Laura Lippman’s chronicles of Baltimore—and the human heart—shine in this collection of 12 short stories that examine betrayal and emotional blackmail that can spiral out of control. . . . Long-time fans of Lippman will devour Seasonal Work , which also serves as an entry point for new Lippman readers.
"“A masterful collection... Zipping through this section of the collection is inevitable.
"All in all, this is a first-rate collection, an obvious must for the legions of Lippman fans, but also great reading for anyone who savors short crime fiction."
Booklist (starred review)
[Lippman] only seems to be getting better.
"Some writers are good at novels but not short stories (or the other way around); Lippman aces both... they put on display Lippman’s skill at crafting suspense, her way of dropping a detail deep into the story that skews the reader’s perspective a little — or a lot."
11/29/2021
Bestseller Lippman (Dream Girl ) displays her uncanny understanding of human nature and all its foibles in this worthy collection of 12 stories involving deceit, violence, and psychological mayhem. In the edgy “Slow Burner,” a married couple, Liz and Phil, engage in metaphorical fisticuffs after healing from the husband’s infidelity a year previously. Then Liz finds a burner phone in the laundry basket with incriminating texts on it. She tries to trivialize it as an example of Phil’s “delight in being new to someone, anyone,” but soon realizes this affair runs as deeply as the first. She takes matters into her own hands, with frightening results. Another standout is “Five Fires,” in which a jealous small-town deli worker is determined to find the arsonist setting nearby fires, but her schizophrenia conceals the shocking truth about the crimes. Booksellers will relish “The Book Thing,” in which PI Tess Monaghan, Lippman’s series lead, catches the man stealing inventory from indie bookstores—and discovers his extraordinary use for the books. Not every entry is top-notch, but anything from Lippman is worth reading. Agent: Vicky Bijur, Vicky Bijur Literary. (Jan.)
This collection of a dozen delightful stories from Lippman (Tess Monaghan series; Dream Girl ) features resourceful women from many walks of life... A must for Lippman fans and devotees of female-empowerment crime fiction.” — Library Journal (starred review)
"Clever, well-paced, laced with humor and insight—damn fine short stories." — Kirkus Reviews
“Lippman displays her uncanny understanding of human nature and all its foibles in this worthy collection of 12 stories involving deceit, violence, and psychological mayhem.” — Publishers Weekly
“Some writers are good at novels but not short stories (or the other way around); Lippman aces both... they put on display Lippman’s skill at crafting suspense, her way of dropping a detail deep into the story that skews the reader’s perspective a little—or a lot.” — Tampa Bay Times
“Laura Lippman’s chronicles of Baltimore—and the human heart—shine in this collection of 12 short stories that examine betrayal and emotional blackmail that can spiral out of control. . . . Long-time fans of Lippman will devour Seasonal Work , which also serves as an entry point for new Lippman readers.” — Florida Sun-Sentinel
"All in all, this is a first-rate collection, an obvious must for the legions of Lippman fans, but also great reading for anyone who savors short crime fiction." — Booklist (starred review)
"“A masterful collection... Zipping through this section of the collection is inevitable.” — Woman Around Town
"Her celebratory gift to avid fans and new readers alike is Seasonal Work , an electrifying collection of short stories, which includes a compelling new novella. Lippman is a literary luminary, shining as brightly as the towering, red neon Domino Sugars sign that proclaims “Home” to returning Baltimoreans." — BookTrib
“[Lippman] only seems to be getting better.” — Entertainment Weekly
Great book. Well paced. Beautifully observed details. Interesting characters and nuance in the right places. [...] Thoroughly enjoyed this book and the protagonist who is flawed and brilliant and ruthless and unapologetic.
Haunting . . . extraordinary . . . Lippman, who is the closest writer America has to Ruth Rendell, is after bigger game. The arc of Maddie’s character—her mid-1960s ‘journey,’ if you like—reflects the gulf which then existed between what women were expected to be and what they aspired to be.
Baltimore in the mid-1960s is the setting of Lady in the Lake , the latest novel from the ever impressive Laura Lippman...Lippman’s book is revelatory, too, in showing the personal and professional costs to others—friends, loved ones, sources, witnesses—of Maddie’s single-minded quest for achievement and recognition.
Inspired by the unsolved death of Shirley Parker... Lippman’s ambitious novel weaves some 20 points of view into a seamless, vivid whole. The novel demonstrates that Lippman, a former Baltimore Sun reporter, is both a skilled journalist and a masterful novelist.
[Lippman] tells a classic mystery through the prism of many characters, all feeling the reverberations of dawning feminism and racial tension in civil-rights-era Baltimore...Lady in the Lake is aching, thoughtful, and compulsively readable.
Don’t miss this novel.
Inspired by the unsolved death of Shirley Parker... Lippman’s ambitious novel weaves some 20 points of view into a seamless, vivid whole. The novel demonstrates that Lippman, a former Baltimore Sun reporter, is both a skilled journalist and a masterful novelist.
