20190802_162557.jpgWelcome to my stop on the Lady in the Lake blog tour sponsored by TLC Book Tours! Thanks to TLC for the invitation!

My Thoughts:

My first Laura Lippman review was a big success! I loved it! 

Set in 1960s Baltimore, Marie Schwartz is reflecting on her once happy life as a housewife. That was only one year ago. Now she’s walked away from her marriage and is looking for true happiness.

Maddie wants to make her mark, and she helps the police find a girl who was murdered, which then leads her to a job at the local newspaper. 

Her first story? About a missing woman whose body was found in a local lake. It turns out she’s the only one who seems to care why Cleo. Sherwood was murdered. Maddie begins her investigation. 

Maddie’s story is about so much more than an unsolved mystery. It’s about the push and pull between genders, racial tensions, class, and religion. The story is told from multiple points of view panning around Maddie and her investigation. There’s also a ghost. The sense of time and place is so strong and steadfast, I was easily transported. 

Overall, I found this an interesting historical mystery. I loved the crime aspects, the writing is strong, and the premise is consuming! 

I received a complimentary copy. All opinions are my own. 

About the Author:

About Lady in the Lake

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow (July 23, 2019)

The revered New York Times bestselling author returns with a novel set in 1960s Baltimore that combines modern psychological insights with elements of classic noir, about a middle-aged housewife turned aspiring reporter who pursues the murder of a forgotten young woman.

In 1966, Baltimore is a city of secrets that everyone seems to know—everyone, that is, except Madeline “Maddie” Schwartz. Last year, she was a happy, even pampered housewife. This year, she’s bolted from her marriage of almost twenty years, determined to make good on her youthful ambitions to live a passionate, meaningful life.

Maddie wants to matter, to leave her mark on a swiftly changing world. Drawing on her own secrets, she helps Baltimore police find a murdered girl—assistance that leads to a job at the city’s afternoon newspaper, the Star. 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 fountain of a city park lake.

Cleo Sherwood was a young African-American woman who liked to have a good time. No one seems to know or care why she was killed except Maddie—and the dead woman herself. Maddie’s going to find the truth about Cleo’s life and death. Cleo’s ghost, privy to Maddie’s poking and prying, wants to be left alone.

Maddie’s investigation brings her into contact with people that used to be on the periphery of her life—a jewelry store clerk, a waitress, a rising star on the Baltimore Orioles, a patrol cop, a hardened female reporter, a lonely man in a movie theater. But for all her ambition and drive, Maddie often fails to see the people right in front of her. Her inability to look beyond her own needs will lead to tragedy and turmoil for all sorts of people—including the man who shares her bed, a black police officer who cares for Maddie more than she knows.

Social Media

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Purchase Links

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Photo by Leslie Unruh

About Laura Lippman

Since Laura Lippman’s debut in 1997, she has been recognized as a distinctive voice in mystery fiction and named one of the “essential” crime writers of the last 100 years. Her books have won most of the major awards in her field and been translated into more than twenty languages. She lives in Baltimore and New Orleans with her family.

Connect with Laura on her website, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

Have you read The Lady in the Lake, or is it on your TBR? Happy Reading! ~ Jennifer THR