I had just finished a satisfying debut murder mystery and—like a kid going back for a second cookie—I had to have another bite. So I stopped in Takoma Park’s People’s Books (just named “Best Bookstore” in the Washington City Paper‘s Best of DC 2025 rankings) and asked the friendly staff for some recommendations. They suggested I look at Laura Lippman’s first book in the Tess Monaghan series because it was a good read and had the added bonus of being set in nearby Baltimore.

Sold!

Baltimore Blues (1997) by Laura Lippman introduces us to Tess Monaghan, an out-of-work newspaper reporter who needs to solve the mystery surrounding the death of a prominent attorney in order to exonerate her good friend Darryl “Rock” Paxton. Rock is a nationally ranked rower who works a day job as a scientific researcher and has a very attractive fiancé, Ava. Life is good. Tess and Rock row together each morning and when he becomes concerned about Ava’s lying he offers to pay Tess to check it out. She needs a new job and so agrees to become a private investigator. Tess discovers that Ava and her boss Michael Abramowitz, an attorney everyone loves to hate, meet each day for “lunch” at a nearby hotel. Tess confronts Ava and the fiancé turns around and gives her side of the story to Rock, who leaves abruptly. Abramowitz is found brutally murdered the next morning. The police, naturally, suspect Rock.

There are twists and turns as Tess navigates the many confusing and compromised relationships, including her on-again/off-again sexual relationship with a former boyfriend and star reporter for the paper that didn’t hire Tess when her paper folds. Jonathan Ross—who has a girlfriend in the suburbs—is onto a big story when he is hit and killed by a car after spending the night with Tess. Being a former reporter has its benefits as she knows how to follow a story, but Tess constantly puts herself and her friends in danger. There is a murder a day in Baltimore, and yet the Abramowitz case continues to generate publicity above what would normally be expected.

If it sounds complicated, it is. However, by the second half of the book Lippman has hit her stride and we move quickly through the pages to a very surprising conclusion.

A big plus is the setting in Baltimore, or Charm City as it is known. For those outside the area, the city probably means the Inner Harbor and Ft. McHenry. But to those of us who live nearby (and have had family who have called the city home for a while), Baltimore is a real, gritty city with great inequalities of wealth, historic architecture ranging from magnificent to working class, and a riveting history. Lippman—who lives in the city—captures this allure in Baltimore Blues and uses it to her advantage.

One reviewer likened this work to “a debut album from a promising new artist. It may not be perfect, but it showcases undeniable talent and leaves you excited for what’s to come.”

That seems like a good take to me. Lippman has now produced 11 books in the Tess Monaghan series, and I’m sure I’ll return to read more about the adventures of the accidental P.I. in the future.

More to come . . .

DJB

Photo by MeSSrro on Unsplash. Baltimore pictures from Unsplash and Pixabay.