Murder Takes a Vacation

While Murder Takes a Vacation offers all the elements of a light cozy mystery, Lippman takes the opportunity to delve into more serious social issues through Mrs. Blossom’s insights about others and her growing insight into herself. Through Mrs. Blossom’s experiences, the novel explores how society’s discrimination based on weight deeply impacts her identity and sense of self-worth. 

From the opening scenes of the novel, Lippman establishes Mrs. Blossom’s awareness of others’ attitudes toward her weight. The novel begins with a ticket agent offering her an upgrade on her flight, awkwardly telling her that the seats in business class will be more “comfortable” for her. With an inner ache, Mrs. Blossom recognizes the comment as a microaggression she’s experienced time and again. Over the years, she has internalized much of the social censure she’s received, and she comments soon after the scene that she is “a large woman […] OK, fine, […] a fat woman” (4). This perception of herself has made her timid and self-effacing, an effect pointed out by fashionista Danny Johnson observes that her clothes communicate the desire for invisibility, commenting, “[Y]ou don’t want people to look at you” (60). This lifelong feeling of shame contributes to her vulnerability to flattery and manipulation: When