“Laura Lippman’s stories aren’t just mysteries; they are deeply moving explorations of the human heart. She is quite simply one of the best crime novelists writing today.” —Tess Gerritsen, author of The Mephisto Club
Already praised as “a writing powerhouse” (USA Today) and “among the select group of novelists who have invigorated the crime fiction arena with smart, innovative, and exciting work” (George Pelecanos), New York Times bestseller Laura Lippman is constantly sending reviewers back to their thesauruses in search of new and greater accolades. Her brilliant stand-alone novel, And When She Was Good, only reinforces the fact that she stands tall among today’s bestselling elite—including Kate Atkinson, Tana French, Jodi Picoult, and Harlan Coben (who raves, “I love her books!”) Based on her acclaimed, multi-award-nominated short story Scratch a Woman, And When She Was Good is the powerfully gripping, intensely emotional story of a suburban madam, a convicted murderer whose sentence is about to be overturned, and the child they will both do anything to keep. Lippman has already won virtually every prize the mystery genre has to offer—the Edgar®, Anthony, Agatha, and Nero Wolfe Awards, to name but a few. They’ll now have to invent a few new awards just to keep up with her.
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"This has to be one of the least "exciting", and, at the same time, one of the absolutely best mystery/thrillers that I have ever read. I am a huge fan of Laura Lippman, finding her one of the literary of all mystery writers. This latest novel is, in my mind, her most literary and best written of all. As I was reading it, I felt that it could have been written by Lorrie Moore or Sue Miller. It involves a suburban Madam who runs a high-class prostitution service in the Baltimore/D.C. area. She's far from the most perfect protagonist, but the author infuses her with an aura that makes her quite likable. I, as a reader, was rooting for her throughout the entire novel. A large portion of this novel deals with her running this illegal and morally questionable service while raising a son. There is some tension and excitement near the end where an easily predicted twist leads to an over-the-top suspenseful scene. Most of the novel, though, is essentially a character study about a damaged woman trying to survive and do something good for her son."
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Robert (5 out of 5 stars)