The books I enjoy best are those that work on several levels, and Wilde Lake met that standard for me. As a mystery, it kept me interested and engaged, dribbling out the clues for the reader to grasp at for guessing at the ending, and with a satisfying ending that tied all the threads together. The main characters – and even some of the peripheral characters – were realistically nuanced, with none being truly likeable. But a significant part of the fun was the sense of place. I was fascinated by the origins and evolution of Columbia, Maryland, which was so strongly evoked by the author that it seemed almost its own character.

Audiobook, borrowed from my public library. Excellent performance by Kathleen McInerney, who created two consistent narrator voices and personas, which made following the unusual storytelling device of main character (1st person) past and (3rd person) present much less confusing to follow on audio than it might have been.
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This is my third Laura Lippman book and I am getting slightly burnt out. A little too many red herrings complicate my enjoyment. I know her goal is to present ordinary characters committing murder and she does succeed. It seems to be falling into a trap of predictability. I need to take a break. ( )

There's no other way to describe this than pedestrian. It's slow, lacks depth and the characters are simpleton. With so many great stories to read, I saw no value in going any further. Sorry but this is a real dog... Woof! ( )

Dark and twisty. This is my first Laura Lippman novel, and I'm already looking forward to reading more! ( )

Wilde Lake not only was an engrossing book it also gave me a new favorite author that I really need to read more books by. Why haven't I read anything by Laura Lippman before? Wilde Lake jumps between the present story with Luisa "Lu" Brant investigating as an attorney a murder and through flashbacks to the 80s do we get to know more about Lu's childhood, her growing up with her father and brother and a murder case that made her father, who was an attorney too, famous. We also learn about the night Lu's brother saved his best friends life at the cost of another man's life.

Boy, there are secrets in this book. A busload of them. And, I really loved getting to the bottom of the story because nothing is at it seems. Flawed characters, terrible secrets, and really flesh out characters and all starts with the murder that Lu is investigating. Fabulous book! ( )