From award-winning author: Butcher's Hill won the Anthony and the Agatha Awards for best paperback original; Charm City won the Edgar and the Shamus Awards. Lippman's first four mysteries have received a phenomenal total of thirteen awards and nominations. Rave reviews for previous book from the Washington Post: ('A wonderful piece of engaged and engaging writing: focussed, attentive, smart ... a moving, sad feast of a book'); the Boston Globe: ('Compulsive yet thoughtful reading set in a beautifully realised Baltimore'); and the Guardian: ('Ably demonstrates why Lippman has been sweeping up t
Laura Lippman is a reporter and lives in Baltimore. In A Strange City is her sixth novel featuring P.I. Tess Monaghan. Her previous novels are: Baltimore Blues; (nominated for the Shamus Award); Charm City (winner of the Edgar and Shamus Awards); Butchers Hill (winner of the Anthony and Agatha Awards); In Big Trouble (winner of the Anthony and Shamus Awards) and The Sugar House.
Edgar, Shamus, Anthony and Agatha award winner Lippman (Charm City; Butchers Hill; The Sugar House) pays homage to the inventor of the mystery form in this masterly contemporary mystery, set in Baltimore and replete with her trademark dry, sardonic wit. Every January 19th, in honor of Edgar Allan Poe's birthday, a loyal clique waits in the small hours for the "Visitor," also known as the "Poe Toaster," to approach Poe's tomb. He wears a formal cape and carries three blood-red roses and a bottle of cognac as tribute. For some reason the press keep their distance, as do bystanders. This year, for the first time, PI Tess Monaghan is present, too, along with her boyfriend, Crow. Having been roped into attendance by a would-be client, Tess awaits the coming of the Visitor in the freezing winter night. Suddenly, two caped men with roses and cognac show up. A shot rings out one man lies dead, the other runs off. A deliciously complex story follows that brings Baltimore center stage and delves anew into the mysteries surrounding Poe himself. Tess finds her own life in danger, and becomes a primary player in a story she'd intended to view only from the periphery. The author offers a host of Poe-esque thrills, from multiple murders to a woman buried alive. In the denouement, the clock ticks rapidly while Tess matches wits with the killer in order to rescue the victim from her tomb before her air runs out. Lippman shows in this, her sixth novel, that she's indeed deserving of all the kudos she's received. (Sept. 11) Forecast: With national print advertising, a 15-city NPR campaign and a six-city author tour, this novel will be well positioned to climb the genre bestseller charts. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
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