Baltimore Blues (Tess Monaghan, #1) in The Complete Idiots Guide to the Ultimate Reading List

Apr 05, 2017 Julianne rated it it was ok

I picked this book up at a used bookstore. It was in the mystery/thriller section, and I thought it would be cool to read a book set in my "home city" (not where I grew up, but the closest city to where I live). I even put this in for a book challenge.

Unfortunately, this book ended up not being my cup of tea. I feel like Lippman was really, really beating us over the head with Baltimore. If the story took place in a fictitious city, we wouldn't have gotten so many location name drops and "inside ...more

Like · see review

Nov 28, 2010 Lisa (Harmonybites) rated it really liked it

Shelves: ultimate-reading-list, fiction, crime, contemporary, mystery, novels

Given how Lippman draws Tess Monaghan, ex-reporter and private investigator, and especially the loving portrait she renders of Baltimore, it comes as no surprise to read that she was a journalist in that city. The novel has a ring of authenticity about its city and the world of journalism and the law. Tess grew on me--despite the fact--or maybe because of the fact--that she doesn't in the beginning come off as admirable. When the novel opens she's underemployed and amiably mooching off friends-- ...more

Like · see review

Jun 04, 2025 Lillie rated it liked it · review of another edition

3.5*

Like · see review

Sep 12, 2013 Magpie67 rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, series, magpie-s-2013-goal, 2013-challenge-women-of-mystery, amateur-sleuth, newspaper-reporter

Fast-paced crime with a newspaper edge to it. Tess is a tough cookie and reminds me of Sunny Randall..... I can't wait to read the rest of the series. Loved the literature angle and references as well. ...more

Like · see review