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Laura Lippman

(b.1959)

Laura Lippman was a reporter for twenty years, including twelve years at The (Baltimore) Sun. She began writing novels while working full-time and published seven books about “accidental PI” Tess Monaghan before leaving daily journalism in 2001.

Awards: Edgar (2025), CrimeFest (2024), Anthony (2015), Macavity (2008) see all

Genres: Mystery

New and upcoming books

June 2025

Murder Takes a Vacation
(Mrs Blossom Mystery, book 1)

Series

Tess Monaghan
   1. Baltimore Blues (1997)
   2. Charm City (1997)
   3. Butchers Hill (1998)
   4. In Big Trouble (1999)
   5. The Sugar House (2000)
   6. In A Strange City (2001)
   7. The Last Place (2002)
   8. By a Spider's Thread (2004)
   9. No Good Deeds (2006)
   10. Another Thing to Fall (2008)
   11. The Girl in the Green Raincoat (2011)
   12. Hush Hush (2012)
   The Tess Chronicles (2018)
   Tess Monaghan: A Mysterious Profile (2022)

Mrs Blossom Mystery
1. Murder Takes a Vacation (2025)

Novels

   Every Secret Thing (2003)
   To the Power of Three (2005)
   What the Dead Know (2007)
     aka Little Sister
   Life Sentences (2009)
   I'd Know You Anywhere (2010)
     aka Don't Look Back
   The Most Dangerous Thing (2011)
     aka The Innocents
   And When She Was Good (2012)
   After I'm Gone (2014)
   Wilde Lake (2016)
   Sunburn (2018)
   Lady in the Lake (2019)
   Dream Girl (2021)
   Prom Mom (2023)

Collections

   Hardly Knew Her (2008)
   The Accidental Detective (2012)
   Femme Fatale and Other Stories (2012)
   Different for Girls (2018)
   Nasty Girls (2018)
   The Weaker Sex (2018)
   Seasonal Work (2022)

Novellas and Short Stories

   Arm and the Woman (2009)
   The Babysitter's Code (2009)
   Black-Eyed Susan (2009)
   The Crack Cocaine Diet (2009)
   Dear Penthouse Forum (2009)
   Easy as A-B-C (2009)
   Femme Fatale (2009)
   A Good Fuck Spoiled (2009)
   Honor Bar (2009)
   One True Love (2009)
   Pony Girl (2009)
   Ropa Vieja (2009)
   Scratch a Woman (2009)
   The Shoeshine Man's Regrets (2009)
   What He Needed (2009)
   Five Fires (2014)

Series contributed to

Akashic Noir
Baltimore Noir (2006)

Bibliomysteries / Death Sentences
The Book Thing (2012)

Best American Mystery Stories
The Best American Mystery Stories 2014 (2014) (with Otto Penzler)
aka The Best American Mystery Stories: Volume 17

Hush
3. Slow Burner (2020)

Mysterious Profiles
Tess Monaghan: A Mysterious Profile (2022)

Picture Books show

Non fiction show

Omnibus editions show

Books containing stories by Laura Lippman

Christmas Crimes at the Mysterious Bookshop (2024)
edited by
Otto Penzler

The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2021 (2021)
(Best American Mystery Stories)
edited by
Alafair Burke

Deadly Anniversaries (2020)
(Mystery Writers of America Presents)
edited by
Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini

More books

Awards

	2025 Edgar Award Grand Master
	2024 CrimeFest: eDunnit Award : Prom Mom
	2019 CrimeFest: eDunnit Award : Sunburn
	2017 CrimeFest: eDunnit Award : Wilde Lake
	2015 Anthony Award for Best Novel : After I'm Gone
	2008 Macavity Award for Best Novel : What the Dead Know
	2008 Barry Award for Best Novel : What the Dead Know
	2008 Anthony Award for Best Short Story : Hardly Knew Her
	2008 Anthony Award for Best Novel : What the Dead Know
	2007 Anthony Award for Best Novel : No Good Deeds
	2004 Barry Award for Best Novel : Every Secret Thing
	2004 Anthony Award for Best Novel : Every Secret Thing
	2001 Nero Award : The Sugar House
	2000 Shamus Award for Best Original PI Paperback : In Big Trouble
	2000 Anthony Award for Best Paperback original : In Big Trouble
	1999 Anthony Award for Best Paperback original : Butchers Hill
	1999 Agatha Award for Best Novel : Butchers Hill
	1998 Shamus Award for Best Original PI Paperback : Charm City
	1998 Edgar Award for Best Paperback original : Charm City

