Laura Lippman, who is one of my favorite mystery writers. Lippman, a former journalist, is the author of numerous award-winning novels, including those featuring her journalist-turned-detective character, Tess Monaghan, and several stand-alone novels. As an added bonus, Lippman appears Wednesday night in Bellingham to read at the Chuckanut Radio Hour.
Another Thing to Fall © 2008
Baltimore detective Tess Monaghan is hired to provide security for the young star of a TV show being filmed in Baltimore after a series of mysterious incidents plagues the cast and crew. But when a member of the production company is murdered at the set, she finds herself embroiled in a complicated investigation that may or may not point to writers on the show, a bizarre photographer stalking the star, and several others who have motive to see the show fail.
Details about the television industry, in particular the writing and creation of a show, made this book of special interest to me, but the mystery, and especially the characters, will make this an intriguing read for anyone.
What the Dead Know © 2007
Thirty years ago, two sisters disappeared from a local shopping mall and were never seen again. No bodies were ever found, but it has long been assumed that the girls were murdered. But now a woman has returned to Baltimore, claiming to be one of the missing Bethany sisters. She knows a great deal about the crimes, and the two girls’ lives, but is she who she says she is? And if so, why has she just now reappeared. If she isn’t one of the missing children, why is she pretending to be someone she’s not?
Every Secret Thing © 2003
Two young girls, banished from a birthday party, walk home and encounter what appears to be an abandoned baby stroller—with a baby in it. In a misguided attempt to be helpful, they take the stroller, and the ensuing events destroy three families.
Now it’s seven years later, and the two girls are returning home after punishment. Advised not to contact each other, they are given new histories and identities and a chance to start fresh. But the past has a way of returning…
Monday, March 17, 2008
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Book of the Week for November 13, 2007
Here if You Need Me: A True Story.
© 2007 by Kate Braestup.
Braestrup’s inspirational memoir reveals her extraordinary and unusual role as chaplain of the Maine Warden Service, a position she took on after the death of her husband, a Maine State Trooper.
A widowed mother of four young children, Braestrup seeks a way to fulfill her husband’s goal of completing seminary school, assuage her overwhelming grief, and lend comfort and solace to others afflicted by challenging or tragic circumstances.
After completing training at Bangor Theological Seminary and becoming ordained as a Unitarian Universalist minister, Braestrup signs on with the Warden Service and begins a career accompanying search-and-rescue teams on missions to find lost hikers and children, recover bodies, and solve the mysteries of missing people. Her job is unique in law enforcement, she notes, “I’m not needed in any urgent, practical sense. For 120 and its 125 years, the Maine Warden Service managed quite well without a chaplain…I don’t make the difference between finding and not finding a body, between order and chaos, life and death.”
Nevertheless, story after story affirms the need and importance people have for her special type of comfort in times of trauma. She’s there to console the family of a young suicide victim, to wait with parents as the woods are searched for their six-year-old daughter, to accompany her colleagues on a late-night trip to inform a family of a terrible loss.
For the wardens she works with, Braestrup’s presence at the scene of an accident or death serves as a source of strength for them as they pursue their difficult work, but it also frees them to concentrate on their tasks. “Perhaps more importantly, Braestrup says,“ My uniformed presence signifies a human and humane understanding on the part of the wardens…that the body in the woods or in the water is not just a practical problems, but a matter of tremendous spiritual significance for those most intimately involved…as a reverend, I can express our significance.”
Often Braestrup’s tales of search and rescue end happily, with a found child, a safe father, a lost and tired but living brother—but regardless of whether she’s present for celebration or sorrow, she creates a profound and moving document of her role and its power for the people who need her.
© 2007 by Kate Braestup.
Braestrup’s inspirational memoir reveals her extraordinary and unusual role as chaplain of the Maine Warden Service, a position she took on after the death of her husband, a Maine State Trooper.
A widowed mother of four young children, Braestrup seeks a way to fulfill her husband’s goal of completing seminary school, assuage her overwhelming grief, and lend comfort and solace to others afflicted by challenging or tragic circumstances.
After completing training at Bangor Theological Seminary and becoming ordained as a Unitarian Universalist minister, Braestrup signs on with the Warden Service and begins a career accompanying search-and-rescue teams on missions to find lost hikers and children, recover bodies, and solve the mysteries of missing people. Her job is unique in law enforcement, she notes, “I’m not needed in any urgent, practical sense. For 120 and its 125 years, the Maine Warden Service managed quite well without a chaplain…I don’t make the difference between finding and not finding a body, between order and chaos, life and death.”
Nevertheless, story after story affirms the need and importance people have for her special type of comfort in times of trauma. She’s there to console the family of a young suicide victim, to wait with parents as the woods are searched for their six-year-old daughter, to accompany her colleagues on a late-night trip to inform a family of a terrible loss.
For the wardens she works with, Braestrup’s presence at the scene of an accident or death serves as a source of strength for them as they pursue their difficult work, but it also frees them to concentrate on their tasks. “Perhaps more importantly, Braestrup says,“ My uniformed presence signifies a human and humane understanding on the part of the wardens…that the body in the woods or in the water is not just a practical problems, but a matter of tremendous spiritual significance for those most intimately involved…as a reverend, I can express our significance.”
Often Braestrup’s tales of search and rescue end happily, with a found child, a safe father, a lost and tired but living brother—but regardless of whether she’s present for celebration or sorrow, she creates a profound and moving document of her role and its power for the people who need her.
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