Hardly Knew Her: Stories » (Unabridged)

Well known for her popular series of mysteries starring the fearless Tess Monoghan, Laura Lippman has won every major mystery award, from the Anthony to the Agatha.

New York Times bestselling author Laura Lippman turns her attention to short stories and reveals another level of mastery.

Lippman sets many of the stories in this sterling anthology, Hardly Knew Her, in familiar territory: her beloved Baltimore. But Lippman is also unafraid to travel to New Orleans, to an unnamed southwestern city, and even to Dublin. Tess Monaghan is here, in two stories and a profile, aligning herself with various underdogs. And in her extraordinary, never-before-published novella, "Scratch a Woman," Lippman takes us deep into the private world of a high-priced call girl/madam and devoted soccer mom, exploring the mystery of what may, in fact, be written in the blood.

Each of these ingenious tales is a gem sometimes poignant, sometimes humorous, always filled with delightfully unanticipated twists and reversals. For people who have yet to read Lippman, get ready to experience the spellbinding power of "one of today's most...

Publishers Weekly

It’s not Linda Emond’s fault that most of Lippman’s women who kill are white, middle-class and between the aged 30–40. Almost all live in the corridor between Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., and eradicate men who have it coming to them. No wonder they tend to speak alike. The talented Emond strives with some success to individualize these murderers’ first-person narratives. In the short story “My Baby Walks the Streets of Baltimore,” Emond, who has previously read Lippman’s Another Thing to Fall, performs Tess Monaghan as the crisp and efficient detective she is meant to be. While Francois Battiste is given comparatively little to do, he shines in his reading of “Pony Girl” as the too-smooth and confident man-on-the-make who is no match for two beautiful Mardi Gras celebrants. This collection is both entertaining and forgettable, but Lippman fans will not be disappointed by these talented performances. A Morrow hardcover (Reviews, Aug. 25). (Oct.)

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Introduction George Pelecanos Pelecanos, George

Pt. I Girls Gone Wild

The Crack Cocaine Diet 3

What He Needed 17

Dear Penthouse Forum (A First Draft) 27

The Babysitter's Code 36

Hardly Knew Her 48

Femme Fatale 66

One True Love 84

Pt. II Other Cities, Not My Own

Pony Girl 107

ARM and the Woman 116

Honor Bar 131

A Good Fuck Spoiled 146

Pt. III My Baby Walks the Streets of Baltimore

Easy as A-B-C 161

Black-Eyed Susan 172

Ropa Vieja 185

The Shoeshine Man's Regrets 204

The Accidental Detective 219

Pt. IV Scratch a Woman

Scratch a Woman 237

Afterword 291