Since Laura Lippman's debut, she has been recognized as a distinctive voice in mystery fiction and named one of the "essential" crime writers of the last 100 years. Stephen King called her "special, even extraordinary," and Gillian Flynn wrote, "She is simply a brilliant novelist." Her books have won most of the major awards in her field and been translated into more than twenty-five languages. She lives in Baltimore and New Orleans with her teenager.
In the ninth Tess Monaghan novel, no good deeds go unpunished. Things are pretty stable between Tess and her do-gooder boyfriend, Crow Ransome, until the night he brings home a homeless teen from the bad part of Baltimore. Lloyd Jupiter initially attempts to pull a scam on Crow, who turns the tables by taking the boy to dinner and giving him shelter for the night. Slowly, the murder of a federal prosecutor, the shooting death of Lloyd's sometime partner in crime, and police corruption all blend and become part of a mystery that Tess must solve. Crow takes Lloyd into hiding, not realizing that Tess is being pressured by several bad cops. The last third of the book contains some real surprises, with a pace that never slows down. Narrator Linda Emond is superb; her diction and timing are perfect. She wisely doesn't attempt to imitate male voices but, with subtle changes in her tone, makes it clear which character is speaking. As always, Lippman presents real people, real speech patterns, and tense situations. Recommended for all public libraries.-B. Allison Gray, John Jermain Memorial Lib., Sag Harbor, NY Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.
Emond has played some amazing characters in the past; her brilliant performance in Tony Kushner's Homebody/Kabul won her an Obie Award. But she is mismatched for No Good Deeds. Lippman's new crime novel commences with a prologue by Crow, Tess Monaghan's boyfriend. The juxtaposition of male narrator and female voice is rather jarring, but mercifully brief. Emond's strongest suit is her performance of the narrative itself, filled as it is with Lippman's intimate knowledge of South Baltimore and its denizens. Unfortunately, the characters themselves are barely distinguishable: white, black, mature or young they sound alike. Perhaps Emond was puzzled about how to handle the novel's bizarre plotting for instance, Crow's insistence on taking home with him the youth who has slashed his tire. It's hard to pay attention to tracking the intricacies of a crime novel when you fear the sleuths need therapy. Perhaps the author is as much off here as the performer. Baltimore crime buffs might opt for a rerun of The Wire instead. Simultaneous release with the Morrow hardcover (Reviews, May 15). (July) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
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