Baltimore Blues : The First Tess Monaghan Novel

Discover the first novel in New York Times bestselling author Laura Lippman's outstanding Tess Monaghan series! When a former Baltimore reporter must solve the murder of a notorious attorney, she discovers Charm City is rife with dark, sordid, and dangerous secrets.

In a city where someone is murdered almost every day, attorney Michael Abramowitz's death should be just another statistic. But the slain lawyer's notorietyand his taste for illicit midday trystsmake the case front-page news in every local paper except the Star, which crashed and burned before Abramowitz did.

A former Star reporter who knows every inch of this townfrom historic Fort McHenry to the crumbling projects of Cherry Hillnow-unemployed journalist Tess Monaghan also knows the guy the cops like for the killing: cuckolded fianc Darryl "Rock" Paxton. The time is ripe for a career move, so when rowing buddy Rock wants to hire her to do some unorthodox snooping to help clear his name, Tess agrees.

But there are lethal secrets hiding in the Charm City shadows. And Tess's own name could end up on that ever-expanding list of Baltimore dead.