The Sugar House: A Tess Monaghan Novel

Lippman, Laura

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0062403257 ISBN 13: 9780062403254

Publisher: William Morrow & Company, 2016

Baltimore local Tess Monaghan thought she knew the Sugar House the abandoned factory that remains a stubborn and defiant legacy of the city s past until a client named Ruthie asks the newspaperwoman-turned-p.i. to investigate a year-old Jane Doe murder and its grim aftermath. Ruthie s low-life brother, Henry, confessed to killing a teenage runaway over a bottle of glue and, a month into his prison term, met the same fate as his victim. Following a precious few tantalizing clues, Tess s hunt for the truth is leading her from Baltimore s exclusive Inner Harbor to the city s seediest neighborhoods a hunt that turns deadly with the shocking discovery of the runaway s true identity. Suddenly, a supposedly solved murder case is turning up newer, fresher corpses and newer, scarier versions of the Sugar House places that look sweet and safe . . . but only from the outside."

From the Back Cover:

New York Times bestselling author Laura Lippman's Tess Monaghan must solve one of the most baffling murders in her PI career.

When Tess Monaghan agrees to talk to Ruthie Dembrow, she senses she'll regret it. If there's anything Tess has learned in her work both as a newspaper reporter and then as a PI, it's to trust your instincts. Still, she can't deny she's intrigued when Ruthie asks her to investigate the fatal stabbing of her brother, Henry, while he was locked away for murdering a teenage runaway over a bottle of glue. Henry's death at the hands of fellow convicts doesn't surprise Tess, but what does is that he was convicted for murdering a "Jane Doe"--something that rarely happens in the judicial system.

No ID was found on the victim's body, and her fingerprints didn't match up to any in the national database. How could anyone escape all the identity nets of the modern world? Ruthie is convinced if she learns the identity of her brother's victim, maybe she can also find out why he was killed.

Tess's search takes her on a harrowing journey from Baltimore's exclusive Inner Harbor to the seedy neighborhood of Locust Point. But it's the shocking discovery of the runaway's true identity that turns Tess's hunt deadly. Suddenly, her supposedly solved murder case keeps turning up newer, fresher corpses and scarier versions of the Sugar House--places that look so sweet and safe, but only from the outside.

About the Author:

Since Laura Lippman's debut in 1997, she has been recognized as a distinctive voice in mystery fiction and named one of the "essential" crime writers of the last 100 years. Her books have won most of the major awards in her field and been translated into more than twenty languages. She lives in Baltimore and New Orleans with her family.