Tag / Laura Lippman

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Book 45 (of 52) – The Sugar House

The Sugar House – Laura Lippman

When her father introduces her to an old friend who needs help, Tess Monaghan takes on the case to try and identify the dead young woman her brother was accused of murdering.  She quickly finds out that the case is more than she bargained for, as she inadvertently puts herself and her loved ones in harm’s way.  When she tries to bow out, she accidentally starts putting the pieces together that wouldn’t fit previously and upsets the political landscape in Baltimore.

In The Sugar House, the fifth entry in Laura Lippman’s Tess Monaghan series, the action moves back to Baltimore, taking on the inner workings of political favors and how deep those ties may go.  The ending sets Tess up for a new status quo to continue her adventures, which I’m sure I will be reading about soon.

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Book 27 (of 52) – In Big Trouble

In Big Trouble – Laura Lippman

Tess Monaghan heads to Texas to find her ex-boyfriend Crow, who has stopped calling his parents.  She quickly finds out that the job is harden than she expected, as she stumbles across two dead bodies and finds herself in the middle of a decade’s old investigation, one that looks to put Crow away for years.  Can she find Crow and prove his innocence before the deadline of the big All Souls festival?

In Big Trouble, the fourth entry in Laura Lippman’s Tess Monaghan series, moves the action out of Baltimore and heads to Texas, specifically Austin and San Antonio.  Being out of her element sets Tess on edge, which knocks her down a peg or two as she becomes a successful private investigator.  I assume this is a one-time thing, as Tess and Crow were heading back to the East Coast at the end of the book, but I’m sure I’ll find out soon enough.

 

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Book 12 (of 52) – Butchers Hill

Butchers Hill – Laura Lippman

Tess Monaghan, who has just struck out on her own as a private investigator, gets her first two clients: a man convicted of murder who claims to be looking for the other kids who witnessed his crime and a woman looking for the daughter she put up for adoption years earlier.  When her leads on the first case start ending up murdered, she starts to doubt the intentions of her client.  Meanwhile, she finds that she has a surprising connection to the young girl she has been charged with locating.

Butchers Hill, the third entry in Laura Lippman’s Tess Monaghan series, finally addresses one of the biggest issues facing its setting of Baltimore: race.  Tess is forced to face some of her privilege as she takes on black clients who, while they share the same city, live in a different world.  Lippman does a good job of dealing with the issue, especially considering this book was originally published in 1998.  I certainly don’t remember much in the way of discussion about white privilege at the time.  I’m now a quarter of the way through the series, which I’m sure I’ll pick up again later this year.

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2023: The Year In Books

As 2023 comes to a close, my third full year of remote working, I managed to far surpass my previous records by completing a whopping 59 books, four books more than my previous high from last year and my third consecutive year completing the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge.  I completed the challenge in late November and surpassed last year’s total in mid-December.  I read (or listened) to 21,394 pages, by far my highest total of all time and only the fourth time I’ve passed 10,000.

Of those books, eleven were non-fiction and, of the remaining 48 novels, only four were tied to a TV show, either as the source material or as a tie-in.  None of the books came out of my dwindling “to-read” drawer, with 53 e-books and two audiobooks.  I continued to take advantage of my library card, which helped me procure 44 of the books I consumed throughout the year.

Over 61% of the books I read this year were by authors I had read before. The 22 authors that I read for the first this year were:

Selma Blair Stacy Willingham Gillian McAllister Chuck Klosterman
Gabrielle Zevin Ronan Farrow Matthew Perry Amor Towles
Jason Rekulak Emily St. John Mandel Bonnie Garmus Thomas Mullen
Naomi Hirahara Maitland Ward Busy Phillips Elliot Page
Jinwoo Chong Maureen Ryan Minka Kelly Britney Spears
Emily Henry Rebecca Makkai

Jennifer McMahon, Karin Slaughter, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Erle Stanley Gardner, Grady Hendrix, Jeffery Deaver, Laura Lippman, Ruth Ware, and Stacy Willingham were the only authors that I read multiple titles from during 2023.

18 of the books I read were released this year, while only five of them were released last century, with the oldest first published in 1934.

