Lippman baltimore blues

Read as many books as you like Personal use and Join Over We cannot guarantee that every book is in the library. Until her newspaper, The Baltimore Star, crashed, Tess Monaghan was a first-rate reporter who knew her home town intimately - from historic Fort McHenry to the crumbling projects of Cherry Hill.

Now gainfully unemployed at 29 she's willing to do any freelance job to pay the rent - including a bit of unorthodox snooping for her rowing buddy Darryl 'Rock' Paxton.

In a city where someone is murdered almost every day, attorney Michael Abramowitz's death should be just another statistic.

This is one of the most important baseball books to be published in a long time, taking a comprehensive look at black participation in the national pastime from through It provides team rosters and team histories, player biographies, a list of umpires and games they officiated and information on team managers and team secretaries.

Player biographies trace their connections between teams across the country. Essays frame the biographies, discussing the social and cultural events that shaped black baseball. Waiters and barbers formed the earliest organized clubs and developed local, regional and national circuits. Some players belonged to both white and colored clubs, and some umpires officiated colored, white and interracial matches. High schools nurtured young players and transformed them into powerhouse teams, like Cincinnati's Vigilant Base Ball Club.

A special essay covers visual representations of black baseball and the artists who created them, including colored artists of color who were also baseballists. Surveys the lives and works of some 90 contemporary women mystery writers, who are among the most popular authors read today. A search for the sources and sounds of an often overlooked sister genre of Cajun and zydeco music. Amerikanische Autorin, geb. The Blues Encyclopedia is the first full-length authoritative Encyclopedia on the Blues as a musical form.

While other books have collected biographies of blues performers, none have taken a scholarly approach.

A to Z in format, this Encyclopedia covers not only the performers, but also musical styles, regions, record labels and cultural aspects of the blues, including race and gender issues. Special attention is paid to discographies and bibliographies. This comprehensive two-volume set brings together all aspects of the blues from performers and musical styles to record labels and cultural issues, including regional evolution and history. Organized in an accessible A-to-Z format, the Encyclopedia of the Blues is an essential reference resource for information on this unique American music genre.

For a full list of entries, contributors, and more, visit the Encyclopedia of the Blues website. A story about the mean streets of Baltimore in the 21st century and a young man named "J" who decides to fight back using his athletic body, street knowledge, and superior mind. Known as Baltimore Blue on the streets it's time to get real. The first book by David Dicaire, Blues Singers: Biographies of 50 Legendary Artists of the Early 20th Century, McFarland, , included pioneers, innovators, superstars, and cult heroes of blues music born before This second work covers those born after who have continued the tradition.

Women always assume that Ken wants a Barbie, but he prefers his women thin and a little skittish. Thus, their affair is bound to end in a conflagration. One of the most coveted designations in the book industry, the Kirkus Star marks books of exceptional merit.

Be the first to read books news and see reviews, news and features in Kirkus Reviews. Get awesome content delivered to your inbox every week. Already have an account? Log in. Trouble signing in? Retrieve credentials. Sign Up. More Profiles. Featured Interviews. The Kirkus Star One of the most coveted designations in the book industry, the Kirkus Star marks books of exceptional merit. See the winners. More filters. Sort order.

Start your review of Baltimore Blues Tess Monaghan 1. When it appears a rowing buddy of hers murdered his fiancee's boss and lover, underemployed Tess Monaghan sets about trying to clear his name.

But did Rock kill ace attorney Michael Abramowitz? If he didn't, who did and why? And can Tess find out before she winds up as dead as the lawyer? A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, the girl I was seeing at the time told me I would like Laura Lippman.

Since she was always pushing books on me, I ignored her. Maybe she was right in that one particul When it appears a rowing buddy of hers murdered his fiancee's boss and lover, underemployed Tess Monaghan sets about trying to clear his name. Maybe she was right in that one particular instance. Baltimore Blues is a mystery that has many more layers than it first appears, like baklava. See, I could have said "onion" but that's what everyone says when they talk about layers.

Anyway, it was Laura Lippman's first trip to the dance and she did a lot better than most first time novelists. Much like Detroit, Baltimore doesn't get by on looks. It has to work for a living, to paraphrase Elmore Leonard. Since this was the first book in the series, Lippman had some groundwork to lay and she did it in a fairly painless way. I liked that Tess isn't hot, wasn't involved in a love triangle, and generally behaved like a real person instead of being a moron like most fictional detectives wind up being in order to advance the plot.

