Hardly Knew Her - by Laura Lippman (Paperback)

About the Book

"Lippman is a writing powerhouse."--USA" Today" New York Times "bestselling author and winner of every major prize awarded for crime fiction--including the Edgar(R), Anthony, Shamus, Agatha, and Nero Wolfe Awards--Laura Lippman brilliantly demonstrates her astonishing agility as a short story writer with Hardly Knew Her. "A sterling collection of sixteen suspenseful short fictions and novellas--most set in and around her beloved Baltimore and several featuring her popular series character private investigator Tess Monaghan--Hardly Knew Her "was called, "Riveting...One of the best collections released in some time" by the Boston Globe." The Seattle Times "says, "something in the short-story form brings out the wicked in Laura Lippman," and this exceptional collection is indisputable proof that Lippman is without peer as she walks boldly on the dark and dangerous side.

Book Synopsis

"Lippman is a writing powerhouse."

--USA Today

New York Times bestselling author and winner of every major prize awarded for crime fiction--including the Edgar(R), Anthony, Shamus, Agatha, and Nero Wolfe Awards--Laura Lippman brilliantly demonstrates her astonishing agility as a short story writer with Hardly Knew Her. A sterling collection of sixteen suspenseful short fictions and novellas--most set in and around her beloved Baltimore and several featuring her popular series character private investigator Tess Monaghan--Hardly Knew Her was called, "Riveting...One of the best collections released in some time" by the Boston Globe. The Seattle Times says, "something in the short-story form brings out the wicked in Laura Lippman," and this exceptional collection is indisputable proof that Lippman is without peer as she walks boldly on the dark and dangerous side.

From the Back Cover

Hailed as one of the best crime fiction writers in America today, New York Times bestselling author Laura Lippman now reveals another level of her mastery. Each of these ingenious tales is a gem--including the Edgar and Anthony awards-nominated story, Scratch a Woman, in which Lippman takes us deep into the private world of a high-priced call girl/madam and devoted soccer mom, exploring the mystery of what may, in fact, be written in the blood. Sometimes poignant, sometimes humorous, always filled with delightfully unanticipated twists and reversals, here are enthralling excursions to the dark side from "one of today's most pleasing storytellers" (San Diego Union-Tribune).

Review Quotes

"Hypnotic...gripping...an all but flawless performance by a writer at the peak of her powers." - Washington Post
"Every Secret Thing should be shouted about: 'Get out and buy this book!' An absolutely gripping thriller will brilliantly drawn characters, first-class writing, and a narrative drive that will leave you breathless." - Susan Isaacs
"I'm thankful I found Laura Lippman's suspenseful - and ultimately moving - Every Secret Thing, not one of her usual Tess Monaghan mysteries but a stand-alone novel now available in paperback." - bestselling author Stephen King for Entertainment Weekly
"Lippman writes with such a deft touch and with such keen insight." - Chicago Sun-Times
"Unlike many mystery novels, What the Dead Know manages to maintain its suspense until the end... she's a graceful writer... . Truth, identity and the quintessentially American impulse toward self-reinvention are all smartly explored." - Time Out New York
"Lippman is a writing powerhouse." - USA Today
"Lippman takes an imaginative leap and exercises a considerable amount of narrative ingenuity.... She uses her fractured narrative style to delve into the ways in which every serious crime tears to shreds the lives of its victims." - New York Times Book Review
"Uncommonly clever. . . .What the Dead Know, like the best books in this tradition, is doubly satisfying. You read it once just to move breathlessly toward the finale. Then you revisit it to marvel at how well Ms. Lippman pulled the wool over your eyes." - New York Times
"The best mystery writing around." - Village Voice Literary Supplement
"Fans of bestseller Lippman's long-running series featuring Baltimore PI Tess Monaghan (Another Thing to Fall, etc.) will be pleased to find that the 17 selections in her first short story collection are as intricate and witty as her novels." - Publishers Weekly
"Both entertaining and unexpectedly touching. More Please." - Baltimore Sun
"Again, Yes! To Tess." - Baltimore Sun
"Laura Lippman's stories aren't just mysteries; they are deeply moving explorations of the human heart. She is quite simply one of the best crime novelists writing today." - Tess Gerritsen, author of THE MEPHISTO CLUB
"Edgar-winner Lippman...shows she's as good as...other A-list thriller writers with this outstanding stand-alone. . . . Lippman, who has won Shamus, Agatha, Anthony and Nero Wolfe awards, should gain many new fans with this superb effort." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Lippman has not only expanded the frontiers of genre fiction, she has enriched literature as a whole." - Chicago Sun-Times