The Sugar House

Tess Monaghan's life is back on course. She is beginning to make a name for herself as a PI, she's even banking good money. And then her father asks her a favour: to investigate the death in prison of a friend's brother convicted of killing an unidentified girl, otherwise known as 'Jane Doe'. Tess's search leads her to 'the Sugar House', a brutal institution where she discovers Jane Doe's real identity. And then Tess's father begs her to drop the case . . . It is not until her parent's house is set on fire and a body pulled from the wreckage, that she realises that her life may have taken a very wrong turning indeed - one from which there is no going back ...

“One of the best novelists around, period”

Every time Laura Lippman comes out with a new book, I get chills because I know I am back in the hands of the master. She is simply a brilliant novelist, an unflinching chronicler of life in America right now -- Gillian Flynn
Tess is feisty ... It is a joy to watch her come alive WASHINGTON TIMES
A rare find: a puzzle so finely calibrated that each new disclosure brings revelation and deepening mystery at the same time, as well as a sense of place so unerring it makes Baltimore everyone's hometown KIRKUS
Solid crime that'll keep you wondering 'til the end what the boys at the top get up to MIRROR
The story flows easily, the dialogue is realistic and the characters sharply drawn ... a good introduction to this experienced crime novelist's work DAILY TELEGRAPH
WASHINGTON POST
[Lippman] only seems to be getting better ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
Laura Lippman is among the select group of novelists who have invigorated the crime fiction arena with smart, innovative, and exciting work -- George Pelecanos
One of the most polished and consistently interesting writers of detective fiction today THE ECONOMIST
One of America's most important literary voices IRISH TIMES
Lippman has enriched literature as a whole CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
A force to be reckoned with in crime fiction PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
What makes THE SUGAR HOUSE so satisfying is the complexity of plot and character. This is the fifth entry in an already admirable mystery series, and Lippman and Tess make the deserved transition from paperback to hardcover with ease. Both just keep getting better CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Before becoming a full time novelist, Laura Lippman was a newspaper reporter for 20 years, including 12 years at the BALTIMORE SUN. She lives in Baltimore with her partner, the writer David Simon.

Tess Monaghan's life is back on course. She is beginning to make a name for herself as a PI, she's even banking good money. And then her father asks her a favour: to investigate the death in prison of a friend's brother convicted of killing an unidentified girl, otherwise known as 'Jane Doe'. Tess's search leads her to 'the Sugar House', a brutal institution where she discovers Jane Doe's real identity. And then Tess's father begs her to drop the case . . . It is not until her parent's house is set on fire and a body pulled from the wreckage, that she realises that her life may have taken a very wrong turning indeed - one from which there is no going back ...

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