Tess Monaghan Mysteries
2 primary works • 10 total works
Book 2
It's murder in Baltimore these days - and Tess herself might be next on the list . . . From the author of LADY IN THE LAKE and SUNBURN
Winner of Edgar Award and Shamus Award
As a practised reporter until her newspaper went to that great pressroom in the sky, PI Tess Monaghan knows and loves every inch of her native Baltimore. It's a quirky city where baseball reigns, but lately homicide seems to be the second most popular local sport.
Business tycoon 'Wink' Wynkowski is trying to change all that by bringing pro basketball back to town, and everybody's rooting for him - until a devastating, muckraking expose of his lurid past appears on the front page of the BALTIMORE BEACON-LIGHT. It's a surprise even to the newspaper's editors, who thought they'd killed the piece. Instead, the piece killed Wink, who's found in his garage with the car running.
Tess is hired to find the unknown computer hacker who planted the lethal story - but it doesn't take long for her to discover deeper, darker secrets...
Book 3
In trying to prove a friend's innocence PI Tess Monaghan gets more than she bargained for . . .
Until her newspaper, The Baltimore Star, crashed, Tess Monaghan was a first-rate reporter who knew her home town intimately - from historic Fort McHenry to the crumbling projects of Cherry Hill. Now gainfully unemployed at 29 she's willing to do any freelance job to pay the rent - including a bit of unorthodox snooping for her rowing buddy Darryl 'Rock' Paxton.
In a city where someone is murdered almost every day, attorney Michael Abramowitz's death should be just another statistic. But the lawyer's notoriety, and his trysts with Rock's fiancee, make the case front page news - and make Rock the chief suspect ...
For PI Tess Monaghan secrets from the past can be murder . . . From the author of SUNBURN and LADY IN THE LAKE
Winner of the Edgar and Shamus awards
First as a reporter and then as a PI Tess Monaghan has learned how to survive and thrive on the streets of Baltimore. But a new case will force her to confront her own past - and a man she once loved. It starts when she gets a newspaper photograph of an old boyfriend with part of a headline attached: BIG TROUBLE.
The answer to the mystery lies far from Baltimore, deep in a world of good-time music, old-fashioned ambition and rich people's games. And Tess must find out what happened to the man she once loved and the woman who changed him - and the connection to a series of murders . . .
'A plot worthy of Poe himself. Splendid entertainment.' Guardian
'One of the best crime novelists writing today.' TESS GERRITSEN
'An homage to the city of Baltimore.' Booklist
A TESS MONAGHAN MYSTERY
Three red roses and a half-empty bottle of cognac have been left on the grave of Edgar Allan Poe every 19th of January for the past fifty years.
Baltimore P. I. Tess Monaghan takes on the strangest case of her career when a man approaches her asking her to find out who is behind the ritual. On 19th January, as she watches Poe's grave, two cloaked figures appear. There is a gunshot, and one is killed.
Who was the mysterious client who has given her a fake name, and how does an old friend from Tess's past fit into the case? When more cryptic clues are left at her home, Tess realises that someone is watching her every move. Someone bent on killing again.
'Compulsive and beautifully realised.' SHOTS magazine
'Extremely well-written who-done-it. . . A must read for those fellow suspense readers like myself!' 5* reader review
'A satisfying mystery.' 5* reader review
PRAISE FOR THE TESS MONAGHAN SERIES
'Tess is a heroine with a nose for what she is not being told, and she is never content with half the story. These Baltimore novels are effective thrillers, because they are stories about wanting to know what happens next.' Times Literary Supplement
'Whip smart female protagonist, gritty Baltimore setting. Loved Tess!' 5* reader review
'Readers won't be able to resist Tess, who, like one of Baltimore's famous crabs, sports a tough shell that hides a sweet centre.' BOOKLIST
'Digestible, fun, tense' NPR
'In this series, Lippman has developed sturdy tales, wry humour, and snappy dialogue wrapped around an insider's view of Baltimore.' SUN-SENTINEL
'Tess, is a ballsy, free-spirited woman who thinks on her feet and has a commanding physical presence. . . Highly recommend' 5* reader review
'What fun! I discovered a new (to me) mystery series. Tess Monaghan is a terrific main character.' 5* reader review
'I really have fallen in love with Tess Monaghan. These mystery novels well deserve the awards Lippman has won.' 5* reader review
