Synopses & Reviews
Five lives in the Baltimore area have been brutally destroyed over the past six years five unsolved homicides, seemingly unconnected except for the suspicion that each death was the result of domestic violence. In hot legal water and court-ordered therapy Tess Monaghan accepts an assignment with a local nonprofit organization, agreeing to review police documents on each case for inconsistencies and investigative blunders. But curiosity is leading the disgraced P.I. off the paper trail as she follows scant leads and intuitions into the most remote corners of Maryland where a psychopath can hide as easily in the fabric of a tiny fishing community as in the alleys and shadows of Charm City. Because a single common thread to five senseless murders is beginning to emerge with shocking clarity to tie the loose ends together into one bloody knot and the link is Tess Monaghan herself.
Review
"Lippman deftly juggles a sense of foreboding with quotidian details as she spins an engrossing tale, and she captures the essence of other Maryland venues as acutely as she does that of Baltimore. Tess is a standout among female protagonists in mysteries, and this is absolutely first-rate." Library Journal
Review
"From this slim plot device stems a road-trip mystery, in which Tess travels across Maryland and discovers the cover-up of a grisly decapitation. A somewhat shaky plot, rescued by Edgar-winning Lippman's wit and intelligence." Booklist
Review
"Laura Lippman in her series featuring Baltimore private investigator Tess Monaghan just keeps getting better and better." Houston Chronicle
Synopsis
When New York Times bestselling author Laura Lippman's Tess Monaghan investigates five cold case murders, she doesn't expect the investigation to become personal...
Tess Monaghan agrees to look into a series of unsolved homicides that date back over the past six years despite the fact that the assignment originates from a troubling source: wealthy Baltimore benefactor Luisa O'Neal, who was both instrumental in launching Tess's present career and intimately connected with the murder of Tess's former boyfriend.
Apart from the suspicion that each death was the result of domestic violence, nothing else seems to connect them. Five lives--four women, one man--ended in various ways. The only thing the five cases seem to have is that they are now ice cold. Tess' search for the connecting threads takes her beyond the Charm City limits and into dangerously unfamiliar territory. With the help of a police officer obsessed with bringing a murderer down, she follows scant leads into the remotest corners of Maryland, where a psychopath can hide as easily in the fabric of a tiny, rough-hewn fishing community as in the alleys and shadows of bustling Baltimore.
As she strays far from everything that's familiar and safe in her life, Tess is suddenly cast into a terrifying cat-and-mouse game with an ingenious slayer who changes identities as often and effortlessly as clothing. But at last, a single link to the murders emerges. Unfortunately, it's Tess.
About the Author
Laura Lippman grew up in Baltimore and returned to her hometown in 1989 to work as a journalist. After writing seven books while still a full-time reporter, she left the Baltimore Sun to focus on fiction. She is the author of eleven Tess Monaghan books, including Baltimore Blues, Another Thing to Fall, and The Girl in the Green Raincoat; five stand-alone novels, including Every Secret Thing, To the Power of Three, What the Dead Know, and Life Sentences; and one short story collection, Hardly Knew Her. She is also the editor of another story collection, Baltimore Noir. Lippman has won numerous awards for her work, including the Edgar, Quill, Anthony, Nero Wolfe, Agatha, Gumshoe, Barry, and Macavity.