According to Laura Lippman, Mrs. Muriel Blossom first appeared in the novel Another Thing to Fall in 2008. Lippman admits readers occasionally called her out for being ageist and anti-fat when it came to Mrs. Blossom, who did surveillance for PI Tess Monaghan at one point. In Murder Takes a Vacation, Lippman makes it up to Mrs. Blossom, giving her a mystery, an adventure, and an exotic trip.
When Mrs. Blossom found a winning lottery ticket in a parking lot, she wisely invested most of it, but also invited her best friend Elinor to take a Seine River cruise with her. Before she met up with Elinor, though, she met a man named Allan Turner on her flight to London. When she missed her connecting flight to Paris, Allan helped Mrs. Blossom find a hotel, and make future travel arrangements to catch up with her tour. She had a brief romantic fantasy before he disappeared from her life.. She didn’t expect Allan to be found dead in Paris since he was supposed to be working in London.
It’s a young man, Danny Johnson, who claims to be an FBI agent hunting for a missing Pakistani antiquity who suggests Allan may have planted something on Mrs. Blossom. Mrs. Blossom doesn’t quite trust him, though, and she suspects his glib stories might hide a lie or two. Once she and Elinor catch up on the river cruise, though, she begins to suspect there’s more to Allan’s death and Danny’s questions than appear on the surface.
Lippman reintroduces us to a wonderful character in Mrs. Blossom. She still mourns her husband who died ten years learlier. She’s only now learning to travel and live on her own, thanks to that lottery win. Elinor warns her, though, that she’s “in danger of letting her life grow smaller.” Lippman’s characters are well-rounded, including the villain of the piece. It’s Mrs. Blossom, though, who stands out as she tries to build “a life worth living”.
Laura Lippman’s website is https://lauralippman.com/
Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman. William Morrow, 2025 ISBN 9780062998101 (hardcover), 272p.
FTC Full Disclosure – I received a galley through NetGalley from the publisher, with no promise of anything except an honest review.
I liked this book, and Mrs. Blossom, quite a lot. Laura tells me we will take another trip or two with Mrs. Blossom and I look forward to them.
Oh, me, too, Kaye! I’m glad Mrs. Blossom will be back.
You have me intrigued Lesa. You not only kept up with the Thursday comments, you finished a book and wrote a review. I’ll take that as a thumbs up for this book.
It is a thumbs up, MM. I really liked Mrs. Blossom.
I’m looking forward to reading this one and glad Lippman is giving Mrs. Blossom her moment in the sun. Thanks for the preview, Lesa!
You’re welcome, Kate. I think release date is Tuesday.
Lesa, accidentally deleted your July reading list. Can you resend it to me?
Carol, I sent it to you via email. If you don’t get it, you might need to send me your email address.
This book is on my list. I like the main character and the Paris setting!
Harvee, I never read enough of Laura Lippman’s Tess books to get to know Mrs. Blossom. But, I liked this one, and I liked her.