Lady in the Lake

A Novel

By: Laura Lippman

Narrated by: Susan Bennett

2020 Audie Awards® Finalist - Thriller/Suspense

The revered New York Times best-selling author returns with a novel set in 1960s Baltimore that combines modern psychological insights with elements of classic noir, about a middle-aged housewife turned aspiring reporter who pursues the murder of a forgotten young woman.

In 1966, Baltimore is a city of secrets that everyone seems to know - everyone, that is, except Madeline “Maddie” Schwartz. Last year, she was a happy, even pampered housewife. This year, she’s bolted from her marriage of almost 20 years, determined to make good on her youthful ambitions to live a passionate, meaningful life.

Maddie wants to matter, to leave her mark on a swiftly changing world. Drawing on her own secrets, she helps Baltimore police find a murdered girl - assistance that leads to a job at the city’s afternoon newspaper, the Star. Working at the newspaper offers Maddie the opportunity to make her name, and she has found just the story to do it: a missing woman whose body was discovered in the fountain of a city park lake.

Cleo Sherwood was a young African-American woman who liked to have a good time. No one seems to know or care why she was killed except Maddie - and the dead woman herself. Maddie’s going to find the truth about Cleo’s life and death. Cleo’s ghost, privy to Maddie’s poking and prying, wants to be left alone.

Maddie’s investigation brings her into contact with people who used to be on the periphery of her life - a jewelry store clerk, a waitress, a rising star on the Baltimore Orioles, a patrol cop, a hardened female reporter, a lonely man in a movie theater. But for all her ambition and drive, Maddie often fails to see the people right in front of her. Her inability to look beyond her own needs will lead to tragedy and turmoil for all sorts of people - including the man who shares her bed, a black police officer who cares for Maddie more than she knows.

©2019 Laura Lippman (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers

Kept me listening, start to finish.

This novel falls into several categories. It's a newspaper story as well as a murder mystery involving well-drawn characters. Set in Baltimore, it also addresses the issues of romantic love, finding fulfillment outside of homemaking for a woman at a time when many careers were closed to females, and race relations.

Great read!

I read the Audible reviews for this book. It gets a lot of bad ones . I visited Baltimore last summer with my family and I loved it. Then POTUS said all that stuff about Baltimore. I wanted to support an author from that city, so I did . I loved the narration, and the story. It had depth and kept me listening. I am excited to check out more books by this author !

Lady lives!

Good read. Lippmann characters seem to move between her books . Still enjoyed her writing immensely

wrong narrator

When listening to a book, the narrator is key. Susan Bennett is an excellent narrator, in that she gets the line reads right. But she sounds neither very southern or at all Jewish, and like many female readers totally bombs when trying to sound male.

Great story and performance

Kept me engrossed and the narrator was amazing. I will look for more books by this author.

Good book after a slow start.

the book was wordy at the start but after the whodunit kicked in, it wasinteresting.

Best narration I have ever heard!!

I would have bet money that there had been multiple narrators! What a fantastic job!

Fascinating story and a wonderful listen

Laura Lippman outdoes herself in this fascinating story that takes place in the 1960's. Even though it is told from the point of view of perhaps two dozen people, you'll never be in doubt about whose story you're hearing. All of them are related in some way, and you'll remain interested in each way. This is a real pleasure of a mystery wrapped up in the societal changes of the 60's.

A Novel of Many Voices

I just joined a book club and this was the first book I read for it. The story was so engrossing because of the way it was written in the voices of the characters throughout the book. It really gave an accurate description of life in the 1960’s in the city of Baltimore. The two murders that take place and the mysteries behind them make this book a great read.

Difficult to distinguish characters

From the performance, it was often difficult to distinguish between the different characters, to tell who was talking. This made the story hard to follow early on though it be a e clearer in the second half.