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Book 55 (of 52) – Charm City

Charm City – Laura Lippman

When a spiked story about a local mogul gets printed on page one anyway, Tess Monaghan is hired to figure out who is responsible for hacking the paper’s nascent computer system.  When said mogul apparently kills himself after a second story of his alleged malfeasance, Tess is able to poke some holes in the reporting, if not outright nail the culprit.  However, when the now out-of-work reporter also is found dead by suicide, Tess starts to think that everything is not adding up.  She picks up the investigation, trying to figure out who the killer is before the killer can find her.

The second entry in Laura Lippman’s Tess Monaghan series, Charm City, picks up nearly six months following the previous book. Reading a series in order is a new experience for me, so it’ll be a fun experience to see where this one goes.

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Prolific Authors – 2 Books

Way back in December of 2011 (and again every other December since), we’ve taken a look at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school.  This year, since I’ve far surpassed my reading output of any year on record, I thought it would be nice to take a deeper dive into those books I’ve read through October. Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 118 books, so there could be some movement over the past two years, but it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much in that time span.  Today, we start things off with the now 41 authors I’ve read twice, an increase of six over two years ago.

Max Barry

An Australian author, I’ve enjoyed the two novels of his I’ve read, Jennifer Government and Company.

Laura Caldwell

I have no idea how I came across the work of this local author, but I must have enjoyed it enough to go back for seconds.  Unfortunately, she passed away in 2020.

Michael Chabon

Winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, the most recent of the two works of his I’ve read.  I have another, Wonder Boys, waiting in the to read pile, so he rise up some day.

Fate Of The Union – Max Allan Collins with Matthew V. Clemens

Matthew V. Clemens

The co-author, with Max Allan Collins, of the final two chapters of the Reeder and Rogers trilogy.

Ernest Cline

The man responsible for both Ready Player One and Ready Player Two.

Bill Clinton

The former president has co-written two novels with James Patterson.

Felicia Day

The first author here that I’ve happened to meet in person.

Cameron Dokey

She makes the list based on two entries in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series.

Diane Duane

Living in Ireland, she is responsible for a Star Trek: The Next Generation book and a Spider-Man novel, of all things.

Warren Ellis

The comic writer, currently in exile after being called out for abusing women, makes the list thanks to two prose novels.

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Book 28 (of 52) – Baltimore Blues

Baltimore Blues – Laura Lippman

When an out-of-work reporter picks up a side gig tracking the movements of a friend’s fiancé, she thinks it will be an easy way to earn a couple of bucks.  Instead, her friend winds up arrested for murder.  Working for his lawyer, the former reporter digs in to the case, following leads and tracking down witnesses, looking to clear her friend and find the real murderer.

Baltimore Blues is the first entry in Laura Lippman’s Tess Monaghan series.  I first came across Lippman’s work back in 2018 during my trip to Rome, but, despite enjoying that standalone work, I never returned for more until now.  While this wasn’t as good a read as I remember from before, it does give me an entryway into a new series.  Assuming the library cooperates, I assume I will start working through this series over time.

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2018: The Year In Books

Another year has come to an end and it is time to take a look back at the 22 books I read over the past year, 6 less than last year.  Of those 22, 7 were non-fiction and, of the 15 novels, only 1 was a TV show tie-in.  Only one of the books came out of my dwindling “to-read” drawer, and 12 were e-books.  I read over 7,000 pages, my lowest total since at least 2013.

Once again, a majority of the books I read this year were by authors I’ve never read before. The 15 authors that I read for the first this year were:
Mamrie Hart
Dan Harris
Ginger Zee
Krysten Ritter
Karin Slaughter
Michelle West
Paul Ruditis
Michelle McNamara
David Ross
Don Yaeger
Araminta Hall
Amber Tamblyn
Laura Lippman
Lauren Graham
Drew Magary

There was not a single author that I read multiple titles from during 2018.

6 of the books I read were released this year, while 1 of them was released last century, exactly 60 years ago

Finally, the breakdown by month.  My vacation in September certainly helped pad its totals a tad bit.

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Book 17 (of 52) – Sunburn

Sunburn – Laura Lippman

Bestselling author Laura Lippman crosses my path for the first time with Sunburn.  A mysterious woman arrives in the small town of Belleville, Delaware, having just abandoned her family.  When she falls for the private investigator sent to learn her secrets (and he falls just as hard for her), the web of deceit starts to unravel just as her plans to finally be free of her past start to come to fruition.

Aside from being on sale at the Kindle store, I’m not sure what made me decide to buy this book, but I’m glad I did.  Lippman produced an engaging, quick read and, if this is indicative of her usual style, then I’m definitely down for more.