished off in a polished way. Whilst I understand what the author was trying to do with mentioning that the main character is plus size, the sheer amount of times it is mentioned fails to hit the "body-positive" vibe I think it was going for and has transformed into what felt like a fixation on weight.

Thank you to NetGalley and Faber & Faber for the advanced copy.

Sometimes, especially with crime fiction, we can forget to find the joy in life between the murders. Laura Lippman's latest novel, spinning off her excellent Tess Monaghan mysteries, focusses on supporting character, Mrs Blossom, who has assisted Tess in several investigations.

Older, unassuming and resolutely proud of her ability to fade into the background, Muriel Blossom isn't someone who takes chances. But when she wins the lottery, she decides to take an unexpected vacation -- spending a week by herself in Paris before joining her best friend on a cruise. She deserves it after all, especially after the death of her husband. But when she meets a man who sparks something in her, she wonders if this vacation could take an unexpected turn. And it does... when the man she meets falls from his hotel balcony. But is his death an accident or something more mysterious? And why has an allegedly undercover FBI agent wound up following her on her cruise? It's time for Mrs Blossom to embrace what the younger generations refer to as "main character energy" if she wants to unravel the truth behind these events...

Although "cosy" mysteries are often dismissed, there's a real charm to crime novels that run at a relatively gentle pace and feature characters whose essence is one of decency. Mrs Blossom is decidedly a "decent" character, and we come to love for her for that as much as for her issues with self esteem that have perhaps stood in the way of her being able to move on since the death of her husband. The central mystery is a little overly complex, perhaps, but what really matters is the interaction between Mrs Blossom and the various characters and situations she encounters... and here is where Lippman's genius lies... she truly brings her worlds to life, and makes you care about the people in them. And she knows what makes for a compelling hook, too. We're invested in the mystery because we're invested in Muriel Blossom. Lippman claims in her afterword that she wanted to take a character who had been underused and even misunderstood in her Tess Monaghan books and show her in a new and unexpected light... and she more than does that here. Frankly, I'd follow Muriel Blossom almost anywhere, and I think that readers will agree with me... An absolute joy of a mystery novel from a master of all aspects of the genre!

Murder Takes a Vacation was an interesting summer mystery. Reading Lippman's acknowledgements was insightful to the character of Mrs. Blossom and her focus on her weight. However, it felt extremely distracting to the plot and frustrating that she didn't love herself. Her interaction with Allan was the best part, so that's very frustrating (without spoiling anything). Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to review this book. As a fan of Sunburn, I was hoping for a bit more darkness or intrigue for this story.

So Mrs Blossom from Baltimore arranges to go on a cruise trip from Paris with her friend, Elinor.

Mrs Blossom is a widow in her late 60's, and, to put a not too fine a point on it, fat. She also seems to have lived à somewhat sheltered life, but did come into money after being lucky with a found lottery ticket. And Mrs Blossom seems to attract attention. There is the gallant silver fox who fusses over her on her flight to Paris, helping her with her luggage, even watching over her as she sleeps in her hotel room. Romance appears to be in the stars until news comes in that he hasunaccountably dies.... ...

Enter abrasive Danny., who also seems unable to leave Mrs Blossom to her own devices. .Ny now Mrs Blossom is beginning to suspect that she is being followed, her hotel room whilst Danny suspects that she may be embroiled in danger. Has she had something planted on her? And is Danny telling her the whole truth about his search for a stolen artifact?

The action then follows Mrs Blossom onto the cruise ship that sails out from Paris, and she and her friend find themselves surrounded by a new circle of friends and acquaintances.

Mrs Blossom's eyes are opened to a new world of fashion and more possible romance - only this time, she finds herself playing gooseberry to her friend. But danger is still around her, and she must get to apply her analytical skills to the max, to find out where the true villains are, and what they are really after.

This does work as an old-fashioned whodunnit, and may appeal to those who have already enjoyed such tales. Mrs Blossom is an unlikely heroine, as as a sleuth she can be quite unworldy. No doubt her character arc will take her into new adventures to come too.

An Acerbic Bite..
A cosy mystery with a sharp acerbic bite in the first of the Mrs Blossom series of mysteries in which she takes a vacation. Determined to see the world she embarks upon a cruise down the Seine - whilst this sounds like a most serene and idyllic way to pass the time, this trip is nothing less than eventful. With one man dead, a precious artefact missing and a complete stranger advising her that her very life is in danger, who on earth can she trust? Perhaps it’s time to trust herself - after all, she’s one investigator that no one will notice coming. Well crafted with a delicious protagonist, a cast of eclectic characters and a frothy plot.

