Murder's No Match for a Mid-Life Woman -- Review of Laura Lippman's Murder Takes a Vacation

 If there’s one type of person whom others should reconsider messing with, it’s a mid-life woman who has finally, at long last, come into her own...

Take Mrs. Muriel Blossom. At 68, she’s already lived two-thirds of her life. 

 

She’s been a wife, a mother, and a working woman... and now, after nearly 40 years of marriage, she’s a retired widow.

 

She’s also the recent—and very, very lucky—holder of a winning lottery ticket, which has vastly improved the prospect of her golden years. Finally, she’ll be able to see the world... something the homebody Mr. Blossom sadly never had any inkling to do.

 

But, while Mrs. Blossom has never been one to attract a lot of attention—particularly not from the opposite sex!—she suddenly finds herself in a full-blown, real-life, torn-from-a-movie-script plotline. 

 

On a fancy cruise ship, traversing the Seine, with eligible men seemingly coming out of the woodwork [cue a deliriously-raucous rendition of “It’s raining men... hallelujah!”]... and murder.

 

Because sometimes—at least, in the hands of NYT bestselling author, Laura Lippman—Murder Takes a Vacation.

 

 

Mrs. Blossom, when pondering her first big splurge—an elegant river cruise through France—pictured things a certain way. On deck, drinking wine and cocktails with her lifelong BFF, Elinor. Taking day trips to interesting old towns along the way. Eating in charming cafes.

 

What she most definitely didn’t picture was Allan, her debonair seatmate on the plane from Baltimore to Europe... who, wonder of wonders, seemed utterly fascinated with her. (Muriel had never been what anyone apparently considered “a looker”. Well, aside from the late Mr. Blossom, of course.)

 

And even more shocking? That Muriel should find herself equally attracted to him... the first man she’d thought about in romantic terms, in the decade since she’d been widowed.

 

Yet a mere whirlwind day later—after a whole kerfuffle involving a (contraband) sleep gummy that caused her to miss her connecting flight, and instead, to spend a delightful day with him in London—the oh-so-appealing Allan is... gone.

 

Gone-gone, as in dead.

 

And Mrs. Blossom doesn’t know what to think... or where to turn for answers.

 

Certainly not the annoying—always right there, whenever she turns around—younger man, Danny... who claims to be an FBI agent, and keeps trying to grill Mrs. Blossom about what Allan was doing. (As if she would know, hmph!)

 

And not the wealthy man onboard whom Elinor is enamored of... or his elderly sister, whose cabin is robbed while she’s in it.

 

Something is definitely “going on”... but what no one understands is that it’s precisely Mrs. Blossom’s ability to fade into the background—to attract zero attention to herself—which made her, on many occasions, a useful assistant (to Baltimore P.I., Tess Monaghan)... and which may now, with some luck, give her an edge in sussing out what’s really happening.

 

Because no one messes with Mrs. Blossom—or her friends, or even her potential friends—and gets away with it. 

 

 

Have you ever read a book and instantly connected with one of the characters? Wished it were a real person, someone you could actually hang out with?

 

Mrs. Blossom is like that, for me. 

 

Sure, she’s a fair bit older than me—although closer to much-older-sister, than mother—and no, we’re not terribly similar. Our lives, our experiences, have been quite different. 

 

Yet in ways that really matter, we’re alike... because I, like Mrs. Blossom, have come storming into my own, as a mid-life woman.

 

Both are determined to find our own paths, make our own choices, and live exciting lives that please us.

 

We’re very intelligent... yet fully aware we’ll still make plenty of mistakes (which is perfectly okay). 

 

Consistently an excellent storyteller, Lippman takes a fascinating little segue from her popular Tess Monaghan private-eye series, in Murder Takes a Vacation.

 

Mrs. Blossom was only ever a minor character, an assistant Monaghan used occasionally. Innocuous, in the way that middle-aged women so often find themselves being treated.

 

Here, though, Muriel Blossom is brought to vivid, colorful life... a large (plus-size) woman, who suddenly realizes she now has the means and opportunity to live the larger life she always wanted.

 

Lippman shows great sensitivity with regard to Mrs. Blossom—we feel her fears and uncertainty, and experience some of the pain, embarrassment, and awkwardness she’s endured. [Lippman actually addresses some of this in the afterword, which was lovely to read.]

 

Is Mrs. Blossom the hot, sexy, mid-life woman bent on buying herself a whole new life (as though it were a designer wardrobe or a sports car), popular in so many books? Hardly. But she is an extremely-relatable woman that most of us—particularly in that mid-portion of life—can probably identify with.

 

And she’s pretty gosh-darn likable, to boot. (In a spunky grandmotherly sort of way... which is exactly what she is.)

 

Murder Takes a Vacation is a great little mystery, set in a picturesque locale, with an unusual heroine. If you’re looking for a surprising and fun read, this would make a fine choice. (Vacation of your own not required.)

 

~GlamKitty

[My sincere thanks to William Morrow, for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are, as always, entirely my own.]