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Charm City Tess Monaghan Novel Laura Lippman Books

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Charm City Tess Monaghan Novel Laura Lippman Books

Laura Lippman is a good, fluid writer, and her descriptions of Baltimore (Balmer) authentic and fun to read if you're from the area (I'm from DC but love to visit Charm City). The plotting is a bit murky but not dishonest. However, I found Tess Monaghan hard to warm to -- charmless, in fact. It's probably just a matter of taste. In contrast, Stephanie Plum (Janet Evanovich's books) is fun b/c ditzy, slow to pull her weapon (when she remembers it), and surrounded by a fascinating group of friends and family. But then I'm from Jersey.


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Charm City Tess Monaghan Novel Laura Lippman Books Reviews

It was an okay read. Had a hard time holding my interest, moved along too slow as it got to the climax.
I'm enjoying this series. The series' main character, Tess Monaghan, matches very closely with Sue Grafton's Alphabet Murder's character, Kinsey Millhone. I like both characters and as I'm nearly finished the Alphabet Murder series, I'm looking forward to following along with Tess Monaghan's trials and tribulations.
On just the 2nd Tess Monaghan book, I am hooked. Not only are the characters like old friends already, but the setting of Baltimore is so vivid that I feel like I have lived there or been there often! The stories in Lippman's books, while not edge of your seat, are "pull you into the action" types because you are so invested in the characters! I can't wait to continue the adventures of Tess, Whitney, Spike, Crow, Kitty, and now Esskay!
Love the characters, love that the locale is such an integral part of the story, love that the background profession of Tess is not of a police nature. The thing I liked least about this read was the use of the word suppose when it should have been supposed! Other than having to internally make that annoying correction each time the word was used, it was an awesome reading experience!
I really like Ms. Lippman's writing and am steadily working my way through all the Tess Monaghan novels, finding that I either like or love them all, which is saying something.

Lest you think I just like or love any old thing I read, let me clarify since I started looking at reviews of books and trying to find writers whose styles I might like because they were highly rated by people or reviewers of other books I had loved, I have found myself far more pleased with what I read. That's how I found Ms. Lippman's work, and boy am I glad I did. Her Tess Monaghan series is absolutely superb, as are most of her standalone novels.

This one, which I think is the second in the Monaghan series, isn't my fave, but it's a decent book. You really ought to read this one after reading the first one; for some reason, I get the strong feeling you won't get Tess very clearly if you don't have some sort of frame of reference for her already.

In this one, she's hired by the paper she used to work for in order to determine who hacked the paper's computer system and got a story printed up when the paper's execs thought they'd managed to kill the story.

Tess does her usual stuff approaches the task with humor, as much deceit as she needs to get the job done, and a fairly respectable intellect (just in case you forget she's an English major, y'all).

I like so much in this novel her growing relationship with Esskay, the greyhound; her relationship with Crow (her much younger boyfriend); the other relationships of significance to her (Whitney, Tyner, etc.). I like how her mind works, how she quickly catches some things while others elude her. She's not a super sleuth. She's not one of those protagonists who seems so quickly to solve everything, to make connections that the average human being would never make. She stumbles a bit and doesn't always see what's right in front of her face.

In this book, in fact, that last thing I mentioned is what kept the book from being as good as it could be. Ms. Lippman is usually excellent at revealing snippets so that the reader is guessing right along with Tess, but in this one, I could see the end coming about 100 pages before the end actually came. I knew whodunnit. I saw a lot of the end coming, and that really detracted from my enjoyment of the novel.

Overall, had I not so clearly seen the plot developing to its conclusion long before Ms. Lippman unraveled it for me, I'd have given this 5 stars. As it is, because I love so much of what I read about Tess and her circle, it gets 4 stars.

I'd like to know what you think. Read "Baltimore Blues," and then read this one. Tell me if you can see the difference in how the villain is revealed.

Happy reading!
Love Lippman's books. This isn't my favorite of the series, but it's a good one. This is my second time reading through the series. Even though I know how the relationships turn out, I still find myself stressed and upset by the issues between the characters. It's hard to explain why I like the books so much without spoilers, so I'm going to leave it at that =)
After my disappointment with Lippman's first book, "Baltimore Blues," I kept my hopes high for this book, hearing that her work had improved after her first release. I very much enjoyed the Tess Monaghan in this book. Smarter, more established with a firmer hold on her life, she transforms from the awkward, immature woman from "Baltimore Blues" and emerges into a figure many can admire. "Baltimore Blues" Tess was dangerously close to becoming the Stephanie Plum character from Janet Evanovich's books that I despise. I was extremely pleased and relieved Tess managed to grow up.

As for this book, "Charm City," the plot was a little confusing. It was a little hard for me to understand how Sterling tied into the beginning and how Tess managed to tie all the evidence together. Her methods to acquire information were at times hard to believe, like when she showed up at the widow Wink's home with a gold bracelet after the media had been hounding her for days. Honestly, what woman would let a stranger into her home and pour her soul out about her private life? Maybe it's just me. Also, in the end (SPOILER ALERT) it was discovered that the culprit's fingerprints were on the car door. Why didn't anyone think to look that up in the beginning, when the crime was committed? Did I miss that? There was no mention of dusting for fingerprints in the first place.

Aside from the few holes I found in the story, Lippman has an enormous talent for writing. I admired her sentence structuring and her descriptions. She manages to describe in full detail without boring me or going over the top. I look forward to reading more of her books.

The Last Saint
Laura Lippman is a good, fluid writer, and her descriptions of Baltimore (Balmer) authentic and fun to read if you're from the area (I'm from DC but love to visit Charm City). The plotting is a bit murky but not dishonest. However, I found Tess Monaghan hard to warm to -- charmless, in fact. It's probably just a matter of taste. In contrast, Stephanie Plum (Janet Evanovich's books) is fun b/c ditzy, slow to pull her weapon (when she remembers it), and surrounded by a fascinating group of friends and family. But then I'm from Jersey.