Member Review

I really like when I find a mystery that's told a little bit differently. This novel has a ton of different POVs (which it looks like some readers weren't a fan of based on their reviews), but I thought it created a flair of variety that was appreciated. Instead of getting perspectives from one or two main characters, Lippman inserts random characters and their takes on the same events (everyone from a beat cop to a waitress). This helped create a more well-rounded setting that felt authentic (and helped achieve the aura of the 1960s era for me).

The story is about a Baltimore woman named Maddie Schwartz who decides to divorce her husband and make it on her own as a reporter (two things that weren't common in the '60s). She becomes obsessed with the case of a black woman whose body has been found in the fountain of a park lake and is determined to bring justice about for this woman (and also further her own investigative career). The mystery had a good twist at the end that I didn't predict, and Lippman did a great job tying up all loose ends.

The book did feel a tad slow in terms of some of the pacing and there was a distance from the characters that I can't really explain that prevented me from giving this five stars - even though I thought there were some great elements to this book.