Also, she works in a bookstore. A lady detective that works in a bookstore? Hard to top that, ladies. Like all great mysteries, it took me forever to figure out what really happened and it turned out I was still wrong. Part of it was misdirection but I have to say I think another part of it was that it was such a convoluted affair. That was my only gripe with the book. I thought the mystery was way too serpentine and not readily solveable. Also, I'm still pretty sure Ava was boning somebody besides Rock but that was never revealed.

So, I liked Baltimore Blues quite a lot but not enough to take it into a bus station men's room and have rough intercourse with it. I'll be reading more of Laura Lippman's chronicles of Tess Monaghan. View all 20 comments. Jan 25, Barbara rated it liked it. This is the first book in Laura Lippmann's popular 'Tess Monaghan' private investigator series.

Twentysomething Baltimore resident Tess Monaghan was a journalist until her newspaper the 'Baltimore Star' folded. Now Tess works part-time in her Aunt Kitty's bookstore and puts in a few hours a week in her Uncle Donald's government office.

This gives Tess plenty of time to indulge her two favorite pursuits - sculling and running. Tess wakes up at every morning to row for a couple of hours All this exercise leaves Tess's long lean body muscular and toned. Tess's best friend is Darryl "Rock" Paxton, a science researcher whose passion is competitive rowing.

Tess and Rock meet at the Patapsco River boathouse every morning, and - after sculling in their individual shells - go out to breakfast on Rock's dime. Rock asks Tess to investigate Ava, and offers to pay Tess standard private investigator fees. Cash-strapped Tess agrees, and her discoveries lead to a world of trouble. Tess learns that Ava has afternoon trysts in a hotel with Michael Abramowitz, a partner in the "Three O's" law firm that employs them both.

Rock is appraised of this news, and - soon afterwards - Abramowitz is killed in his office. Before you can say prime suspect, Rock is arrested for murder. Rock's lawyer, also a rowing aficionado, employs Tess to look for exonerating evidence to clear Rock. While Tess is researching Abramowitz's life, she's hounded by her former boyfriend - investigative journalist Jonathan Ross - who wants a scoop for his newspaper.

Ross is a lothario who drops in on Tess for a bit of nooky whenever he feels like it, and I didn't like him. She also delves into Abramowitz's cases, to identify people who might have wanted him dead. Tess discovers that Abramowitz started his career as a public defender, and that he got off a number of accused rapists. The rapists' female victims formed a support group, and these women - as well as convicts Abramowitz didn't exonerate - form a pool of possible suspects.

Additional characters in the book include Tess's beautiful Aunt Kitty - a woman of a certain age who still attracts men like flies; Crow - a young man who works for Aunt Kitty In addition the city of Baltimore, whose gritty neighborhoods are described in cinematic detail, is almost a character in the novel.

Tess's investigation endangers her life, but she solves the crime Tess is an appealing sleuth and I enjoyed the book. View all 7 comments. Mar 24, Diane rated it liked it Shelves: mysteries-thrillers. This is a zippy murder mystery set in Baltimore. Things get messy when Darryl is accused of murdering a shady attorney linked to his girlfriend. Tess tries to help him by finding the real killer, and ends up in the crosshairs herself.

I listened to this audiobook while attending a conference in Baltimore, and it was fun to learn details abo This is a zippy murder mystery set in Baltimore. I listened to this audiobook while attending a conference in Baltimore, and it was fun to learn details about the different neighborhoods as Tess travels around the city to investigate the case. This was my first Laura Lippman book, and I enjoyed this enough that I'll check out more of her work.

View all 6 comments. Jan 27, Melissa rated it liked it. Electronic data bases were new to her" and irritating - Tess's insistence that the female members of the Victims of Male Aggression group have "built their lives around passivity and inaction," the entire existence of Crow. But the mystery was interesting, and although Tess has archaic views on the proper way to be a victim of sexual assault, there is always room for her to grow.

