Life Sentences - Book #85

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Title Life Sentences
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Author Laura Lippman
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Genre Adult Fiction
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Pages 342
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Publisher William Morrow
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Copyright 2009
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Synopsis (from web-site)
Author Cassandra Fallows has achieved great success with her memoirs, but her latest venture involving a still-unsolved mystery in her hometown unearth's old wounds and sorrow as Cassandra finds herself alienated by former friends with conflicting versions of the events.

Why I read It
Laura Lippman is another one of the writers I found way back when I was trying to read more women. She writes a series of books featuring Private Detective Tess Mon?? and several stand alones like this one. The common feature of all her writing is the city of Baltimore.;

The Good
Well written and engaging story.

The Bad
The plot was not as fast paced as she usually writes. No one was in danger, no one faced any peril; while not a bad thing it is not in keeping with her previous works.

The Ugly (my opinion)
I like it because I love Laura Lippman’s writing style. It makes a good point of how fluid history is, whether on a grander scale, or more importantly, on a personal one. Just because we remember it doesn’t mean that it happened, and vice-versa. My favorite line comes right at the beginning of the book (pg 13) “My father believed in unconditional love, but only under certain conditions.” Love that!

The Truth? (other reviews)
Washington Post
New York Times

Mormon Mentions
None

Author Biography
Laura Lippman was a reporter for twenty years, including twelve years at The (Baltimore) Sun. She began writing novels while working fulltime and published seven books about “accidental PI” Tess Monaghan before leaving daily journalism in 2001. Her work has been awarded the Edgar ®, the Anthony, the Agatha, the Shamus, the Nero Wolfe, Gumshoe and Barry awards. She also has been nominated for other prizes in the crime fiction field, including the Hammett and the Macavity. She was the first-ever recipient of the Mayor’s Prize for Literary Excellence and the first genre writer recognized as Author of the Year by the Maryland Library Association.