Lady in the Lake

Lippman is a solidly reliable author of crime and suspense novels, often with a psychological slant. I picked this one up in anticipation of watching the AppleTV adaptation with Natalie Portman, which I'm looking forward to even more now.

The lady in the lake is a young Black woman who disappears and whose body isn't found for several months. When it is, no one seems to care all that much, except for Maddie, a Jewish woman recently separated from her husband and trying to break through as a reporter for one of Baltimore's daily newspapers. The novel is set in 1966, so the issues of women's rights, civil rights, and latent racism in Baltimore are all explored. I liked how Lippman focused the story on Maddie but included perspectives from show more a variety of minor characters she encounters, plus the voice of Cleo, the dead woman. I did find the ending a bit disappointing for some reason - I can't put my finger on why exactly... Overall, though, it was a very satisfying read.

4 stars show less

When her husband invites home for dinner a man she knew in high school, 37 year old Maddie is jolted out of her comfortable world of being a Jewish housewife and mother to a teenage son. It's 1966, Baltimore is changing and Maddie wants to be out in the world, living. She moves out, gets an apartment and a secret lover and decides that she wants to become a journalist. But she's too old and the wrong gender to get a job at a newspaper the traditional way, so when the disappearance of a little girl gives her an opportunity, she grabs it. But when her dream job turns into her being a glorified secretary, she finds another missing persons case to dig into, a woman whose body is found dumped in a public fountain. But Maddie is an outsider show more just learning her job there are people who have a vested interest in keeping her quiet.

Maddie is a fantastic character. She's by turns yearning and manipulative, honest and willing to do what it takes to get what she wants, independent and insecure. I'm not sure I'd like her if I met her, but she is a fascinating person to follow around.

Laura Lippman is that rare kind of bestseller writer, the kind that is constantly improving their work. She's always been good at putting together a suspenseful plot and paired that with solid writing, but she's been expanding her reach. Yes, this is set in Baltimore, as most of Lippman's books are, but this one deals with both Civil Rights issues and political corruption. There's a lot more depth here than usual and Lippman is up for it, writing a crime novel that works well in its genre, while also providing a novel rich in historical detail and nuanced characters. show less

Laura Lippman says in an author's note that she did not intend “Lady in the Lake” (2019) to be a newspaper novel, but sometimes you really do write what you know, even if you are an experienced novelist. And Lippman was a newspaper reporter in Baltimore before she became a bestselling author, so she knows the territory very well.

“Lady in the Lake” may be one of the best and most unusual murder mysteries you will find — unusual because virtually every character, no matter how insignificant, becomes one of the many narrators. Yet always at the center of the story is Maddie Schwartz, a beautiful 37-year-old Jewish housewife who feels her life rushing by, leaving all her potential behind her. Potential for what, exactly, she show more doesn't know because she has no obvious talent, other than wrapping most men around her finger. But she decides to leave her wealthy husband — and her teenage son — and strike out on her own.

The novel, set in 1966, has two murders that are unrelated except that they both happen in Baltimore and both draw Maddie to them. She finds the body of girl, then provides evidence leading to the murderer. And this she turns into a low-level newsroom position at a Baltimore paper. Struggling to become an actual reporter, she begins investigating another murder that nobody else either at the newspaper or the police department seems to care about.

That's because Cleo Sherwood, called "the lady in the lake," was black. But Maddie does care, partly because she hopes the story will launch her career but also because of a hot affair she is having with a black police officer, Ferdie. At that time in Baltimore black officers, like women approaching middle age working for newspapers, have little chance of advancement. They aren't even trusted with patrol cars. Yet Ferdie learns things that provide valuable tips for Maddie. The rest of her success depends on her own gumption and her refusal to take no for an answer.

The novel describes how an amateur reporter solves two murders without even trying — she's after stories, not killers — yet in Lippman's hands this hardly seems unlikely at all. It is, in fact, highly entertaining. The final reveal, however, does seem like a stretch, not that it will spoil the reader's enjoyment. show less

Wondering if I can write a review that balances the amount of enjoyment I derived from the book against the things that I found frustrating about it?

Briefly, the plot revolves around a 38yr old, privileged (beautiful, comfortably wealthy, well married) Jewish housewife (Maddie Schwartz) living in Baltimore in the 1960s who, in the course of realizing she wants more out of her life than throwing dinner parties, ends up pursuing journalism and becoming involved in the investigation of two murders.

Lippman's gimmick is short, brisk chapters that alternate between 3rd person limited (telling what Maddie is up to) and chapters told in 1st person by the various people she interacts with. These 1st person chapters are creative and diverting; show more what's more, many of them also end up communicating clues and other critical information. The fun is never knowing when something important is going to drop, and being cunning enough to recognize it when it does! Lippman knows how to keep things interesting, and how to keep readers reading.

If only the story lived up to the storytelling! And for the first 75% of the book, I thought it would. But as the novel progresses, Lippman's plotting starts getting sloppier and sloppier: motives become increasingly tenuous, suspects start confessing for no reason other than (seemingly) to further the plot, actions trigger increasingly improbable consequences, and Maddie starts manifesting superhuman abilities (an ability to leap to deductions that would dazzle even Holmes; a sudden, inexplicable capacity for literary genius) despite demonstrating no previous signs of brilliance. Indeed, I found Maddie's whole "character arc" becoming more and more annoying as the story progressed, her early demonstrations of self-awareness and self-actualization (engaging) becoming increasingly narcissistic and condescending (offputting).

