Laura Lippman

Fiction 1997 | 369 pages

My friend and college roommate Janet suggested I try Laura Lippman after my last post, asking for mystery series.  I just finished the first Tess Monaghan novel, Baltimore Blues.  It is fun, fast and feisty.  Tess has lost her job as an investigative reporter at a local newspaper that folded.  At 29, she is trying to get her life together, knitting together small granny squares of jobs, such as working in her Aunt Kitty’s bookstore (Tess lives above the store for reduced rent), and doing administrative work for her uncle.

Less one think she is lazy (she IS accused of this on occasion), she also runs three (?) times a week, rows at 5:30 am six days a week, and lift weights three times a week.

And then her friend and rowing buddy Rock hires her to do some investigation into his fiancé Ava, who disappears at odd and frequent intervals.  This begins a series of mysteries and murders that Tess finds herself compelled to investigate, under the radar screen, and mostly without much-needed compensation.

I loved reading about Tess trying to make her way in this new world of murder investigation, all on her own.  I really like her as a person … free spirited, smart, and energetic.  I will read the next book in the series, Charm City, and I recommend Baltimore Blues.

August 2024