This was an exciting mystery to start the Tess Monaghan series! There was good character development, and a a plot that was full of surprises, twists and turns. Reading it now, it took me back to the infancy of technology and insight into detecting, pre-internet. I enjoyed the development of Tess from an out of work journalist, into a fledgling detective. I definitely would recommend the book!

If you read Mystery Scene Magazine, this has been a month devoted to author Laura Lippman. Having read a few of her standalone novels, the editors convinced me it was time to try one in the Tess Monaghan series set in Baltimore. A question often asked about series is whether you need to read them in order. If you're reading for the mystery alone I'd bet in this case you could but to set the character and locale I'm for starting right from the beginning. Like the author, Tess is a former journali...

The first half of this book was very boring. Just as I was about to give up, it picked up quite nicely for around 1/4 of the book, but then the last quarter was very confusing and not very satisfying. There was way too much time devoted to rowing and here in central Illinois rowing generally refers to walking beans, detassling corn or bucking bales. If you're going to actually row a boat it usually is to the middle of the river or pond to catch catfish. Recommended only to Lippman fans.

I recently read one of Lippman's standalone novels and liked it, so I dug up the first in her Tess Monaghan series. Not bad, but a little bit clunky. This is a book that definitely would have been better in first-person POV than in third. It's a nice set-up for the series, though. We meet Tess (who is not necessarily the most warm-and-fuzzy, likeable heroine), a former reporter turned semi-employed mooch, just as she stumbles onto the opportunity to do some detective work for the first time. I'm...

3.75 stars. I loved this for more than halfway, and then it started getting a little violent. I love Tess though and the other recurring characters, and the humor. Also the Baltimore flavor was a nice add. The audio narrator does a really bad Baltimore accent. But other than that, the narration was also good. Will continue with the series after a little break. Nice to have found a new series to enjoy!

I started this book because Karin Slaughter mentioned Laura Lippman in an interview. I read Lippman's "The Power of Three" and "I'd Know You Anywhere" prior to this one and I liked it. But I knew that Lippman is known for her Tess Monaghan series so I was eager to start this one. I guess because Karin Slaughter had recommended her, I thought this would be similar to KS's books. So not. Maybe it's because I went into this with certain expectations, but I was a little disappointed. The tone is lig...

This book certainly can't help that it was written almost 20 years ago & is therefore dated in ways both charming - "Tess looked over his shoulder, enthralled. Electronic data bases were new to her" and irritating - Tess's insistence that the female members of the Victims of Male Aggression group have "built their lives around passivity and inaction," the entire existence of Crow. But the mystery was interesting, and although Tess has archaic views on the proper way to be a victim of sexual assa...

I am a huge fan of Laura Lippman and have read several of her standalone books. This led me to her Tess Monaghan series. Unlike other favorite mystery series I read, I started with the first-and I’m glad I did! I know where Tess came from, what influenced her, and how she grew to become an investigator. I love that Tess lives above a bookstore and loved experiencing Baltimore through Tess’s eyes. I hope to see characters from this book in future installments. What impressed me most about this bo...

This was a good mystery. I wasn’t sure I liked Tess that much at first but she grew on me by the end. And damn did she get herself into some situations! Of course she was always jumping into things with both feet no matter how many warnings she had not to do certain things. But I still kind of liked her. She has spunk.

Wow. What a crazy ride! I loved reading about Tess, her family, her uncle (who may not be a uncle) and having this whole thing set in Baltimore. Lippman manages to make Baltimore come alive and you get to see the many sides to Charm City. I really enjoyed Tess too since we don't just get her off and running in her new freelance career as a PI. Lippman introduces some great characters, Tess's aunt Kitty, her ex Johnathan, her rowing buddy Rock, and her best friend Whitney. "Baltimore Blues" has T...

I picked up this book after enjoying What the Dead Know, but I just couldn't get into it or make myself care about any of the characters.

I picked this up because it is a Baltimore author in a genre I like. It was okay. I'll read others, but its more in the mind-candy side of things. Definite beach read.

I've had Laura Lippman in my sights ever since Ellen Emerson White spoke highly of her in an online posting. This month, BN is offering the first book in Lippman's Tess Monaghan series for 99 cents, so I thought I should give her a chance. And I'm glad that I did.I can't say that this book excelled beyond my wildest imagination or any of that sort of hyperbole. What it does, it does well. It's the story of how Tess, underemployed and working free lance since she was laid off as a reporter, start...

Meh never really got into Baltimore Blues. The story follows ex-reporter Tess as she tries to clear her friend's name who is accused of killing his fiancee's boss. I just found the story revolved around Tess just going from person to person and getting them to spill their story. I didn't find it that interesting and the ending wasn't a huge shocker. I won't be continuing the series.

Flipping through a number of mysteries, I was grabbed by Baltimore Blues from the first paragraph. Tight writing, realistic characters, a strong setting, well-crafted plot with good red herrings and actual clues: Lippman serves up a solid mystery. The main character, Tess, is particularly well-handled: she's neither an unlikeable mess nor a Mary Sue waiting to be discovered or to start believing in her own awesomeness. She's not cookies yet: life on hold after the end of her newspaper job, she's...

Baltimore Blues is the first in Laura Lippman's Tess Monaghan series and very enjoyable. I like Tess as a hero and Lippman's writing is always first rate. I also enjoyed the portrayal of Baltimore.In the opening of the series, Tess is still adjusting to losing her job as a reporter and trying to find herself a new job/career. A rowing friend (I like that Tess is a large, somewhat ungainly woman and not a classical beauty) of Tess asks her to investigate his girlfriend to see if she's being faith...

When it appears a rowing buddy of hers murdered his fiancee's boss and lover, underemployed Tess Monaghan sets about trying to clear his name. But did Rock kill ace attorney Michael Abramowitz? If he didn't, who did and why? And can Tess find out before she winds up as dead as the lawyer?A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, the girl I was seeing at the time told me I would like Laura Lippman. Since she was always pushing books on me, I ignored her. Maybe she was right in that one particul...

This is the first book in Laura Lippmann's popular 'Tess Monaghan' private investigator series. Twentysomething Baltimore resident Tess Monaghan was a journalist until her newspaper the 'Baltimore Star' folded. Now Tess works part-time in her Aunt Kitty's bookstore and puts in a few hours a week in her Uncle Donald's government office. This gives Tess plenty of time to indulge her two favorite pursuits - sculling and running. Tess wakes up at 5:30 every morning to row for a couple of hours.....t...

This is a zippy murder mystery set in Baltimore. Tess Monaghan has been in a rut since she lost her newspaper job, but her life gets more exciting when her friend, Darryl, asks her to investigate his fiancé. Things get messy when Darryl is accused of murdering a shady attorney linked to his girlfriend. Tess tries to help him by finding the real killer, and ends up in the crosshairs herself.I listened to this audiobook while attending a conference in Baltimore, and it was fun to learn details abo...