59 pages • 1-hour read
Murder Takes a Vacation
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Symbols & Motifs
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of emotional abuse, physical abuse, ableism, and disordered eating.
Food
Food and eating figure intricately in the novel, a motif that functions both as a force of attraction between characters and as a determinant in their lives, supporting the theme of The Personal Impact of Societal Prejudices About Weight. The protagonist, Mrs. Blossom, has a complicated relationship with food since her mother, an “aggressively thin” woman, traumatized her with enforced and always unsuccessful diets, telling her that no man could truly love a “fat woman.” However, food has also served as a good omen in her life: As a child, a lucky guess won her a big jar of candy, and in late middle age, a visit to a convenience store to buy a Coke led to her finding a discarded lottery ticket worth $8.75 million. She even describes this windfall as a “cantaloupe on top of a sundae,” or finding the golden ticket in a “Wonka bar” (28).
Throughout the novel, food also serves as a catalyst for friendship, danger, and epiphany: Over meals on the MS Solitaire, Mrs. Blossom bonds with the eligible Paul Paterakis, who later invites her to dine with him at his hotel in Paris. Likewise, her gasp of pleasure at tasting an amuse-bouche alerts her to the presence of Danny Johnson, who later becomes her friend and protector. However, other food-centered acquaintanceships end less well: Pat Siemen, a fellow cruise passenger who puts Mrs. Blossom at ease with her affection for “macaroni and cheese, and ice cream […] in a cone” (121), turns out to be the story’s villain; and Michael Calista, who wooed Mrs. Blossom over “soft serve” at a snowball stand, represents the biggest regret of her life. The novel’s last scene is at Le Comptoir du Vin, a fine Baltimore restaurant where she was to have dined with the late Allan Turner; it is here that Danny, at her request, opens her “fortune cookie,” the locket containing her husband’s last message to her. Finally at ease with her past, her new independence, and her body, Mrs. Blossom can indulge her appetite for life with no regrets.
Clothing
In the novel, Danny Johnson tells Mrs. Blossom that fashion is much more than window dressing: “Clothes are powerful. They tell stories” (59). Clothing and fashion act as a motif that helps tell the story of Murder Takes a Vacation, offering insight into the protagonist’s self-image, inner life, and the strange intrigue that engulfs her, like one of the exotic caftans Danny urges her to wear. Mrs. Blossom initially gives little thought to what she wears, to the point that Danny tells her that she’s “trying not to be seen” (60), but she shows a keen sense of others’ clothes and fashion choices. For instance, her notice of Danny’s “subtle plaid suit and fashion-forward glasses […] with gold details” allows her to recognize him as following her (24), leading to their first meeting. Similarly, at her Paris hotel, she realizes that the bellman is not what he seems by his uniform, which “wasn’t quite right” (82). Her trust in Danny stems from his feel for fashion and her sense that he “sees” her, even if others do not.
However, her sensitivity to clothing misleads her as well. Much of her respect and affection for Pat Siemen owe to her effortlessly “resplendent” fashions that evoke an “old money” elegance that leaves Mrs. Blossom awestruck. Flattered by such a fashionable woman’s attention, Mrs. Blossom never suspects that Pat’s warmth and perfect clothes conceal a criminal, contributing to the theme of The Power of Subverting Expectations. Pat’s lover Marko also has a taste for luxurious clothing, including baseball caps that cost thousands of dollars. Mrs. Blossom notes that he looks “dapper” even after being pulled out of a river and realizes that fashion sense is no guarantee of a moral compass.
As the novel progresses, Mrs. Blossom, tired of not being “seen,” avails herself of Danny’s and Cece’s fashion advice, putting her hair in a chignon and incorporating their style tips (chic sunglasses, black chiffon pants, etc.) into her daily wardrobe. Reflecting her new self-confidence from outwitting the story’s villains, her eye-catching fashions also signal her readiness to be admired—and desired—for the first time in a decade. Her world can now be filled “corner to corner with whatever colors she chose” (257), and that goes for her clothing as well.
Lies and Deception
Despite Danny’s claim that everyone judges “books by their covers” (59), in the world of Lippman’s mystery novel, few things (or people) can be taken at face value, and lies and deception run as a motif throughout the novel that contributes to the theme of the power of subverting expectations. Danny lies constantly to Mrs. Blossom, claiming at first to be a professional stylist, then an FBI agent on an international mission, then a private investigator for an insurance company. In Paris, Danny attempts to have her luggage searched by an accomplice who masquerades as a bellman. Danny also lies to the police, right in front of her, about being her “son.” His ever-shifting cover stories keep Mrs. Blossom continually off-balance, causing her to suspect Danny of being a “garden-variety thief” and obstructing their partnership.
However, a much greater deceiver is Allan Turner, a smooth-talking lawyer she meets at the airport. Surreptitiously drugging her to make her miss her connection flight, Allan tricks her into smuggling stolen jewels into Paris by telling her they’re melatonin gummies. He also secretly follows her to Paris, texting her photo, name, and address to a criminal associate of his, putting her life in danger. Then, aboard the MS Solitaire, Mrs. Blossom meets wealthy, elegant Pat Siemen, who is sharing a stateroom with her “brother” Marko, a handsome man who begins a shy romance with Mrs. Blossom’s friend Elinor. In fact, Pat Siemen is Constance Saylor, a schemer who has faked her own death to cover up insurance fraud, and Marko is not Pat’s brother but her abusive boyfriend, a ruthless criminal who has already murdered two men who stood in his way.
Though primarily the victim of deceit in the novel, Mrs. Blossom herself practices some deception, though for reasons much more benign. Charmed by Allan Turner’s flattery of her for traveling abroad all by herself, she conceals the fact that her trip will only be for a couple of weeks, and that most of it will be in the company of her friend Elinor. She also doesn’t mention that she recognized his Kipling quote from a favorite children’s book she still reads. Like many people anxious to make a good impression on a new companion, Mrs. Blossom simply withholds a few awkward truths. Likewise, at the novel’s climax, she does not quite lie to Pat and Marko—she simply omits the fact that the pink gummies she tosses into the river are not the missing sapphires. Her clever subterfuge, however, saves her life and Elinor’s. Although lies and deception are threaded throughout the narrative, Lippman parses the quality and motivations behind them, highlighting that although deception is ubiquitous in human society, the reasons behind them are more important, as are assessments of the damage done.
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