Someone complains that the lights in the fountain at Druid Hill Park have gone out, so Maddie puts in a call. Meanwhile, in her regular job as assistant to the Helpline desk, Maddie stumbles upon anther scoop… and another dead body. Maddie finally has an ‘in’ to her dream of becoming a reporter but she has to fight mighty hard to be given a chance. Tessie Fine is from a well-to-do Jewish family and her story makes the front pages of the local press.

The opportunity arrives in macabre fashion when she and her friend find the body of a young girl who has been missing for days. Having just broken out of the cocoon of wedlock she’s determined to make something of herself. Freshly separated from her husband and with a career history as a housewife, it’s only to be expected really. Most females behind a typewriter were secretaries, and it is in an admin role that Maddie first gets a foot in the door at the Sun. These days the sight of a female journalist is commonplace back then women had to work extra hard for a spot in the newsroom.

It mightn’t sound that long ago, but things have moved on a mighty long way since then. Because instead of setting Lady in the Lake in the annals of recent history, Lippman plops her story slap bang in the middle of the 1960s. Consequently, creating the character of Maddie Schwartz, Baltimore housewife-turned-cub-reporter, must have been a cinch… mustn’t it? Lippman was a reporter for 20 years, with 12 of them based at the Baltimore Sun. Perhaps it’s because, in this case at least, she’s writing about something she knows. Written by Laura Lippman - Here’s an author who has garnered a legion of fans over the years – including Stephen King, who has reviewed Lady in the Lake for the New York Times, no less – so how does Laura Lippman keep writing such fresh and original novels?

Lady in the lake laura lippman review