Laura Lippman has, for a couple of decades, been one of the most consistent and rewarding crime writers around, garnering acclaim but somehow never getting fully into the headlight lesser talents have occupied. An ex-journalist as is her recurring heroine Baltimore-based Tess Monaghan, her view of the world is acute but humane and the cases she becomes involved in remain close to the reader's reality. Tess is now a mother and returns, reluctantly, to the investigative fray, follolwing a lengthy interruption and is confronted by the case of a woman who last lost two of her own children to fate following a tragedy in which a third died. Navigating a maelstrom of feelings and emotions, Tess has to face difficult questions and situations as she gets to grips with the case and mines sensitive psychological depths with pinpoint generosity and acuity. A welcome back to a favourite character after several years of stand alone titles.
No one is quite who he or she seems. Hush Hush is the story of Melisandre - rich, beautiful, possibly insane - who has to live with the knowledge of a devastating event in her past. She has not seen her two daughters, now aged fifteen and seventeen, in the ten years since the notorious family tragedy. 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? Tess Monaghan, now the mother of a young girl herself, makes a return as the investigator who gets snared in the case. This is a hugely powerful and emotive novel about parents and children - about destructive parents who think they love their children and good parents whose children are the centre of their lives - it is also a superbly plotted mystery novel, one which will keep you hooked until the very final page.
Laura Lippman has been awarded every major prize in crime fiction. Since the publication of What the Dead Know, each of her hardcovers has hit the New York Times bestseller list. A recent recipient of the first-ever Mayor's Prize, she lives in Baltimore, New Orleans and New York City with her family.
Tess, like her creator Laura Lippman, started off as a journalist in Baltimore, before their career paths diverged and she became a private eye. A modern heroine, with guts and a strong sense of social compassion, she has appeared in 12 novels to date; ANOTHER THINGS TO FALL sees Tess detecting on the set of a TV series, a milieu Lippman knows well as her husband David Simon is the man behind THE WIRE.