Award nominations

	2023 Short Story Dagger (longlist) : Just One More
	2022 CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger (shortlist) : Dream Girl
	2020 Macavity Award for Best Novel (nominee) : Lady in the Lake
	2020 Anthony Award for Best Novel (nominee) : Lady in the Lake
	2019 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller (nominee) : Lady in the Lake
	2019 Anthony Award for Best Novel (nominee) : Sunburn
	2017 Macavity Award for Best Novel (nominee) : Wilde Lake
	2017 Barry Award for Best Novel (nominee) : Wilde Lake
	2017 Anthony Award for Best Novel (nominee) : Wilde Lake
	2014 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller (nominee) : After I'm Gone
	2011 Edgar Award for Best Novel (nominee) : I'd Know You Anywhere
	2011 Anthony Award for Best Novel (nominee) : I'd Know You Anywhere
	2010 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller (nominee) : I'd Know You Anywhere
	2009 Macavity Award for Best Mystery Short Story (nominee) : Scratch a Woman
	2009 Edgar Award for Best Short Story (nominee) : Scratch a Woman
	2009 Anthony Award for Best Short Story (nominee) : Scratch a Woman
	2008 Edgar Award for Best Short Story (nominee) : Hardly Knew Her
	2008 CWA Gold Dagger (shortlist) : What the Dead Know
	2006 Anthony Award for Best Novel (nominee) : To the Power of Three
	2005 Edgar Award for Best Novel (nominee) : By a Spider's Thread
	2005 Anthony Award for Best Novel (nominee) : By a Spider's Thread
	2005 Agatha Award for Best Novel (nominee) : By a Spider's Thread
	2003 Shamus Award for Best PI Novel (nominee) : The Last Place
	2003 Agatha Award for Best Short Story (nominee) : What He Needed
	2000 Edgar Award for Best Paperback original (nominee) : In Big Trouble
	2000 Agatha Award for Best Novel (nominee) : In Big Trouble
	1999 Shamus Award for Best Original PI Paperback (nominee) : Butchers Hill
	1999 Macavity Award for Best Novel (nominee) : Butchers Hill
	1999 Edgar Award for Best Paperback original (nominee) : Butchers Hill
	1998 Shamus Award for Best First PI Novel (nominee) : Baltimore Blues
	1998 Macavity Award for Best First Novel (nominee) : Charm City
	1998 Anthony Award for Best Paperback original (nominee) : Charm City

Laura Lippman recommends

Kill Your Darlings (2025)
Peter Swanson
"An ingenious twist on a noir classic, about the hell that awaits co-conspirators Wendy and Thom after they become a 'happy' married couple. Swanson's decision to move swiftly backward in time over 40-plus years is surprisingly suspenseful. I raced through the pages, anxious to learn the couple's last deadly secret -- and I was not disappointed."

Broiler (2024)
Eli Cranor
"Eli Cranor has a restless imagination that serves him - and his readers - well. Broiler is his latest Trojan Horse of a novel, a satisfying hunk of noir that tells us far more about the American South than those endless newspaper think pieces set in diners and gas stations. Want to understand what's going on in the United States right now? Read Eli Cranor."

Since She's Been Gone (2024)
Sagit Schwartz
"Since She's Been Gone is a fast-paced, timely thriller that sets itself apart with its nuanced, informed view of eating disorders."

Beware the Woman (2023)
Megan Abbott
"Beware the Woman is Megan Abbott at her best, which is about as good as it gets. A modern-day Gothic, it is chilling and creepy, feverish and surreal, and compulsively readable."

