A few months ago, Tess was just a reporter chasing a story. But in the past week, she’s been accused of aiding a murderer, watched her sometimes-lover killed by a hit and run driver aiming for her, and now shot at in a fight to the death with a thug looking to shut her up. The secrets she’s been uncovering while trying to clear her friend’s name has her questioning everything and not believing a soul when they share their side of the story. Will this journalist-turned-Private Investigator really get the truth…or will she die trying?
Baltimore Blues is the first installment in Laura Lippman’s Tess Monaghan series. Lippman pulls on her family history for this story with her father a writer at The Baltimore Sun and her mother a retired librarian. She herself also worked as a reporter and is now a detective mystery writer, winning awards for multiple novels in her long bibliography. Baltimore Blues was a finalist for the Shamus Award for Best First Nove in 1998 after it’s 1997 release. This is a book about the dangers of looking behind doors no one wants opened, but also about the pull of friendship.
I give Baltimore Blues 3 out of 5 stars. I found this novel both irksome and boring at times. It was hard to follow sometimes and the characters were hard to feel attached towards. I did see a few errors in the police procedures described, and also find a few moments in the plot highly unlikely and left me scratching my head more in frustration than in wonder. I also found it bothersome that the publisher found it fit to describe a main character as “cuckolded” in blurbs on promotional sites like GoodReads. There are better word choices here and, quite frankly, I don’t think it fits the character. This is not a book I would go out of my way to recommend to someone, and it also has me steering clear of other Lippman novels in the future.
Given discussions of sex, murder, and other violent crimes, I would recommend this novel for mature readers over 18. I would also caution this book to anyone who has been the victim of gun violence or stalking as moments in the plot might be triggering. If you enjoy police procedurals or like TV’s Rizzoli and Isles, you may enjoy this novel.
I chose Baltimore Blues for the US States reading challenge prompt “Maryland”. I’ve never been to Baltimore, but this book describes so many places around the city that I understand may still be in place. Again, this is not a book I’d actively recommend to friends, but I’ve felt the same way about other big-name releases in the past few years, so you may enjoy this one unlike me. Have you read any of the Tess Monaghan series? Tell me your thoughts!
This post contains affiliate links.
What I’m Reading
- Current print book: A Happier Life, Kristy Woodson Harvey
- Current audio book: The Guncle, Steven Rowley
- Book I’m most looking forward to: Legends of the Fall, Jim Harrison
Read With Lindsey 
One thought on “Baltimore Blues”