First of all thank you for approving my request!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! The authors writing style had me hooked throughout this book.

I didn't want it to end, a book I really couldn't put down.

Laura Lippman, Murder Takes a Vacation,
A Mrs Blossom Mystery, Faber and Faber Ltd, August 2025.

Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with this uncorrected proof for review.

Mrs Blossom holds the fears of many whose route to the back of a plane is accompanied by the overwhelming feeling that they will not be welcome in the tiny space to be shared with other passengers. On this occasion, arriving early at check in as usual, she is rewarded with an upgrade. Her unfamiliar feeling of wellbeing on a plane is enhanced by her meeting with handsome and caring fellow passenger. However, this will be the last time she is afforded such a comfortable state of mind. The flight lands in Heathrow too late for her to make her connection to a Paris where she is to join her friend to cruise through France.

Muriel Blossom is a wonderful character with her amalgam of fears about her appearance and age, her robust willingness to put her detection skills to use and her interactions with the people she meets. At times she inclined to think the worst of them; at others she is keen to befriend a fellow traveller. At the same time as she is interacting with new acquaintances, her friendship with the multiple marrying Elinor is joyful, accepting and warm, painting this relationship as ideal, depicting everything a woman’s friendship should be.

There is enough ‘bite’ in this novel to avoid it being a ‘cozy’ mystery. Laura Lippman has brought Mrs Blossom, female friendships, humour, detection and intrigue together to make an extremely satisfying read. As in Dream Girl (2021) Lipmann’s Tess Monaghan takes second place to a new character and story line. Murder Takes a Vacation poses a successful interaction with Lippman’s famous character and a secondary character from Another Thing to Fall (2008). Lippmann’s ability to deliver a plot that, while providing only glimpses of Tess Monaghan, is again triumphant.

I was really disappointed with this, having always enjoyed Laura Lippman before, I found this book to be very twee and slow. It felt like a chore finishing it.

Cozy mystery. Perfect for picking up and putting down over the summer months. Older protagonist. If you liked the authors previous works you will like this.

Mrs Blossom's lottery win has taken her to unexpected places. Or rather, it is perfectly reasonable for her to be spending some of her wins on a luxury cruise but she encounters during that time is decidedly unexpected.

Travelling down the Seine, you're pretty much guaranteed great food and charming spots to visit, but you probably would not expect to come across artefact theft or imminent danger.

Luckily, Mrs Blossom isn't just a nice lady who happens to be a grandmother. She also has a sharp mind and an ability to blend into the background that can prove very useful indeed on occasions such as this...

Murder Takes a Vacation is something of a departure from Laura Lippman's useful dark, mysterious thrillers, but it will certainly appeal to aficionados of cosy crime. My reading preferences fit better into the first category, but this was an enjoyable read, and gets 3.5 stars.

I suppose you could say that Murder Takes A Vacation fits into the genre of senior-led, cosy crime that is so popular at the moment, so it behoves me to say that far from being a craven example of jumping on a bandwagon, Mrs Blossom has been around since Laura Lippman's 2008 novel, Another Thing To Fall. Lippman is always a must-read for me, and her Tess Monaghan series is one I return to time and again, so I was delighted to learn that her new book featured Mrs Blossom, one of my favourite minor characters from that series.

Murder Takes A Vacation is certainly a departure (no pun intended) from Lippman's usual books, most obviously in the choice of setting, as although Baltimore features briefly at the very start and end of the novel, most of the action takes place in France, with a short diversion to London on the way. The tone maintains the touches of humour found in the Monaghan series, but Muriel Blossom is a less cynical character than Tess (although woe betide anyone who assumes that because Mrs Blossom is (by her own description) fat and old, that she is also simple minded or incompetent).

I absolutely loved the book, and think it will appeal to fans of Richard Osman, Robert Thorogood and Deanna Raybourn's Killers of a Certain Age. Meanwhile, I'm holding out hope that, with Mrs Blossom firmly back in Baltimore and multiple mentions of Tess, that the next Lippman might finally be another Tess Monaghan book - perhaps a two-hander with Mrs Blossom as co-investigator?