Since mysteries and psychological thrillers are my favorite kinds of stories, I was thrilled (pun intended) to discover a treasure trove of must-reads in Laura Lippman’s catalog.
An award-winning writer of many standalone mysteries and her well-loved Tess Monaghan private detective series, Lippman got her start as a journalist for The Baltimore Sun, so it makes sense that many of her books are ripped straight from the headlines (and set in Baltimore).
Here, I’m pleased to offer what I consider to be the best books by Laura Lippman (trust me, it was hard to choose between so many incredible options). Sunburn and To The Power of Three are fan favorites, but no matter which Lippman bestseller you explore first, rest assured there will be plenty of tension and twists to keep you enthralled from first clue to final reveal.
1. Sunburn
“Every time Laura Lippman comes out with a new book, I get chills because I know I am back in the hands of the master,” says Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn in her blurb of Sunburn, which she calls a “dark, gleaming noir gem.”
Just as much a thriller as it is a psychological drama, Sunburn will have you asking yourself, “Who’s playing who?” when Polly and Adam’s passionate summer affair gives way to deceit, revenge, and murder.
Kat, Josie, and Perri are inseparable — everyone in their Baltimore suburb knows it — but a violent shooting spree at Glendale High ruins everything. One of the trio is dead, another horribly maimed. And the third? Well, her story just isn’t adding up.
As police begin piecing together the clues, Lippman provides flashbacks of the girls’ early lives, laying the foundation for their friendship and introducing all sorts of would-be suspects. Class divides in Glendale — formerly a small farming town — spark even more questions about whodunit.
In this Everand Original memoir, Lippman recounts an especially hard summer of family illness, physical misadventure, and emotional upheavals. But with self-deprecating humor as both a sword and shield, she never stayed down for long. Now, in The Summer of Fall, she shares how she managed to thrive in spite of it all.
A hit-and-run revives a cold case after the driver, caught by Baltimore police, claims to be one of two sisters who vanished without a trace three decades ago. Fueling the fires of mystery, there’s no proof to back her story.
Lippman based this novel’s premise on a real case from 1975: The Lyon sisters disappeared from a shopping mall without a trace, and their abductor and killer wasn’t caught until 2013. This context makes What the Dead Know — winner of the Anthony Award for Best Novel — all the more chilling.
This sexy and stylish murder mystery was one of the hottest summer thrillers of 2019. Set in 1960s Baltimore, it has Mad Men vibes, swapping out the ad agency for a gritty newsroom.
Maddie, a reporter for the Baltimore Star, investigates the murder of a Black woman found dead in the fountain of the city’s lake. But Maddie’s obsession with solving the overlooked crime triggers dangerous repercussions (including supernatural ones).
Lady in the Lake inspired an Apple TV+ series adaptation starring Natalie Portman and Moses Ingram, which comes out in July.
While Lippman herself is a reporter-turned-author, the protagonist of her detective series is a reporter-turned-private eye.
After Tess Monaghan loses her job at the now-defunct Baltimore Star, she agrees to help her friend Rock Paxton by following his fiancé, whom Rock suspects of cheating. But when “the other man” — a prominent attorney — is murdered, it’s up to Tess to prove Rock’s innocence.
Baltimore Blues, published in 1997, is the first installment in the wildly popular Tess Monaghan series.
7. Charm City
Ametuer private investigator Tess Monaghan is back to sleuthing in this second installment of the series. This time, the case is right up her alley when a hacker infiltrates the Baltimore Beacon-Light, publishing a damning story that leads to the suspicious suicide of a local businessman.
As a former journalist, Tess uses industry insights on her journey to crack the case. But she’s also searching for a violent culprit who put her uncle in a coma — and the two mysteries may just be related.
8. Prom Mom
Years after being convicted of manslaughter for killing her newborn during senior prom, Amber Glass reconnects with the father of the baby, a now-successful real estate broker and serial cheater. Thus begins a twisted game of wits — backdropped by the coronavirus pandemic — culminating in a startling reveal about that fateful night.
“Fans of 1940s noir will delight in the story’s slow burn and hairpin twists at the end,” says The Guardian of this thriller — inspired by a true story — that takes readers down a dizzying rabbit hole of deceit.
After officially setting up shop in Baltimore’s Butchers Hill neighborhood, P.I. Tess Monaghan’s first client comes as a surprise: the Butcher of Butchers Hill. Once a vigilante, the Butcher is looking to make reparations, and he needs Tess to track down the kids who witnessed him commit violence years ago.
Aside from being an engrossing, gritty noir, the third Tess Monaghan book dissects racial tensions in Baltimore and reveals new side characters as we meet Tess’ complicated family. Butchers Hill won the Agatha Award for Best Novel.
10. After I’m Gone
Another Anthony Award winner, After I’m Gone is an incredible example of how Lippman manages to turn every mystery into an intricate character study.
After Felix Brewer is arrested for white collar crimes, he goes on the lam, leaving his wife Bambi, their three daughters, and his mistress Julie to pick up the pieces. When Julie also vanishes years later, everyone thinks she’s finally rejoined Felix at some secret location. But then her slain body is found, and it’s clear there’s more to this mystery than previously assumed.
While the thrust of the story centers Felix’s disappearance and Julie’s murder, this novel focuses on the inner lives of the women Felix abandoned and how his mistakes left wounds that may never heal.
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