Murder Takes a Vacation

Mrs. Blossom and Elinor are very pleased with their stateroom, which is the largest on the ship, with its own balcony. Basking in its luxury, Mrs. Blossom regrets not having sex with Allan in London. She has no desire to fall in love again—not after her wonderful years with Harold—but a little romance would have made her vacation extra memorable. Strolling the ship with Elinor, she tells her friend about her encounter with Allan and his connection to a stolen statue of a bird, but she can’t bring herself to tell Elinor about his strange death. 

Checking out the ship’s opulent bar, Mrs. Blossom finds Danny there, playing backgammon. Angrily, she confronts him and demands to know why he’s still following her. He claims he joined the cruise purely for pleasure, adding innocently that she herself made it sound so “alluring” that he couldn’t resist.

Danny’s backgammon partner, an attractive, well-groomed man with a rich baritone, introduces himself as Paul Petrakis, from the wealthy community of Ardmore, Pennsylvania. Flustered by her instant attraction to him, Mrs. Blossom finds herself “blathering.” When she rejoins Elinor at the bar, her friend teases her about Paul, whom she nicknames the “Pink Panther” because of his pink sweater.