Showing results by author "Laura Lippman" in All Categories

Baltimore, 1966. When Maddie Schwartz, having recently left her husband of over 20 years, helps Baltimore police find a murdered girl, her assistance leads to a job at the city’s afternoon newspaper. Working at the newspaper offers Maddie the opportunity to make her name, and she has found just the story to do it: a missing woman whose body was discovered in the a city park lake. Cleo Sherwood was a young African American woman. No one seems to know or care why she was killed except Maddie - and the dead woman herself. 

What kind of woman walks out on her family? Gregg knows. The kind of woman he picked up in a bar three years ago precisely because she had that kind of wildcat energy. And now she's vanished - at least from the life that he and the kid will live. But we'll follow her, to a new town, a new job, and a new friend, who seems to know more about her than any new acquaintance should. Who is this woman, and how many times has she disappeared before? And who are the shadowy figures so interested in her whereabouts? 

A successful writer returns to her hometown of Baltimore on the hunt for new material and stumbles into the middle of a mystery which takes her back to her school days. Former classmate Callie Jenkins hit the headlines when she was jailed for seven years, having refused to give up the whereabouts of her missing child. But why did she remain silent? And what ever happened to the little boy? Cassandra thinks she can find out.

Luisa 'Lu' Brant is the newly elected - and first female - state's attorney of Howard County, Maryland, a job in which her revered father famously served. Fiercely ambitious, she sees an opportunity to make her name by trying a mentally disturbed drifter accused of beating a woman to death in her home. As Lu prepares for the trial, the case dredges up painful memories, reminding her small but tight-knit family of the night when her brother, AJ, saved his best friend at the cost of another man's life. Only 18, AJ was cleared by a grand jury. Propelled into the past, Lu realises that even if she could learn the whole truth, she probably wouldn't want to.

When Felix Brewer meets 19-year-old Bernadette 'Bambi' Gottschalk at a Valentine's Day dance in 1959, he charms her with wild promises, some of which he actually keeps. Thanks to his lucrative - if not all legal - businesses, she and their three little girls live in luxury. But on the Fourth of July in 1976, Bambi's comfortable world implodes when Felix, facing prison, vanishes. Though Bambi has no idea where her husband - or his money - might be, she suspects one woman does: his devoted young mistress, Julie.

Lippman's brilliant and disturbing tale of three inseparable high school girlfriends in an affluent Baltimore suburb who share dark secrets literally until death, To the Power of Three is this "writing powerhouse" ( USA Today), who has "exploded the boundaries of the mystery genre to become one of the most significant social realists of our time" (Madison Smartt Bell) operating at the very top of her game.

Mark Rubin's family is missing, and the police won't do a thing because all the evidence indicates his wife left willingly. The successful furrier turns to Tess Monaghan, hoping she can help him find his wife and three children. Tess doesn't know what to make of Rubin, a wealthy Orthodox Jew who doles out vitally important information in grudging dribs and drabs. According to Rubin, he and his beautiful wife, Natalie, had a flawless, happy marriage.

In the comfortable suburb where she lives, Heloise is just a mom, the youngish widow with a forgettable job who somehow never misses her son's soccer games or school plays. But in discrete hotel rooms throughout the area, she's the woman of your dreams - if you can afford her hourly fee. For more than a decade, Heloise has believed her unorthodox life to be a safe one. But now this secret life is under siege. And nearby another so-called 'suburban madam' has been found dead in her car, an apparent suicide...

Seven original baseball short stories in the mystery and murder genres, written by an all star lineup of writers, each of whom understand the game's lore and tactical nuances as well as its deep roots in American life. Compiled by Otto Penzler, the proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City and regarded as the world's foremost authority on crime, mystery and suspense fiction.

Melisandre - rich, beautiful, possibly insane - has to live with the knowledge of a devastating event in her past. She has not seen her two daughters, now aged 15 and 17, in 10 years. And her husband has moved on, married now to his personal trainer, and seemingly happy. As Melisandre returns to Baltimore from South Africa, however, there are suddenly more mysterious deaths. And quite what did happen all that time ago has never been clear - what role had each of the members of this unhappy family played? And is anyone telling the truth?

Eliza Benedict’s past returns to haunt her when the serial killer she escaped from as a young girl walks back into her life. Twenty-five years ago, he stole her innocence. Now he wants to get in touch. Eliza cherishes her quiet existence with her successful husband and children in the leafy suburbs of suburban Washington. But her tranquillity is shattered when she receives a letter from the last person she ever expects - or wants - to hear from.

The three girls have been inseparable best friends since third grade: Josie, the athletic one; Perri, the brilliant, acerbic drama queen; and Kat, the beauty, who also had brains, grace, and a heart open to all around her. But their last day of high school becomes their final day together after one of them brings a gun to school to resolve a mysterious feud. When the police arrive, they discover two wounded girls. The third girl is dead, killed instantly by a shot to the heart.

Years ago, they were the best of friends. But as time passed, they grew apart, became adults with families of their own, and began to forget about the past – and the terrible lies they shared. But now Gordon, the youngest and wildest of the five, has died and the others are thrown together for the first time in years. Could their long-ago lie be the reason for their troubles today? Is it more dangerous to admit to what they’d done or is it the strain of keeping the secret that is beginning to wear down on their souls?

Short tales about deadly books, by top mystery authors. A thief targets a local bookstore and it will take a bibliophile PI to save the shop. Tess Monaghan wants to like the Children's Bookstore. It's bright, cozy, and packed with the kinds of books that she is dying for her daughter to fall in love with. But no matter how badly she wants to support this adorable local business, the owner's attitude stops her in her tracks. What kind of children's bookseller hates children? What's eating Octavia, the grouchy owner, is more than the pressures of running a small business.

Liza Jane believed she could find better parents. So she fired her mom and dad and hired the first applicant who came to the door - what could possibly go wrong? And at first everything was fun. The dragon did whatever Liza Jane wanted him to do. But it turned out the dragon had only one response to all problems - opening his mouth and belching fire.