{"id":1092,"date":"2013-09-18T08:37:26","date_gmt":"2013-09-18T12:37:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vg-ford.com\/?p=1092"},"modified":"2013-09-17T23:00:11","modified_gmt":"2013-09-18T03:00:11","slug":"book-review-baltimore-blues-by-laura-lippman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vg-ford.com\/?p=1092","title":{"rendered":"(book review) Baltimore Blues by Laura Lippman"},"content":{"rendered":"

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No, it’s not my reaction to last night’s Red Sox – Orioles game (although boo to Baltimore! \u00a0How do you keep winning against us???) \u00a0Baltimore Blues<\/a> \u00a0is the first book in the Tess Monaghan Mysteries series by Laura Lippman, and I am very, very thankful that my mother introduced me to this unlikely sleuth.<\/p>\n

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Tess Monaghan used to be a reporter. \u00a0Then she was downsized, and now she works in her aunt Kitty’s bookstore, does some work on the side for her uncle Donald, and is basically treading water. \u00a0 Her one passion was writing, and she can’t seem to find anything to do besides be stuck in her rut. \u00a0She rows, she exercises, she eats and she sleeps. \u00a0And she has an off-again, on-again relationship with a fellow reporter, one who DIDN”T get downsized out of the industry.<\/p>\n

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Then her friend Rock comes to her with a problem. \u00a0His fiancee Ava is hiding something, and he’s not sure what it is. \u00a0He asks Tess to help him find out – and he’s willing to pay her to follow Ava to find out. \u00a0Tess isn’t a private eye, but she’s willing to try. \u00a0And that’s the first thing that gets her in trouble.<\/p>\n

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Soon, Tess discovers Ava’s got a habit of taking things that don’t belong to her. \u00a0Then Ava’s boss, lawyer Michael Abramowitz, ends up dead, and Rock’s the lead suspect. \u00a0But there’s more, much more to the story, and Tess shows why she was a good reporter as she starts to hunt it down. \u00a0The problem is that she doesn’t know what she’s doing as a private detective, and she very nearly ends up on the hit list.<\/p>\n

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I liked the writing style and the voices in this. \u00a0It was a good, taut story, but it had humor as well. \u00a0Tess is a great main character – she’s not perfect, far from it, but she’s human, and she’s a fighter. \u00a0I’m waiting for the second novel, Charm City, to come into the library right now.<\/p>\n

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If you like mysteries, check this one out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    No, it’s not my reaction to last night’s Red Sox – Orioles game (although boo to Baltimore! \u00a0How do you keep winning against us???) \u00a0Baltimore Blues \u00a0is the first book in the Tess Monaghan Mysteries series by Laura Lippman, and I am very, very thankful that my mother introduced me to this unlikely …<\/p>\n

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