What the Dead Know

What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman
Published by William Morrow, Harper Collins
March 2007


Though this is my first time reading Laura Lippman, she kept what good reputation I knew of with What the Dead Know, a novel and quasi-mystery. More a good tale than a who-done-it, I never regretted picking this based on reviews of previous Lippman successes (No Good Deeds, By a Spider's Thread, etc).

Based in Baltimore, a woman who claims to be one of two sisters who disappeared over 30 years ago is involved in a hit-and-run accident. This Jane Doe's story, as well as her family's, unfolds slowly as Lippman weaves the narrative back and forth in time. The police are baffled as there is no possibility of DNA testing nor any record of the girls from the day they went missing.

What the Dead Know has just the right amount of twists and turns and character building to deliver a book that is both readable and enjoyable, though maybe a bit slow at times. Recommended, but check it out from the library before you but it.