Hardly Knew Her

by Laura Lippman

A collection, for the first time, of a mix of award-winning short stories and a new novella by the author. Lippman has won every major mystery award.

• ISBN10: 0061584991
• ISBN13: 9780061584992
• Publish Date: 7 October 2008
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Collins
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 304
• Language: English

Reviews

[ibeforem]

This short story collection could have been subtitled “Women Who Kill”, because that is essentially what most of the stories revolve around. It’s a very strong collection, with only a few duds. Strangely, one of those duds was a Tess Monaghan story (Lippman’s most well-known character).

It’s difficult to narrow down exactly which stories were my favorites. The first story, The Crack Cocaine Diet, is fabulous just for its voice. I really enjoyed The Accidental Detective, a newspaper-style piece on Tess Monaghan that gives nice insight into the character, even if you haven’t read any books in that series. Easy as A-B-C was also quite entertaining — one of the few in the collection from a male point of view. And I thought the novella, Scratch a Woman, was very good.

Lippman is an excellent weaver of stories. Even when you think you know where a story is going, she can surprise you. If you enjoy crime fiction or short story collections, I think this is a must-read.