Laura Lippman
By a Spider's Thread (2004)
Author: Laura Lippman
Genre: Suspense/Mystery
Plot Summary:
A 2005 Edgar Award nominee, this mystery is one of a series featuring private eye, Tess Monaghan. Tess is a half Jewish, half Irish young woman. Her Jewish uncle refers an Orthodox Jewish client,Mark Rubin ( a wealthy furrier) to her for help in finding his missing wife and three children. The police have refused to get involved as it appears that Mr. Rubin's wife left voluntarily. Mr. Rubin is totally perplexed and distraught, as he believed that he had a perfect marriage and family. Through the narratives of Tess's efforts to get information from the very rigid and reticent Mr. Rubin (and others,) to the narrative of what was really going on with the beautiful and mysterious Mrs. Rubin, we come to learn more and more secrets about this family. There is a mysterious man involved in Mrs. Rubin's disappearance, the truth about whom is quite shocking, and only revealed toward the end of the book. Tess needs help, and gets it from other female PI's through a network of old friends. Murder, attempts to murder appear, as well as interesting personality and religious examinations. The author reveals only a little of the truth at a time, making this book a real page turner.
Geographical Setting: Baltimore, and parts of the Midwest.
Time Period: the present (2004)
Series: Tess Monaghan series, Book 8
Appeal Characteristics:
Interesting psychological and religious twists; Mr. Rubin as an Orthocox Jew has many unusual characteristics, such as not shaking hands with women (his religion forbades touching of any woman not his wife). With both Tess and Mark Rubin, there are examinations of their closest relationships. The pace of the book keeps getting faster and faster in the narrative with continuous surprises, making it a difficult book to put down. The interchanges between Mr. Rubin and Tess are at times painful, but there are moments of humor and warmth in the book as well.
Read-alikes: Sue Grafton's "alphabet" books, such as R is for Ricochet, S is For Silence; Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum mysteries (like Eleven on Top); Robert B. Parker's "Sunny Randall" series featuring a female Boston PI (see Family Honor); Patricia Cornwell "Kay Scarpetta" series (featuring a forensic detective) such as Predator and All That Remains; The V.I. Warshawski novels of Sarah Peretsky, featuring a Chicago female PI, such as Killing Orders and Hard Times.
Red Flags: some sex and profanity.
Every Secret Thing (2003)
Author: Laura Lippman
Genre: Mystery (Police Detective)
Plot Summary:
Seven years ago, two young girls committed a horrible crime. Ronnie and Alice, 11 years old, killed a baby. Both girls have now paid their debt to society, but no one involved in the case has forgotten, especially the victim's mother. When more little girls start to go missing the suspicion is turned towards Ronnie and Alice. Did they kidnap another child? No one knows-not their lawyers, their mothers, or the police detective. All anyone knows is another child is missing and Ronnie and Alice are involved. Lippman tells the story from many different points of view like Ronnie and Alice, Alice's mother, the previous victim's mother, the lawyer, and the investigating detective.
Geographical Setting: Baltimore, Maryland
Time Period: Present Day and 7 years older
Appeal Characteristics:
Female leads; complex characters with hidden motives and personalities; short time span-most of the book takes place over a couple of days; descriptive setting with many familiar landmarks mentioned; even paced for most of the book with fast paced action at the end.
Read-alikes: Dirty Laundry by Paula L. Woods also features a female lead who needs to overcome past tragedy to solve the crime and similar setting; Mystic River by Dennis Lehane features a similar structure (childhood crime and another later on that brings friends back together); With No One as Witness by Elizabeth George also features a plot where children are murdered for no discernible reason; The Ballad of Frankie Silver by Sharyn McCrumb is also about children who commit crimes; and Chains of Command by William Caunitz feature similar character development and setting.
Red Flags: profanity, infanticide, slight incest
No Good Deeds (2006)
Author: Laura Lippman
Genre: Mystery (Private Investigator)
Plot Summary:
Private investigator Tess Monaghan’s life is turned upside down when her boyfriend Crow brings home Lloyd, a homeless teenage boy, to spend the night at their house. Lloyd leaves in a hurry after a botched attempt at stealing their car, but not before he lets slip that he might know something about the murder of an Assistant United States Attorney. After tracking down Lloyd and hearing his story, Tess realizes that he is in danger. To protect him, she refuses to reveal his identity to anyone—including the police and FBI agents who are pressuring her for the information. When Lloyd’s friend ends up dead in a case of mistaken identity, Crow and Lloyd are forced to go into hiding and Tess is left facing the wrath of angry investigators who are determined to find Lloyd, using any means available—even if it’s at Tess’s expense. SPOILER: As the story progresses, it becomes clear that many of the characters are concealing secrets about the murder and their involvement in it. Lloyd has not been fully truthful with Tess and Crow about what he knows about the murder, and two of the investigators are more personally involved in it than they have let on to anyone.
Geographical Setting: Baltimore, Maryland and the Maryland Eastern Shore
Time Period: Present day (2006)
Series: Tess Monaghan mysteries, book 9
Appeal Characteristics:
The Baltimore, Maryland location plays an important role in setting the tone and frame of this novel. The drug/street culture and dichotomies between rich and poor and white and black are integral parts of the novel. Also important is the characterization; readers will enjoy getting to know the several main characters and understanding what is going on in their heads. There are also a number of secondary characters who appear throughout the series. While they are not particularly well developed in this book, fans of the series will recognize several old favorites from previous titles. The storyline emphasizes the characters and their decision-making processes, which readers more interested in the characters than a fast plot will appreciate. The book is well paced, with the plot developing slowly at first, but picking up speed in the last quarter as the characters race towards an exciting climax. Lippman's unaffected, natural writing style manages to stay true to the characters despite their different backgrounds and motivations, resulting in an easy-to-read novel.
Read-alikes: While this book works quite well as a stand-alone novel, readers who enjoyed the characters should read the others in the series to get a better understanding of Tess, Crow, and the many other secondary characters who are developed over the course of the series. The first Tess Monaghan mystery, Baltimore Blues is a good place to start. To learn more about Baltimore and its police detectives, readers should try David Simon’s non-fiction book, Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets. The Hearse You Came in On by Tim Cockey is the first in the Hitchcock Sewell mystery series; it is also set in Baltimore and has appealing primary and secondary characters who will likely appeal to fans of Lippman's characters. Another novel with strong characterization is Cornelia Read’s Field of Darkness, which also explores social issues such as New York's upstate/downstate, wealthy/middleclass conflicts. Readers looking for another strong female private investigator should try the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich; they might want to start with Ten Big Ones, which shares some storyline similarities with No Good Deeds.
Red Flags: profanity, violence
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