Another amazing 3am read by Laura Lippman! Grabbed from the very fist page! I wish I could give the 10 Stars but the maxim is 5

In Baltimore in 1966 Maddie Schwartz is a 37 year old Jewish housewife who decides to leave her marriage after a dinner party with someone who reminded her she wanted more out of life. She has a teenage son, who refuses to go with her, so she is on her own. Maddie becomes obsessed with a young black woman's death, and the lack of police investigation. She is able to acquire a job at a newspaper, but runs into barriers trying to achieve a byline. She thinks the murder is her way into the field, so she begins her own investigation. She refuses to stop looking into it, even though everyone tells her to stop. She is determined to find the truth.
Even though I really disliked Maddie, she is completely selfish and ignores anyone who tries to look out for her, I really enjoyed the book. The historical context was very interesting, and really adds to the tension of the summer heat and rising racial tensions.
The writing style of this book is amazing- a chapter often follows with the point of view of the character Maddie interacted with.. And, the twist at the end was something I definitely did not see coming.
I loved Sunburn by Laura Lippman, and enjoyed this book too!

1966 was a year of change for many people, and so it is for Maddie Schwartz in LADY OF THE LAKE. (coming July 23). At age 37, she abruptly decides she no longer wants to be the stay-at-home wife of a successful attorney. She leaves her husband, teenage son, and beautiful house with virtually no money and no education or experience that would qualify her for any kind job.
She gets lucky, if it can be called that, when she joins a search party and is the one to discover the body of a missing girl. Maddie gives her story to a local paper (here called The Star), gets her name in print, and is hooked by an ambition to be something for which she is utterly unqualified: a reporter. She talks her way into a minor job as assistant to the Helpline columnist. She wants more, much more, and pursues what she hopes will be her break, investigating the death of “the lady in the lake,” a young woman who was dredged up after months underwater. But the woman is black, and the death of a black woman is of no interest to the press in 1966 Baltimore.
As Maddie persists in trying to make the story matter, her inexperience and blindness to how her actions affect others cause damage to a number of people, including the young black policeman with whom she has started a (secret) affair. Maddie isn’t always a heroine, but watching her ambition play out is both entertaining and a reminder of the struggles women faced so recently. Given her age and lack of experience and education, the odds are against Maddie, but she keeps going until she gets what she wants.

Laura’s plots are always solid, but what I enjoy most about her books is her ability to create a complete character in a few pages, paragraphs, even sentences. LADY IN THE LAKE is especially rich in character, with brief interspersed chapters from the viewpoints of those who come into contact with Maddie and, in some cases, suffer for her intrusion into their lives. Even a ghost has her say. Good book. Highly recommended.
Thanks to Harper Collins and NetGalley for an advance copy.

Laura Lippman is always such a solid writer and this book did not disappoint. It was a bir different from her other books I've read, but I loved the shifting perspectives.

I adored this trip backwards in time for Lippman's "newspaper book." Such fun, and Weinsteins and Monaghans make appearances. The shifting points-of-view are deftly handled, and the historic details are pitch-perfect and geographically-specific. So easy to recommend.

At first, I didn't really like the multiple perspectives, but then I realized how the structure of the book is built on these perspectives and appreciated this method a little more. I felt like some of the perspectives didn't add much to the plot, but the look at the lives of various inhabitants of 1960s Baltimore was interesting. It is a book that I will recommend, although I would make sure that readers know to expect a character-driven, slower paced story rather than a fast-pace murder mystery or thriller type of story.

I didn't care about the mystery or Madeline and I thought the twist was dumb. There's an interesting story in a woman leaving her marriage and trying to build a life for herself that's more, that's different, but for me this wasn't it.

Laura Lippman has a way of making the reader care about characters who really aren't terribly likable. In 1966, Maddie Schwartz, a 37 year old Jewish housewife, suddenly decides to leave her husband of nearly twenty years to pursue her youthful dream of living a passionate and meaningful life. Through Maddie's eyes, we see the racially divided Baltimore of the 1960s and the male dominated newpaper industry of that era. Quite frankly, though, Maddie is truly clueless about the lives of the people around her. This is partially because of the fairly insular life she led up to the point of leaving her husband, but also she seems willfully blind to other people's needs or desires. While I felt some degree of sympathy for Maddie, I was put off by her self-centeredness, her complete lack of empathy as she investigated the murder of a young black woman and during her affair with a black police officer. The story certainly kept my interest, and I loved the twist near the end.

Much gratitude to William Morrow and Netgalley, who gave the opportunity to read the eARC in return for my honest opinion..

A novel, set in the complex, racially divided city of Baltimore where coddled , middle aged Maddie Schwartz has left her husband and influential life to strike out on her own and be somebody. She finds herself thrust into a man's world, where women are to placed in the background and heaven forbid if they have a mind of their own. A world where black vs. white, Jew vs. Christian and where the killings of a young white girl and an older black woman have Maddie on her own quest for justice and a prisoner to her own desires and ambitions regardless of the outcome.

A mystery story with dark undercurrents told only like Laura Lippman can, this book will be available in July 2019.

By the way, did a mention the twist near the end?

Baltimore, MD, in 1966 is the setting for this novel. Ms. Lippman lives in Baltimore and knows the area very well, but I think she misses the mark in this book. I found it very difficult to like main character Maddie Schwartz. She is the wife of a successful businessman and the mother of a teenage boy. It appears that after one dinner party, during which she meets an old high school friend, she suddenly decides to leave her husband and pursue a career as a newspaper reporter, although she has no experience. Two murders help move along her “career.” The Jewish culture is strongly represented in this story, as Maddie struggles to establish her independence, from her husband, parents, and background. Many chapters are written from the points of view of minor characters who help move the story along but then are never heard from again. The book is well-written, but I just could not get into the story. Thanks to NetGalley for providing a preprint of this book for review.

Liked it but didn’t love it. I did really enjoy the different POVs though! A little different than the usual alternating POV.

When Maddie Schwartz, a 1960’s housewife in Baltimore, leaves her marriage to pursue a more meaningful life she finds herself swept up in her own desire to be seen and heard. After finding the body of a murdered young girl she decides that she wants to be a reporter and is willing to do just about anything to see her name as a byline. It wouldn’t be a problem except at some point she becomes the story instead of just writing about it and causes a domino effect of consequences.

I love Laura Lippmann, never miss any of her books, but even I was shocked by the power of this novel.
It is the story of Maddie Schwartz who walks out of her conventional life and remakes herself into a sleuth and well respected reporter.

During the daring turnaround of her life, Maddie becomes a sly and innovative crime solver. She parlays this into a job as a reporter, no mean feat for a woman in 1966. Her relationship, well before it was even legal, with a black policeman is connected to her new self. This sets a course for the unconventional life she seeks.

It is also the story of Cleo Sherwood, the LADY IN THE LAKE, who serves as co-narrator of this compelling story. Generally, I dislike books with too many characters, but Lippmann creates a brilliant collage, giving each character a voice and a part in the narrative....simply brilliant.

Since I have read all of her novels, I love the wink she gave to Judith and Patrick Monaghan, parents of Tess Monaghan, one of my favorite characters.

I urge women to read this and discuss life changes for women since 1966. It’s wonderful to read such an engaging book which has so much potential for rich discussions.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this, and to Laura Lippmann for giving us so much pleasure over the years!