William Morrow
Published June 17, 2025
Reviewed by Sharon Mensing
I so enjoyed meeting Lippman’s main character, Mrs. (Muriel) Blossom, in this France-based mystery. Some years after her husband passes on, Mrs. Blossom decides to take advantage of a windfall and bring a lifelong friend along on a cruise along the Seine. Unlike her friend, she isn’t thinking of finding a man, but she nonetheless manages to make a connection in the airport that ends up engaging her in light romance, much self-reflection, and sets off a convoluted mystery. Even though she has a background in investigation, Mrs. Blossom (who is referred to that way throughout the book) remains naïve and gullible as first a man who jumps in to help her navigate the intricacies of European travel and then a man who claims to have her better interest at heart seem to take advantage of her.