Baltimore in the mid-1960s is the setting of Lady in the Lake , the latest novel from the ever impressive Laura Lippman...Lippman’s book is revelatory, too, in showing the personal and professional costs to others—friends, loved ones, sources, witnesses—of Maddie’s single-minded quest for achievement and recognition.
03/01/2022
Lippman's (Dream Girl ) short story collection begins with "Seasonal Work," in which listeners discover a man's peculiar Christmas traditions. This ensemble of suspenseful and sometimes even sinister narratives will leave listeners amazed by the cleverness and deceit of the diverse range of characters. All of the stories were previously published in other works except "Just One More," which was recently written to reflect life during the pandemic. The tales are brought to life by a large cast of narrators including the author, Sophie Amoss, Eileen Stevens, Susan Bennett, Xe Sands, Jason Culp, George Newbern, Janina Edwards, Jane Oppenheimer, Jesse Vilinsky, Carlotta Brentan, Eva Kaminsky, and Sarah Naughton. From a housewife who enjoys snooping around the neighborhood to a man who regularly scams people for money, each character and detail was meticulously crafted to make these stories stand out. VERDICT Fans of the author, as well as anyone who enjoys mystery short stories, will find more than one entry in this collection to love.—Lacey Webster
★ 12/01/2021
This collection of a dozen delightful stories from Lippman ("Tess Monaghan" series; Dream Girl ) feature resourceful women from many walks of life. In the title story, a 14-year-old relates her grifter stepfather's cunning Christmas con; the early 1960s-set "The Everyday Housewife" has Tess Monaghan's mother evading ennui by observing her neighbors; a "Cougar" mom contends with her meth-dealing, freeloading son and his girlfriend; a girl trapped in the "Ice" of a skating pond contemplates the real events of her drowning death while another girl skates on thin ice above. Lippman's heroines are not easily scorned or fooled, except occasionally by themselves. This is evident in the haunting "Five Fires," and in the only new novella in the collection, the COVID-tinged "Just One More," with a couple in lockdown trying to revive their marriage. Even when readers see the punchline coming, they will enjoy the intricate characterizations, excellent sense of place, and eagle-eyed cultural references. The last three stories in the collection are the strongest, especially "Slow Burner," about a cheating husband, a suspicious wife, and an extra cell phone. VERDICT A must for Lippman fans and devotees of female-empowerment crime fiction.—Liz French, Library Journal
Each of these suspenseful stories, written over 12 years, is told by a uniquely talented narrator. The variety contributes to the listener’s sense of dipping into different perspectives. Dark plots and fierce females are common threads. The author herself delivers the afterword, in which she explains how she rewrote older stories that hadn’t aged well. “Just One More” is a novella featuring a married couple who sign up for a dating app during the Covid pandemic to see if they would be matched with each other. When one spouse takes the game more seriously than the other, it sparks intrigue during an otherwise boring time. Like the other narrators in the collection, Sarah Naughton uses her range of tones well. A.L.C. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
Each of these suspenseful stories, written over 12 years, is told by a uniquely talented narrator. The variety contributes to the listener’s sense of dipping into different perspectives. Dark plots and fierce females are common threads. The author herself delivers the afterword, in which she explains how she rewrote older stories that hadn’t aged well. “Just One More” is a novella featuring a married couple who sign up for a dating app during the Covid pandemic to see if they would be matched with each other. When one spouse takes the game more seriously than the other, it sparks intrigue during an otherwise boring time. Like the other narrators in the collection, Sarah Naughton uses her range of tones well. A.L.C. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
2021-12-24
Lippman fans will be glad to hear that the first two stories in her second collection of short fiction—after Hardly Knew Her (2008)—feature Tess Monaghan, now-retired private investigator and star of a dozen mystery novels. The first, the title story, is about a long con featuring the wise child of a grifter dad; the second is a very Baltimorean story set in a children's bookstore with an ongoing shoplifting problem. The third story features a couple that insiders will recognize as Tess' parents in the years before she was born. Though Judith Monaghan is "The Everyday Housewife," her powers of observation and interest in the lives of others presage her daughter's talents—as one character points out, "It's a thin line between gossip and espionage." The remaining nine stories take on a sparkling array of everyday cheaters, liars, egotists, and sexist pigs. In "Slow Burner," a perfectly pleasant high school teacher "has been spying on [her husband] for so long it's hard to remember what she might know and what she can't know." But as her students point out during their mythology unit, "Hades is a kidnapper, plain and simple. Why should Persephone be punished for eating a few seeds?...To teenagers, the gods are like adults, taking themselves much too seriously, demanding respect they have not earned, changing the rules as it suits them while torturing the puny mortals in their care." Oof. As the author explains in an interesting afterword, the stories—four of which, she proudly notes, do not a include a dead body—were written between 2007 and 2019 and had to be updated slightly to conform to current standards. Sensitivity, however, only goes so far with a crime novelist. When the pandemic comes along in the last story, "Just One More," it only makes murder more acceptable. "Hundreds of people were dying every day. What was one more body on the pile?"
Clever, well-paced, laced with humor and insight—damn fine short stories.
