Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman

Muriel Blossom is both excited and nervous about her forthcoming vacation and cruise in France, and is charmed when a handsome man at the Baltimore airport befriends her as they are upgraded to first class. Since her husband died, she hasn’t looked at another man, but Allan is outgoing and attentive. When it seems as if she won’t make her connection at Heathrow, he insists she accompany him to London to spend the day, helps her get a hotel room, and book the Eurostar for the next day.

He expresses admiration that she is traveling alone (in fact, her best friend is meeting her in Paris) and even quotes Kipling:

“Down to Gehenna, up to the Throne.
He travels the fastest who travels alone.”

Buoyed by his praise, she decided not to admit that she recognized the poem only because it was quoted in a favorite children’s book that she still reread from time to time. A story, as it happened, about a young woman embarking on her first European trip.

Well, you can imagine how pleased I was to hear this allusion to Betsy and the Great World as I was driving along! Lippman is a Betsy-Tacy fan and often provides a subtle mention in her books.

Muriel is still thinking about Allan and the lovely day she spent with him when she is on the train to Paris the next day. After she settles into her hotel and goes out to dinner, she runs into an American who had been on her train, Danny Johnson, who says he is a stylist and offers to help her improve her wardrobe (which she declines, repeatedly). But he walks her back to the hotel where the police are waiting, to tell her that Allan is dead, fallen from a hotel balcony and a text she sent him one of the only clues.

As Muriel tries to enjoy her much-anticipated vacation, without worrying her friend Elinor, strange things happen. Her room is searched repeatedly. Danny keeps turning up. And worst of all, she has to wonder if Allan was genuinely interested in her or using her for some sinister purpose.

This is a lighter and more amusing mystery than the last few I have read from Lippman, and I have to admit I prefer it to her more noir style. Mrs. Blossom once worked as a receptionist for Tess Monaghan, the Baltimore reporter turned private investigator who features in Lippman’s mystery series (and appears briefly in this book, by phone), and explains she was good at the occasional surveillance assignment because middle-aged women are invisible. She has been adjusting to life as a widow after devoting herself to her husband and daughter, and she is an appealing character who usually manages to see the humor in everything – except murder! Lippman depicts her as warm and curious but also vulnerable (it was especially realistic how disappointed Mrs. Blossom was when Elinor started spending all her time with one of the ship’s passengers, although she tried to be glad for her friend's romance); Mrs. Blossom is more trusting than the experienced reader but she is ultimately the one who puts together the clues. 

This was an amusing story about an ordinary person who finds herself in the middle of an international mystery. Given the recent popularity of senior sleuths, as evidenced by the popularity of The Thursday Murder Club, The Spy Coast, Killers of a Certain Age, The Night in Question and, of course, the ongoing appeal of Miss Marple and Mrs. Pollifax, I think we can safely assume there will be more books about Mrs. Blossom and Danny. 

This is my first book of the year for the 2026 Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge.

Title: Murder Takes a Vacation
Author: Laura Lippman
Narrator: Kimberly Farr
Publication: Harper Audio, 2025
Genre: Mystery
Source: Library