I'll stick around as long as she doesn't start dating Crow for real. View all 3 comments. This is the first of the Tess Monaghan series. Lippman does an excellent job of establishing a great sense of Baltimore. This is important as Tess is a Baltimore native. We meet many of the characters, her friends and family, who continue to be featured in her books.

Tess is a recently laid off newspaper reporter and is scrambling to earn a living with a few part-time jobs given to her by family members. She is also an athlete and her sport is rowing.

As water is so important to the city of Balt This is the first of the Tess Monaghan series. As water is so important to the city of Baltimore, being on a tributary of Chesapeake Bay.

She is also a runner and with the hours she spends daily on her exercise routines, it's a good thing she is not fully employed. Being a rower, however, fits into her getting her start as an investigator. A fellow rower hires her to trail his fiance. When there's a murder, her rowing friend is a suspect and Tess goes to work as an investigator for his lawyer. I have been reading this series for over 10 years. The first novel was published in and there are many aspects of the story that remind us how much things have changed in 18 years.

For example, Tess often makes phone calls from pay phones that even in weren't easy to find. A satisfying mystery, and decent narration.

The narrator makes a decent stab at Baltimore accents for various characters, and it adds to the color. View 2 comments. What a crazy ride! I loved reading about Tess, her family, her uncle who may not be a uncle and having this whole thing set in Baltimore.

Lippman manages to make Baltimore come alive and you get to see the many sides to Charm City. I really enjoyed Tess too since we don't just get her off and running in her new freelance career as a PI.

Lippman introduces some great characters, Tess's aunt Kitty, her ex Johnathan, her rowing buddy Rock, and her best friend Whitney. She still dreams about going back to a newspaper and becoming a reporter again, but for now works in her aunt's bookstore and for her uncle at a state agency. When her friend Rock asks her to follow his fiancee and get some answers on why she is acting so weird, she does so, cause being broke is not that much fun.

Following her around, Tess realizes there is more than meets the eye with her. When his fiancee tells Rock that a lawyer she is working with has forced her to sleep with him, he goes and confronts the man. When the lawyer is found dead, fingers point to Rock, and Tess is hired to work alongside his lawyer. Tess is such a mess and I love her. She has a weird family and lives above her aunt's bookstore.

She has an on and off relationship with an ex, but also finds herself thinking of someone who works with her aunt named Crow I am also reading books with characters having terrible names. Tess is in a rut and her investigating to help out her friend seems like the best thing she can do. She seems to be drifting through her life. Tess's aunt is pretty hilarious, but sketched thinly. We don't get to really see the different Baltimore's here though.

Lippman addresses that in her third book Butcher's Hill and I was happy to see it. I maybe laughed at Tess talking crap about how bad D. Feb 14, Rollie rated it it was ok. I picked up this book after enjoying What the Dead Know, but I just couldn't get into it or make myself care about any of the characters. Mar 28, Carol rated it liked it Shelves: fiction. Having read a few of her standalone novels, the editors convinced me it was time to try one in the Tess Monaghan series set in Baltimore.

A question often asked about series is whether you need to read them in order. If you're reading for the mystery alone I'd bet in this case you could but to set the character and locale I'm for starting right from the beginning.

Like the author, Tess is a former journalist but unlike the author who chooses writing, Tess turns her hand to private investigation. She doesn't know that this is where her life is headed at the outset of Baltimore Blues but I think the reader can see this clearly from the get go. You immediately know that this is a series where location will be just as important as the characters.

By page 5 references are made to the city including one by the Mayor who calls Baltimore the "The City that Reads" and Tess dubs The city that bleeds" , fodder for investigation if I ever saw one. She then goes on to call it "the city one leaves" also illustrating a mood.

We find out little things about Tess that help us to form a picture in our minds. She's a rower, a good rower who others think could be great if she only had the interest. She runs too which gives us a picture of a fit woman, one capable and strong. Making this Tess's home tells me reading and books are important to Lippman and therefore to her character.

There are many references to support my claim. Tess has a sense of humor and seems a loyal friend. She has a what I can only call a convenient sexual relationship with a reporter who has a girlfriend and who becomes part of Tess's first dip into deduction. Tess has me just interested enough to try another.

Oct 08, Kendra rated it liked it. I recently read one of Lippman's standalone novels and liked it, so I dug up the first in her Tess Monaghan series. Not bad, but a little bit clunky.