Bestselling mystery author Laura Lippman is back with a terrific summer read. Anyone planning a vacation to London and Paris, including a scenic river cruise down the Seine, should pack this book to enjoy along the way.
Muriel Blossom lost her husband, Harold, ten years ago. After his death, she moved from Baltimore to Arizona to be near her daughter’s family. Her son-in-law is being transferred to Tokyo and Muriel has not been invited to come along. Feeling alone and abandoned, she’s moving back to Baltimore.
Except for a few blips, Muriel’s marriage was a happy one. Harold was a good provider and money manager, so he left Muriel financially secure. But her bank account doesn’t allow for lavish trips. A rainy stroll through a shopping center parking lot changes that. Muriel finds an old lottery ticket and when she checks, it’s a winner. Now eight million dollars richer, Muriel plans to take that vacation she’s always dreamt about – a river cruise down the Seine. Still uneasy about traveling alone, she invites her best friend, Elinor, to meet her in Paris.
Muriel, now in her sixties, has always been self conscious about her plus-size body, especially when traveling by plane and forced into that tight middle seat. Checking in for the first leg of her trip to London, the ticket agent offers to upgrade her to business class. Alan, a silver-haired gentleman also sitting in business class, takes Muriel under his wing, offering to show her to the airport lounge and then the gate. An experienced international traveler, Allan advises Muriel to pass on the airport meal and go right to sleep. He gives her a bottle of melatonin gummies, encouraging her to take one. It does the trick and Muriel sleeps soundly during the long flight.
When Muriel wakes up, Allan tells her they’ve arrived late at Heathrow and she won’t make her connection to Paris. He offers to pay for her room at the St. Pancras Hotel where he will be staying. More than that, he plans a full day of sightseeing in London.
Muriel has been lonely for companionship since Harold’s death and is flattered by Allan’s attention. They even share a kiss. Allan confesses that the gummy he gave her was cannabis, but swears the other gummies in the bottle are melatonin. Muriel hides the gummies in the false bottom of her pill case, along with her diamond studs, an anniversary gift from Harold. Alan insists on staying in Muriel’s room until she falls asleep. He promises to take her to the train station in the morning where she will travel on the Chunnel to Paris.
Since Allan lives near Muriel in Maryland, he proposes they meet for dinner when back in the states. Muriel never expected to meet someone on the trip and is excited about seeing Allan again. When she arrives in Paris, she sends him a text thanking him for such a nice day in London. He never answers and when the police show up at her Paris hotel, she learns that he’s dead. An accident, the police claim, saying Allan fell from his hotel’s balcony.
Allan isn’t the last man to pay attention to Muriel. She soon notices another gentleman who seems to be following her. Danny tells her he’s a stylist and offers to take her shopping and upgrade her style. Danny’s ideas about how a few changes will make all the difference in her appearance, makes it hard for her to resist. Danny may have great style, but he’s not a professional stylist. He confesses he’s an FBI agent on the trail of a stolen artifact that he suspects Allan had in his possession.
Muriel used to work for Baltimore PI Tess Monaghan, but realizes she’s over her head in what could be a dangerous situation. Tess gives her some help, but Muriel will be on her own. Elinor meets her in Paris, but Muriel decides not to alarm her friend with what’s been going on. As far as Elinor is concerned, she’s more focused on finding her fifth husband, and soon attracts the attention of Marko, who is traveling with his invalid sister, Pat. When Danny shows up on the cruise, Muriel realizes this cruise is not going to be the relaxing vacation she had planned. With no one she can trust and can’t even count on Elinor, Muriel must lean on what she’s learned from Tess to find out why she has become the focus of so much attention.
Like Lippman’s Tess, Muriel is an appealing character. And it’s nice to find the focus on a woman who is older, trying to find a new life after losing her husband. Despite her size, Muriel can keep pace with the younger people on the tour, easily taking hikes and climbing stairs in a tower. And while she’s pleased with male attention, she’s no one’s fool and soon solves the mystery of the missing artifact.
We can’t wait to see where Muriel travels to next.
Murder Takes a Vacation
Laura Lippman
Top photo: Bigstock
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