Murder Takes a Vacation: A Novel

I could see this as a movie, and I would probably like it. I liked the book as well. There’s plenty of cozy and not a lot of sleuthing or that much focus on the mystery but it still worked for me… but it would have been even better with more focus on that.

There’s plenty of talk about the MCs weight and I don’t understand why until the end of the book, in the authors note she mentions that she’s been called “ageist” and “antifat” and wanted to change that and do better, does she succeed in this? Maybe not.

The MC in the beginning especially comes across as a grandparent you worry about getting scammed, I thought she was lying when she said she had worked with a private investigator. It’s a bit unbelievable.

That said, I liked her regardless and I might give the authors other books a try.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Audio for the ALC.

This was cute, entertaining, lighthearted mystery. As much as one can be with murder involved. This was my first Laura Lippman so I didn't know until the author's note that this was a character from another series. The one thing that I found a bit annoying was how she was always talking about her weight, to everybody, even strangers. As a fat person myself I found it a bit too much. The narrator did an amazing job with the story. I found it very easy to listen to.

I'll start by saying I've read other books by Ms Lippman that I enjoyed a lot more. I wanted to like Mrs Blossom more, but was totally annoyed by the endless musings that I was skipping pages just to get thru them. I kept waiting for her to be taken advantage of, esp when she's supposed to be smart, but taking gummies from random strangers. I enoyed the descriptions and scenes of France much more than the interaction of the characters. Over all, this was just an ok read. Quick and easy, if you sped thru the dry spots.

Thanks Netgalley for the ARC.

An extra star for how much Lippman loves Mrs. Blossom.