GIRL IN THE GREEN RAINCOAT by Laura Lippman

December 8, 2011

Born January 31, 1959, in Atlanta, GA; Education: Studied journalism at Northwestern University and Medill School of Journalism. Avocational Interests: Eating, drinking, socializing with family and friends, and exercise. Addresses: Home: Baltimore, MD. Office: Baltimore Sun Company, 501 N. Calvert St., P.O. Box 1377, Baltimore, MD 21278. E-mail: laura@lauralippmann.com

Previously serialized in the New York Times, and now published in book form for the very first time, The Girl in the Green Raincoat is a masterful Hitchcockian thriller from one of the very best in the business: multiple award-winner Laura Lippman.

Laura Lippman, a best sellling author, delves into the well of true crime for inspiration and places all of her adult crime fiction novels in the dark side of Baltimore. Lippman has written several stand-alone novels, but is best known for her "Tess Monaghan" series described as "Chick-Lit with guns", which features a reporter turned private detective investigator. These books are full of complex characters, lots of witty dialogue and twists and turns that keep the pace moving. Lippman works have won several notable awards, including the Agatha, Anthony, Edgar, Nero, Gumshoe and Shamus awards. Start with: Baltimore Blues.

A journalist who has worked for newspapers in Texas and Maryland, mystery novelist Laura Lippman is well known for her "Tess Monaghan" series, featuring a reporter turned private investigator. The series has been critically well received, and her work has earned her such prestigious prizes as the Edgar Allan Poe Award, the Shamus Award, and the Agatha Award.

Asked by a MysteryNet Web site writer about the similarities between Tess and herself, Lippman commented: "She's the person I might have been if I had lost my job in my 20s--a rougher exterior, but a much softer interior, full of self doubts. Like many fictional characters, she gets to say the rude/funny things I would never dare to say out loud. She is brave and principled, two things I like to think I am, but perhaps not to the extent Tess is."

The Girl in the Green Raincoat (2011)

Laura Lippman's The Girl in the Green Raincoat is the tenth installment in the Tess Monaghan mystery series. This outing finds the private investigator confined to bed rest as she enters the final trimester of her pregnancy. She passes the time watching passersby out her apartment window, and one in particular catches her eye: a woman in a green raincoat walking her dog. But one day the woman doesn't show up, and only her dog, running around without a leash, is left behind. Despite her sensitive condition, Tess grows more and more determined to find out what happened to the girl in the green raincoat.

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Tess Monaghan Series (1997)

In the Tess Monaghan Series, author Laura Lippman charts the investigations of reporter-turned-private eye Tess as she undertakes a number of dangerous cases. Set in Baltimore, the novels of this series follow Tess as she finds her calling as a detective while battling the criminal element plaguing the streets of the city.

• Baltimore Blues, Avon (New York, NY), 1997.
• Charm City, Avon (New York, NY), 1997.
• Butcher's Hill, Avon (New York, NY), 1998.
• In Big Trouble, Avon (New York, NY), 1999.
• The Sugar House, Morrow (New York, NY), 2000.
• In a Strange City, Morrow (New York, NY), 2001.
• The Last Place, Morrow (New York, NY), 2002.
• By a Spider's Thread, Morrow (New York, NY), 2004.
• No Good Deeds, William Morrow (New York, NY), 2006.
• Another Thing to Fall, William Morrow (New York, NY), 2008.
• The Girl in the Green Raincoat, William Morrow (New York, NY),

NOVELS

• Every Secret Thing, Morrow (New York, NY), 2003.
• To the Power of Three, Morrow (New York, NY), 2005.
• What the Dead Know, William Morrow (New York, NY), 2007.
• Life Sentences, William Morrow (New York, NY), 2009.
• I'd Know You Anywhere, William Morrow (New York, NY), 2010.

Website:   http://lauralippman.com/

includes descriptions of work and video clips of interviews, etc.; “Mysterious Baltimore” is a good introduction to her sense of place.