Murder Takes a Holiday

_MURDER TAKES A HOLIDAY_ is an anthology of sixteen short stories with the unifying theme of murders that take place while the victim is on vacation. As in any anthology, some stories are of higher quality than others, but, I'm glad to say, none of them bored me, and several intrigued me.I have to admit that I was not familiar with many of the authors, Arthur Conan Doyle and G.K. Chesterton being the most notable exceptions.There are murders that take place during a honeymoon on a remote Greek Island, on a luxury bus tour, on a cruise ship, in a remote English village, on the seashore, in a vacation cottage, and almost anywhere else one might go on vacation, or on holiday, as our English cousins say.One story I was particularly taken with was "Death in Guatemala" by Frances Crane. This is one of those stories where I, and I would guess anyone else who reads it, cheers when the victim, Evelyn, gets here comeuppance. She is a condescending user of people, particularly her old friend whom she invites to come along on her vacation with her and her husband. She (Evelyn) treats her rather passive friend horribly, and positively gloats when she thinks she has gotten the better of a native in the local marketplace. When her end comes, nobody misses her, not her husband, not her friend, and certainly not me, the reader.In other stories, the victims run the gamut from sympathetic characters about whom we care to good old fashioned "nasties" who just won't be missed._MURDER TAKES A HOLIDAY_ is the kind of light book that makes great reading while soaking up a few rays at the seashore while on vacation. Unless, of course, you're superstitious.