Books chosen for their staying power.

Read any of these and you may think about them for weeks, months or even years afterwards.

BOOK # 10 TOP 10 BOOKS

Baltimore Blues (Tess Monaghan #1)

by Laura Lippman (born January 31, 1959 Atlanta Georgia)
Classification: Mystery, private detectives, Baltimore, fiction

If you are in the mood for a pleasant mystery with well plotted clues that whisks you away with details that make you feel as though you were walking the streets of Baltimore here is your chance.

Start the series at the beginning with this first novel of the Tess Monaghan books. The author was a Baltimore reporter for many years when she began writing fiction in her spare time.

Every journalism class suggests one should “write about what you know” and Laura Lippman knows Baltimore, the ins and outs of the political scene in Maryland, the scandals of the Chesapeake Bay area, and she knows people.

Main character Tess Monaghan is an “accidental” detective who was a crime writer for a Baltimore newspaper but when laid off struggles to make ends meet. She uses her knowledge of the police department and connections to perform odd jobs as a private detective.

This first novel sets the stage for her future books. It is a good little mystery just perfect for a rainy afternoon or boring hours on an airplane. There are a slew of other books to choose from by the same author to curl up with. And all of her books pull some elements of true crime from the archives of actual Baltimore scandals.

Laura Lippman is married to David Simon who was the author of Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets the basis for the TV series Homicide: Life on the Street. he was also executive producer, writer and creator of HBO’s The Wire.

RETURN: BOOK # 1 TOP 10 BOOKS