Former Baltimore newspaper reporter Tess Monaghan is working several part-part-time jobs to make ends meet, lives above her aunt's place of business at below market rent, works out compulsively, and has a somewhat serious case of doesn't know what to do with herself when a friend hires her to do a small favor for him and suddenly Tess is thrown into exactly the kind of crime procedural a girl like me likes to read.
I can't believe I'd never heard of Lippman before this Fresh Air interview. I mean, this series has a dozen books in it! Girl detective. Awesome city. Pre-cell phone technology. What more could you ask for? Tess is a bit like my girl Kinsey Millhone from the Sue Grafton Alphabet novels. They both seem to be loners who fall into detecting more than choose it. They love the places they live and workout enough to make me feel guilty about the fact that I'm always sitting around reading about them instead of moving my own body. They both occasionally binge on fast food, which makes me feel less bad about my constant $1 large McDonald's Diet Coke addiction.
One of the biggest elements that I enjoyed about this book was that the city of Baltimore is an important character in it. There's a lot here about the declining newspaper industry and its impact on the city. Tess knows the ins and outs of the streets and how the fancypants part of town has a different naming system of streets than the rest of the city. You hear about how the crime statistics are a daily topic of conversation for the citizens. It's not just an exploration of a weird, convoluted crime. It's a story about Baltimore. And I'm here for that.
So I liked this book. I'm going to read more in the series. I'll keep you updated on the quality as the series progresses.
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