One half of the daughters of a missing persons case dating back to 1975 makes a remarkable return via the unlikeliest of circumstances. Heather Bethany is involved in a hit and run and is soon the subject of much interrogation as police, doctors, social workers, and her lawyer try to pry the trut...
This was not my favorite Laura Lippman book. It had a good plot that kept it supspenseful to the very end but I didn't like any of the characters including Tess.While reading this book, it seemed like I was enrolled in a class about Orthodox Judaism. Most of the characters were Jewish so there di...
I consider myself a bit of a Laura Lippman fan, but this was one of the weaker entries in the Tess Monaghan series so far. It lacked many of the familiar elements that made the previous three books enjoyable - the loving descriptions of Baltimore scenery and Tess's relationships with her family a...
Review Originally Posted: Traveling With T*A stand-alone novel. A bit too long, but when the story starts coming together, it really gets good. It just takes a bit too long to get to that point.*This book was sent to Traveling With T for review consideration.Every Secret ThingIt’s a normal day. A...
re-read february, 2011: I LOVE CARL. oh man, he broke my heart a million times over. and so did lousia o'neal, and oh, just so many. it was really sad. oh, CARL. and i totally get why tess just wanted to screw crow sometimes. the fact that nothing is random. the poor women. the doctor. dottie. mo...
For some reason I had it in my head ever since finishing #4 that I was done with this series. But when I reread the description of #5 a few weeks ago when I was looking for a new book to read, I couldn't remember what I had against Tess Monaghan. So, I decided to give her another try, and I'm gla...
When it appears a rowing buddy of hers murdered his fiancee's boss and lover, underemployed Tess Monaghan sets about trying to clear his name. But did Rock kill ace attorney Michael Abramowitz? If he didn't, who did and why? And can Tess find out before she winds up as dead as the lawyer?A lon...
In a Strange City is the sixth Tess Monaghan mystery from Laura Lippman. In this installment, Lippman makes use of a long-standing Baltimore tradition, the Poe Toaster or Visitor. If by some chance you aren't familiar with the Poe Toaster, he's the individual who shows up at Poe's grave on Januar...
Laura Lippman’s “To the Power of Three” is advertised on the cover as a “novel of suspense”. Indeed. We know who pulled the trigger from the very beginning, but we do not know why and exactly how. Finding the answer to these questions provides sustained suspense throughout the book. However, to m...
When someone at the Beacon-Light leaks an unfavorable story about the millionaire planning on bringing an NBA team to Baltimore, Tess Monaghan is hired to figure how who spilled the beans. At the same time, she's trying to figure out who put her uncle in the hospital and if it has anything to do...
Another Thing to Fall, by Laura Lippman, b-plus narrated by Linda Emond, produced by Harper Audio, downloaded from audible.com. A.This is the latest in the Baltimore PI, Tess Monaghan series. Publisher’s note:The California dream weavers have invaded Charm City with their cameras, their stars, ...
Tess asked in bewilderment, lifting the item from the silver Nordstrom box. “Pink and brown.” Whitney took the bag from Tess and began showing her the various pockets. Her over-the-top gestures were uncannily like those used by The Price Is Right models, only Whitney got t...
Tsunami, an unfortunate name in 2011. What can the owners do? Heloise is sympathetic to the challenges inherent in rebranding. When she had to change her name, she felt the need to stay connected to her original name, and not just for business reasons. Why? Chopsticks poised over her sashimi, she...
There was so much to admire about it—the brightly painted miniature rockers and chairs on the converted sun porch, the mynah bird who said “Hi, Hon!” and “Hark, who goes there!” and—best of all—“Nevermore.” She coveted the huge Arnold Lobel poster opposite the front door, the one that showed a be...
What if she had knocked out a tooth or two in the mouth of Maryland's best extemporaneous speaker? But the blood came from a gash on his forehead and although there was a lot of it, the wound was superficial. She gave him a wad of paper towels to stem the flow, but it was too late to save his whi...
“It’s only five minutes,” that’s what I kept telling the woman behind the counter, who couldn’t be bothered to raise her gaze from her computer screen and make eye contact with me. Which is too bad, because I don’t need much to be charming, but I need something to work with. Why did they make so ...
It didn’t matter how many men were here, whether it was close up to full or spindly as it was now, with fifteen men rattling around a unit built for fifty. It was a loud place. The sound was weird, too, hard to pinpoint, whipping around corners and bouncing off walls, almost like a living thing t...
Lennie said. Cassandra, who had been folding laundry as she spoke to her mother, almost dropped the portable phone cradled between neck and shoulder. Her parents had not, to her knowledge, initiated contact with each other for years. On those occasions where they had been forced to share the same...
Although it wasn’t a fall, exactly, he only stumbled a bit coming back from the bathroom and lurched against the bar, yet they said he had to leave because he was drunk. He finds that hilarious. He’s too drunk to be in a bar. He makes a joke about a fall from grace. At least, he thinks he does. M...
“I can’t believe you’re having a shower.” She didn’t mean to. She had resolved not to mention the shower issue at all. The words were like toads, hopping out of her mouth in spite of her. She was like someone under a curse; she couldn’t stop saying the wrong thing. Worse, ...
Robbins & Sons, a white stucco building that resembled a bunker, was tucked away on Smith Avenue, a quiet street just northwest of the city limits. Yet its nearest neighbor, a shoe store, sold high heels that even Tess’s inexpert eye put at three hundred dollars and beyond, while a dress stor...
Short. His full name. Most of all he hated to be called a pimp. He said he was a CEO, an entrepreneur, a self-made man. He told Helen that he was her savior—and maybe he was. But he was, inarguably, short. Shorter than Helen, fine-boned, seemingly incapable of putting on w...
She goes through two or three a week. As she tried to tell Tim Junior when he bought her that ridiculous plasma thing, she has little use for television these days. It makes her jumpy, and the more channels and control she allegedly has over it, the more she feels in its control. She was happy wi...
If we could learn to see them, we’d recognize that our existence is full of liminal moments,” he’d said, “times when we’ve already left our previous life behind, but have yet to take the step into a new one. A liminal moment represents the space between an ending and beginning—a critically import...