Tips and Resources From Your Laura Lippman Book Club Friends:

Described by Stephen King as “the closest writer America has to Ruth Rendell,” Laura Lippman crafts compelling crime fiction, including her acclaimed mystery series featuring private investigator Tess Monaghan and gripping standalones such as Every Secret Thing, What the Dead Know, and Lady in the Lake. A beat reporter for 20 years, Lippman draws inspiration from real-life crimes, often setting her novels in Baltimore, where she grew up and worked. She notes that she hasn’t fully left reporting behind, saying, “I wrote my first seven books in the mornings while I was working full-time. So far, I haven’t been able to write a book without weaving in some reporting.” (The Guardian)

Of her work, Laura says, “There’s this old quote about writing that it’s the choice between, you know, afflicting the comfortable or comforting the afflicted. I think a lot of novelists choose to comfort the comfortable, and flatter their readers. Those books read like a hot knife through butter. I don’t do that.”

When asked if she plans to revisit the PI who put her on the map back in 2015, Laura says, “She’s gonna come back. I need to figure out how to write her a proper ending.”