Book Review: "The Lady in the Lake" by Laura Lippman
“The Lady in the Lake” by Laura Lippman
Publisher’s Synopsis: 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 black 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.—HarperCollins
Rating (out of 5): 5
Review: Laura Lippman has been my favorite author since I discovered her ten years ago and stayed up until four AM for a week straight reading all of her books. She’s one of about five authors whose books I buy the day they come out—I just love her. She’s written both a detective series and many stand-alones, all of which take place in or around one of my favorite cities, Baltimore. I picked this one up last week before heading to North Baltimore for the weekend, so it was a serendipitous experience.
I truly think no one is writing mysteries as reliably readable and believable as Lippman’s. I was a particular fan of the structure of this novel: as we learn about Maddie, who is ambitious and determined, if selfish, brief narratives from other characters are interspersed with hers—giving us a fuller picture and illuminating her privileges. Maddie is written about unflinchingly. The very determination that allows her to persevere in a male-dominated newspaper industry is the same quality that makes her son an afterthought in her life and causes her to use people as a means to her desired end.
Lippman writes honestly about the racial realities of 1960’s Baltimore, and the privilege of white people to ignore the lived experiences of others. Maddie is not actively racist, but has a blind spot to the complete reality of inequity, both financial and racial. Her version of struggling to make ends meet after her separation is quite different from that of most, with frequent infusions of cash from her ex. She also repeatedly endangers her lover, a Black police officer who feeds her the information that launches her career.
The mystery itself is multi-layered and unfolds with an excellent pacing. All of the conclusive twists are both in fitting with the plot and not predictable, and the reader is left thinking about the lasting impact of the central crimes.
Tl;DR: I picked this up and almost immediately dropped it into the bathtub, and refused to wait for it to dry to keep reading it. You will race through this, and I predict you will love it.
Trigger Warnings: violence, sexual violence, racism
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