I Have Some Questions for You (2023)
Rebecca Makkai
"Some books are so universal that they feel bizarrely specific: I read I Have Some Questions for You as if it was written just for me, but I can't imagine who wouldn't love it. Timely, provocative, nuanced, generous-Rebecca Makkai astonishes once again with the perfect combination of brains and heart."

The World Cannot Give (2022)
Tara Isabella Burton
"THE WORLD CANNOT GIVE is the perfect book for anyone who loves A SEPARATE PEACE, anyone who hates A SEPARATE PEACE and anyone who has never read A SEPARATE PEACE. It is at once wonderfully old-fashioned yet thrillingly modern, rich in setting and character, specific and universal. In short: I loved it."

Like a Sister (2022)
Kellye Garrett
"Kellye Garrett, a break-out star in crime fiction since her debut, has upped the ante with her latest, Like a Sister. A traditional mystery set in the world of reality television and Instagram influencers, it is equal parts charm and heartbreak, with razor-sharp insights on class, race, and family. I'm happy to know that Kellye Garrett is just getting started. I can't wait to see what she does next."

What's Done in Darkness (2021)
Laura McHugh
"Laura McHugh is already on everyone’s short list of crime writers to watch for, someone who just goes from strength to strength. What’s Done in Darkness is timely, but more important, it’s a deeply empathetic look at a community and place that are all too easy to stereotype. Compulsively, propulsively readable, it never loses sight of what’s really at stake for its characters—or its readers."

Bad Habits (2021)
Amy Gentry
"It is almost impossible to find the words for a truly original novel such as Bad Habits, a primal scream of a book that could be written only by this author at this time. Amy Gentry is in utter control of this anaconda of a story as it twists, squeezes and lashes out at the reader. And all the reader can do is stare helplessly back, mesmerized. In case it’s not clear, I loved it."

Leave the World Behind (2020)
Rumaan Alam
"You will want to read Leave the World Behind very quickly, you will want to read it very slowly and savor every word. Rumaan Alam's ingenious, gorgeously written novel feels both like a prophecy and a contemporaneous response to our anxious era, all of it building to a perfect finale."

Blacktop Wasteland (2020)
S A Cosby
"The book will leave you breathless, but also desperate to know where Cosby will take us next."

Little Secrets (2020)
Jennifer Hillier
"Little Secrets starts with every parent's nightmare--the disappearance of a child in a crowded store. If that sounds like tough stuff, trust me, you want to keep reading. Better yet, trust Jennifer Hillier, a rising star in crime fiction whose work is like no one else's. That gut punch of an opener jumps to a twisty tale of trauma and grief and revenge, with extraordinary empathy for everyone involved."

Separation Anxiety (2020)
Laura Zigman
"[Separation Anxiety] is compassionate and funny, articulating with gentle humor the terrible things that we’re all grappling with. To steal a phrase from my daughter, it made me happy-cry."

Pretty as a Picture (2020)
Elizabeth Little
"Elizabeth Little is part of an exciting new generation of crime writers who have been bending this sturdy genre into new, unexpected shapes. Pretty as a Picture is a glorious buffet--a twisty story, a cinephile's delight, a knockout of a heroine. I loved it."

The Hidden Things (2019)
Jamie Mason
"The Hidden Things confirms Jamie Mason's prodigious and wholly original talent. In a world of copycat writers chasing trends, she does her own thing -- and it's magnificent."

Miracle Creek (2019)
Angie Kim
"Miracle Creek is a marvel, a taut courtroom thriller that ultimately tells the most human story imaginable, a story of good intentions and reckless passions. Compelling, generous, at once empathetic and unsparing. I am wrecked, I am heartened and hopeful, which means, in short, that Miracle Creek is pretty much the perfect novel for these chaotic times in which we live."

November Road (2018)
Lou Berney
"Lou Berney has quickly become one of crime fiction’s stand-outs, a quietly subversive writer who can surprise the most jaded readers. NOVEMBER ROAD delivers everything we have come to expect from him -- and then some."

