Review: Baltimore Blues

Baltimore Blues by Laura Lippman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I've had Laura Lippman in my sights ever since Ellen Emerson White spoke highly of her in an online posting. This month, BN is offering the first book in Lippman's Tess Monaghan series for 99 cents, so I thought I should give her a chance. And I'm glad that I did.

I can't say that this book excelled beyond my wildest imagination or any of that sort of hyperbole. What it does, it does well. It's the story of how Tess, underemployed and working free lance since she was laid off as a reporter, starts working as a detective. A friend asks her to investigate his fiance, and this one request has a large number of consequences for everyone involved in their lives.

What I liked most about this book was Baltimore. I haven't been to Charm City, and I'm sure Baltimore of today is different from the time when they had almost a murder-a-day. However, I do work in Detroit, and I dearly love that city. What I saw in this book was almost a love letter to Baltimore. The city, with its crime and its neighborhoods and its impossible map and local businesses, lives and breathes on the pages of Lippman's book. I don't know if the locations she writes about are real. But I can believe they are. And, when reading a book with such a power setting as Baltimore, that's all that matters.



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