Murder Takes A Vacation by Laura Lippman

 

Muriel Blossom had a mid-life surprise.  Walking along the street, she found a lottery ticket and it turned out to be for a huge amount of money.  Retired from her job as a private investigator, she has to decide what she will do with the rest of her life as her husband has passed and her daughter and family are moving to Japan.  Muriel buys a condo back in Baltimore, her hometown, and books a cruise, paying for her best friend to go with her.

Before the cruise, Muriel decides to treat herself to a week in Paris.  When she misses her connection to Paris in London, she is consoled by a man on the plane who spends the day with her touring London.  She wonders if this could be something for the future.  Landing in Paris, she starts sightseeing but soon realizes that someone is following her.  Why her?  She meets a younger man who tells her he is a designer and takes her shopping to do over her wardrobe.  But it turns out he is an FBI agent and the man she met in London died the next day in a fall from a balcony and is suspected of being a thief.  

Muriel and her friend start the cruise but soon her friend is eyeing a man for her fourth husband and Muriel is left on her own quite a bit.  She makes a few friends and realizes that the FBI agent (or is he?) is also on the cruise.  What has she gotten herself into?

Laura Lippman is known as one of the genre's best and most prolific authors.  Muriel is a character from her Tess Monaghan detective series as she works for Tess as a private investigator.  Lippman gets the feel of being middle-aged to elderly perfect as Muriel is able to go unnoticed when she wants to be as women become invisible as they age.  She also captures the reality of so many women having to reinvent their lives as their husbands are no longer with them, either through divorce or death.  The mystery is intriguing and the resolution is satisfying.  This book is recommended for mystery fans.