An aging widow's European river cruise turns deadly in 'Murder Takes a Vacation'

Muriel Blossom began her fictional career as a minor character in 2008, serving as an assistant to private detective Tess Monaghan, the protagonist in twelve of Laura Lippman's fine crime novels.

Over the years, she proved valuable to Tess, excellent at surveillance because of an uncanny ability to blend into the background. But now, in "Murder Takes a Vacation," Mrs. Blossom, as she is always called, gets her star turn.

"She was a large woman," Lippman writes. "OK, fine. She was fat." But Mrs. Blossom is comfortable with her body although she occasionally feels self-conscious when she senses others are judging her.

She is in her late 60s now, widowed and a grandmother, but thanks to a winning lottery ticket she found in a parking lot, she has money for the first time in her life. One of the things she does with it is take her first trip to Europe.

On the cross-Atlantic flight, and again when she reaches Paris, younger men begin showing Mrs. Blossom a great deal of attention. She rather likes this, although she wonders if they might be after her money. But soon, after she boards the cruise ship to tour the Seine, she becomes aware that she is being followed. Eventually her stateroom is ransacked and a stranger tries to mug her.

To explain why would reveal too much of the story. Suffice it to say that Mrs. Blossom unwittingly gets caught up in something nefarious involving a jewel-encrusted bird that will remind readers of "The Maltese Falcon." And like Sam Spade, she has the strength and guile to deal with it.

Lippman's crime novels are often gritty and street-smart, but in this funny, charming cozy about Mrs. Blossom's vacation, both the prose and the plot are playful.

"As someone who often writes about terrible people," she says in her author's note, "I loved every minute I spent with Muriel Blossom."

Associated Press