Down the Darkest Street (2016)
(Pete Fernandez, book 2)
Alex Segura
"So many writers have tried to reinvent the PI novel in recent years that it's refreshing to be reminded it was never broken. DOWN THE DARKESTSTREET is classic PI fiction in the best sense, with a vibrant settingand a character who's so much more than the sum of his flaws."

Devils And Dust (2015)
(Jack Keller, book 4)
J D Rhoades
"Rhoades' star is raising almost as fast as his own rocket across the page."

The Monogram Murders (2014)
(Hercule Poirot Mystery, book 1)
Sophie Hannah
"Sophie Hannah is a prodigious talent. I can’t wait to see what she does next."

The Devil in Her Way (2013)
(Maureen Coughlin, book 2)
Bill Loehfelm
"Bill Loehfelm, a rising star in crime fiction, just keeps rising higher..."

Cold Shot to the Heart (2011)
(Crissa Stone, book 1)
Wallace Stroby
"Just when you think that you can't be surprised anymore, a writer like Wallace Stroby ups the ante."

Print the Legend (2010)
(Hector Lassiter, book 8)
Craig McDonald
"The competition for the future of crime fiction is fierce, but don't take your eyes off Craig McDonald. He's wily, talented and -- rarest of the rare -- a true original. I am always eager to see what he's going to do next."

Next (2010)
James Hynes
"One of the most surprising, delightful, compulsively readable, and ultimately profound novels I've read in some time."

Cemetery Road (2009)
Gar Anthony Haywood
"Cemetery Road is the kind of novel that only a seasoned writer can bring us."

An Empty Death (2009)
(DI Ted Stratton, book 2)
Laura Wilson
"An exceptional talent... few writers working today can deliver this kind of one-two punch. Terrific."

Liars Anonymous (2009)
Louise Ure
"Louise Ure is an exciting new voice in the mystery field."

When One Man Dies (2007)
(Jackson Donne Mystery, book 1)
Dave White
"White manages the neat trick of respecting the genre's traditions while daring to nudge it toward something new and unexpected."

Walla Walla Suite (2007)
(Quinn , book 2)
Anne Argula
"This book will delight anyone who has ever feared that the private detective novel has no new tricks - or voices - up its sleeve."

A Welcome Grave (2007)
(Lincoln Perry, book 3)
Michael Koryta
"With the publication of A Welcome Grave, it's time to stop referring to Michael Koryta as a boy wonder and just focus on the sheer wonder of his storytelling. Koryta knows how to put his characters---and his readers---into an ever-tightening vise of twists, turns, and conspiracies, but it's his empathy that makes his work stand out. This is a nuanced, mature novel that proves both the depth of Koryta's talent and the vitality of the PI genre."

The Only Suspect (2005)
Jonnie Jacobs
"A riveting, twisty and very timely read. You won't be going anywhere until you find how this one ends."

Dead Frenzy (2003)
(Loon Lake Fishing Mystery, book 4)
Victoria Houston
"Wonderful characters... Loon Lake is a great getaway."

Delusion (2002)
(Dr Peter Zak, book 3)
G H Ephron (Donald A Davidoff)
"A terrific series. Delusion offers up all the pleasures we have come to expect - the wonderfully human protagonist of Zak, a twisty plot, and incisive writing."

Straw Men (2001)
(Memory, book 3)
Martin J Smith
"The creepiest good time I've had in ages - a genuine page-turner."

Grand Delusion (2000)
(Jacob Burns Mystery, book 2)
Matt Witten
"A winner. Cozy fans are going to love this guy."

Killer Wedding (2000)
(Madeline Bean Culinary Mystery, book 3)
Jerrilyn Farmer
"Madeline Bean gives great dish in every sense of the word!"

The Flower Master (1999)
(Rei Shimura, book 3)
Sujata Massey
"Her best yet. Intricate plotting and writing as beautiful as the ikebana described herein."

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