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The Best Mystery & Thriller Books: Excerpts
New York Times bestselling author and one of the most acclaimed novelists in America today, Laura Lippman, presents The Best Mystery & Thriller eBooks. The perfect download to break in your new device, this free sampler is a curated volume of excerpts from new and upcoming titles from the best Mystery & Thriller authors in the genre. It also includes an excerpt from Laura Lippman's latest novel And When She Was Good and the three bonus short stories that inspired this novel, as well as some insight into the world of Laura Lippman.The Best Mystery & Thriller eBooks Introduction from Laura LippmanAnd excerpts the Dark by Peter RobinsonProof of Guilt by Charles ToddThe Sound of Broken Glass by Deborah CrombieThe Riptide Ultra-Glide by Tim DorseyThe Carrion Birds by Urban WaiteThere Was An Old Woman by Hallie EphronThe One I Left Behind by Jennifer McMahonThe Guilty One by Lisa BallantyneAnd When She Was Good by Laura LippmanThree Shorts Scratch a Woman; One True Love; Form 95 by Laura Lippman
100 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 18, 2012
102 people are currently reading
356 people want to read
About the author
Laura Lippman
114 books6,410 followersSince Laura Lippman’s debut, she has been recognized as a distinctive voice in mystery fiction and named one of the “essential” crime writers of the last 100 years. Stephen King called her “special, even extraordinary,” and Gillian Flynn wrote, “She is simply a brilliant novelist.” Her books have won most of the major awards in her field and been translated into more than twenty-five languages. She lives in Baltimore and New Orleans with her teenager.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
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March 31, 2013I didn't bother reading the sampler of excerpts included here; I got this book purely for the three Laura Lippman short stories in the back, three stories about the femme fatale (of a sort), Heloise Lewis, an ex-prostitute who now lives in a nice suburb with her son and her business as a madam, her two worlds that can never meet.
The stories are presented somewhat backwards, chronologically: we meet her in "Scratch a Woman" as an established madam dealing with her dangerous half-sister who can destroy the careful compartmentalization of her lives; then we see her in "One True Love," when her lifestyle system isn't quite perfected; then we see her from a cop's POV in "Form 95" when she's still working for the dangerous pimp who is also--unbeknownst to him--the father of her child.
All the stories are fun and smoothly written; there are lots of little digressions and asides, but Lippman always brings them back into the flow of the story. Curiously, while mysteries are usually very plot driven, Lippman's focus tends to be on the characters: Heloise who will do anything for her son, her tightly wound half-sister Meghan, the love-lorn detective who is willing to fudge facts to help her escape her pimp, etc. In fact, plot and mystery here are pretty thin; for instance, "One True Love"'s plot: man discovers who Heloise is, he blackmails her, she thinks about getting her cop friend involved, she thinks about getting her ex-pimp involved, she learns about a convenient body and makes the blackmailer enough of a suspect to give herself leverage over him. There's so much chance involved in her solution that it feels a bit like a cheat--or it would if we didn't see how she reacts to all this. Curiously (again), while Lippman seems very interested in character, there's very little here of character growth or change: smart-ass detective with a crush remains smart-ass detective with a crush, tightly wound sister remains rightly wound, and Heloise remains Heloise.
The stories are presented somewhat backwards, chronologically: we meet her in "Scratch a Woman" as an established madam dealing with her dangerous half-sister who can destroy the careful compartmentalization of her lives; then we see her in "One True Love," when her lifestyle system isn't quite perfected; then we see her from a cop's POV in "Form 95" when she's still working for the dangerous pimp who is also--unbeknownst to him--the father of her child.
All the stories are fun and smoothly written; there are lots of little digressions and asides, but Lippman always brings them back into the flow of the story. Curiously, while mysteries are usually very plot driven, Lippman's focus tends to be on the characters: Heloise who will do anything for her son, her tightly wound half-sister Meghan, the love-lorn detective who is willing to fudge facts to help her escape her pimp, etc. In fact, plot and mystery here are pretty thin; for instance, "One True Love"'s plot: man discovers who Heloise is, he blackmails her, she thinks about getting her cop friend involved, she thinks about getting her ex-pimp involved, she learns about a convenient body and makes the blackmailer enough of a suspect to give herself leverage over him. There's so much chance involved in her solution that it feels a bit like a cheat--or it would if we didn't see how she reacts to all this. Curiously (again), while Lippman seems very interested in character, there's very little here of character growth or change: smart-ass detective with a crush remains smart-ass detective with a crush, tightly wound sister remains rightly wound, and Heloise remains Heloise.
October 19, 2013
There are some weird stories out there! Some of the ones included in this book made my skin crawl (I'm not sure how my skin would crawl, but it is an applicable statement)
However, not to be included in the above is Peter Robinson's DCI Banks. I thoroughly enjoyed this excerpt and plan on reading on with this series.
Otherwise, thanks for the warning on the others...creepy!
However, not to be included in the above is Peter Robinson's DCI Banks. I thoroughly enjoyed this excerpt and plan on reading on with this series.
Otherwise, thanks for the warning on the others...creepy!
January 26, 2018
There were only a couple of excerpts that inspired me to want to look for the book, one being by Charles Todd. The rest I could not get into and some I couldn't finish the excerpt. I guess I'm not a big fan of Lippman.
March 18, 2020
I don't know if this book should actually be rated or reviewed because it just contains introductions to new mystery books. So I am neutral. I did note which introductions I liked and later obtained the entire book.
June 30, 2018
I love this & I can't wait for more.
I will be also leaving a review on Goodreads @ Amazon.
And letting everyone know about it.
So i gave it a 5 Stars.
I will be also leaving a review on Goodreads @ Amazon.
And letting everyone know about it.
So i gave it a 5 Stars.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews