- The Stars, Like Dust
- In the Midst of Death
- The Puzzle of the Silver Persian
- The Pit and the Pendulum
- Innocent Graves
- The Case of the Buried Clock
- Have His Carcase
- THE KILLER INSIDE ME
- A Nice Class of Corpse
- Time to Murder and Create
- Pictures of Perfection
- In the Teeth of the Evidence
- Might as Well Be Dead
- Face to Face
Butcher's Hill
US publication: 1999
Author: Laura Lippman
Detective:
Genre: Novel
Plot
summary and comments:
No sooner has Tess Monaghan hung her PI-for-hire shingle outside her new office on Butchers Hill when in walks Luther Beale. A notorious vigilante who shot a boy for vandalizing his car five years earlier, Luther has just gotten out of prison and wants to make amends, he says, with the kids who witnessed his crime. He needs to find them first, and that's where Tess comes in. But once she starts snooping, the witnesses start dying. Like it or not, she's gotten herself embroiled in a case that could have devastating repercussions—for Tess herself, the city she treasures, and the young lives a corrupt system heartlessly destroys—as she follows a nasty trail of lies, money, and murder that winds from Baltimore's darkest corners all the way back to Butchers Hill.
::READERS REVIEWS::
Can't lose myself in this - I read a Laura Lippman novel and decided to start at the beginning and work my way toward the latest.
I'm now reading Butchers Hill and like the other books by Lippman I can never lose myself in them as I would a John Sandford or Stephen King novel. I find myself looking at the clock while reading Lippman or after about 1 hour I find I have to stop.
I think the reason is the stories are detailed. You meet several characters and find out all about them quickly. Also, her characters often meet at certain places or go someplace together so you get quite a description about what the locale is like.
I don't want to say I need an easy read or that I can't concentrate it's just that I don't lose track of time reading these stories. They're a bit dry actually.
HOwever, the writing is good and there is something interesting about her character's ideas.
I'll continue reading them but with breaks in between.
**Just finished Butchers Hill and I have to say the confrontation at the end was ridiculous and seems unrealistic to me.**
Great Mystery - I recently discovered Laura Lippman and am reading this series it order. The first and second were good, but this one is the best so far. This series reminds me of Marcia Muller's books.....they keep getting better and better. Bravo!! It is so wonderful to discover a great new author.
Liberal Bias - The characters are one-dimensional and the plot is predicatable as soon as the author reveals her liberal bias.
Reviewed for Midwest Book Review - Private investigator Tess Monaghan's first official client is Luther Beale, known as the Butcher of Butchers Hill. Five years earlier, Luther was imprisoned for shooting a young boy vandalizing his car, and Luther wants Tess to find the children who witnessed the shooting so he can make amends to them. Almost immediately, two of those children are found murdered and the police target Beale as the killer. Tess's second case, which becomes a parallel investigation, involves a sophisticated fundraiser who wants Tess to find the child her sister gave up for adoption thirteen years earlier. Tess soon finds herself chasing clues on two cases based on deception, one of which will lead Tess back to her own childhood.
Tess Monaghan is a refreshing character; an athletic woman with flawed characteristics and a dysfunctional family who strives to do the ethical thing. Lippman provides two mysteries based on misconceptions and falsehoods which the reader will enjoy trying to solve along with Tess.
Butcher's Hill - I like all Laura Lippman books. They are interesting with that local flair. I haven't finished reading it yet. but so far so good...
::AMAZON REVIEWS::
Can't lose myself in thisI read a Laura Lippman novel and decided to start at the beginning and work my way toward the latest.
I'm now reading Butchers Hill and like the other books by Lippman I can never lose myself in them as I would a John Sandford or Stephen King novel. I find myself looking at the clock while reading Lippman or after about 1 hour I find I have to stop.
I think the reason is the stories are detailed. You meet several characters and find out all about them quickly. Also, her characters often meet at certain places or go someplace together so you get quite a description about what the locale is like.
I don't want to say I need an easy read or that I can't concentrate it's just that I don't lose track of time reading these stories. They're a bit dry actually.
HOwever, the writing is good and there is something interesting about her character's ideas.
I'll continue reading them but with breaks in between.
**Just finished Butchers Hill and I have to say the confrontation at the end was ridiculous and seems unrealistic to me.**
Great MysteryI recently discovered Laura Lippman and am reading this series it order. The first and second were good, but this one is the best so far. This series reminds me of Marcia Muller's books.....they keep getting better and better. Bravo!! It is so wonderful to discover a great new author.
Liberal BiasThe characters are one-dimensional and the plot is predicatable as soon as the author reveals her liberal bias.
Reviewed for Midwest Book ReviewPrivate investigator Tess Monaghan's first official client is Luther Beale, known as the Butcher of Butchers Hill. Five years earlier, Luther was imprisoned for shooting a young boy vandalizing his car, and Luther wants Tess to find the children who witnessed the shooting so he can make amends to them. Almost immediately, two of those children are found murdered and the police target Beale as the killer. Tess's second case, which becomes a parallel investigation, involves a sophisticated fundraiser who wants Tess to find the child her sister gave up for adoption thirteen years earlier. Tess soon finds herself chasing clues on two cases based on deception, one of which will lead Tess back to her own childhood.
Tess Monaghan is a refreshing character; an athletic woman with flawed characteristics and a dysfunctional family who strives to do the ethical thing. Lippman provides two mysteries based on misconceptions and falsehoods which the reader will enjoy trying to solve along with Tess.
Butcher's HillI like all Laura Lippman books. They are interesting with that local flair. I haven't finished reading it yet. but so far so good...