What probably irked me the most, though, was the idea of setting a novel in Baltimore in the 1960s, stuffing it with authentic details about the city (lots of interesting references to specific stores, restaurants, neighborhoods, and city institutions) ... but then neglecting to address in any realistic way the simmering racial issues that were festering in the city at that time. While Lippman faithfully represents the structures of racism that existed at that time - institutionalized discrimination, laws preventing miscegenation - her characters, particularly Maddie, behave in ways that seem weirdly oblivious to the social, emotional, or cultural manifestations of those structures. Don't get me wrong - every novel that mentions race doesn't have to be about racism. But the history of Baltimore, especially in the 1960s, is inescapably entangled with social injustice; to ignore that hits as anachronistic. (Speaking of anachronism, what's the deal with the cover art? Would someone who hadn't read the book guess that the face in the background is supposed to be a stunningly beautiful black woman of the 1960s?)

I suppose you might say that reading this is a bit like eating your favorite junk snack food - delicious, as long as you don't make the mistake of thinking too hard about the ingredients or how many empty calories you are consuming. show less

This marvelous and unlikely mashup brings together Herman Wouk's beloved 1955 novel Marjorie Morningstar and two true crime stories. Lippman, a thriller writer of serials featuring a Baltimore PI as well as standalones, here brings us to divided black and white Baltimore in the mid 1960s, and to a Jewish wife who busts loose from her marriage and into the newsroom at the city's afternoon newspaper. Through her own smarts and with the help of her source, a lover who's trying to break the color barrier in the Baltimore police detective bureau, Maddie Schwartz works on two murder cases using her classic good looks (a la Wouk's character) and her smarts and instincts. The most affecting case is that of the title character, Cleo Sherwood, a show more black woman trying to use her own beauty as a stepping stone to a better-than-just-getting-by life for her two sons when her body is found at the bottom of a city fountain. The two women's inner thoughts duel for the attention of the reader, and it's a fair fight. This should become a classic of the thriller genre.

Quote: "She didn't have the luxury of looking too closely at good fortune." show less

Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman is a very highly recommended standalone mystery

Set in Baltimore, Lady in the Lake follows Madeline “Maddie” Schwartz for a little over a year from 1965 to 1966. Maddie is a 37-year-old Jewish housewife who has separated from her husband of almost twenty year after a dinner party forces her to remember that as a young woman she aspired to live a meaningful life. When an 11-year-old girl is missing, presumed dead, Maddie joins the search for her and ends up finding the body and helping the police. Maddie parlays this and some correspondence she had with the suspected killer into a job at the Star, one of the cities local newspapers.

Cleo Sherwood was a young black woman whose body is discovered in the show more Druid Hill Park fountain. While discovering what happened to her murder seems less pressing to the police, Maddie is determined to discover what happened to Cleo. Cleo's ghost, whose voice is an ongoing part of the narrative, wants Maddie to leave it alone. Maddie is sure this is the story that can start her career as a reporter, but Maddie's determination will cause problems for many other people.

Everyone expects exceptional writing from Lippman and Lady in the Lake makes good on that expectation and gives even more. The narrative is mainly told through Maddie's voice, but there is also consistent commentary from Cleo (in italics) as well as first person vignettes from a whole host of other characters that Maddie encounters along the way. For me, these accounts provide a richness and depth to the plot that would have otherwise been an excellent story presented in a more typical style. I applaud Lippman for this choice and appreciated the "Our Town" presentation style. I felt it helped set Lady in the Lake apart and created a more complete picture of the time, place, and people in the novel.

Maddie is a complicated character living in a time when her choices were limited by societal expectations and the men around her. This atmosphere is captured perfectly in Lippman's newspaper noir novel. Maddie is a very well developed character. She may not always know what reactions her actions will result in, but she is determined to uncover the truth behind the two mysteries in the novel. It is to her credit that she seemingly cares more than the police about getting answers. The answers are both there, but getting them comes via a surprising, unexpected twist.

Lady in the Lake is a rich nuanced novel with well-drawn characters, depth, and style. While it is not the adrenaline packed thriller than some fans might have been expecting, I was engrossed in this complex, interesting story from start to finish and give it my highest recommendation.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of HarperCollins.

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Maddy Schwartz lives such a privileged life in the Baltimore suburbs that she’s like something out of the page of a lady’s magazine. Then one night she realizes what she gave up to become the pretty, envied wife, and she decides to start again with a vengeance.

Extremely ambitious in 1966, a time when ambition in women was feared, Maddy sees her ticket into journalism in the untold story of a dead Black woman, killed on New Year’s Day and found in a lake weeks later, a woman identified as good-time girl Cleo Sherwood. Maddy relentless chases a story that editors (all male, of course) at The Baltimore Star refuse to see as worthy due to their racism and sexism. Laura Lippmann’s book — told from Maddy’s perspective, yes, but show more also from Cleo’s and the many people who had a hand in what really happened to Cleo —proves a real page-turner. Nothing prepared me for the ending. Highly recommended. show less