Lady in the Lake: A Novel

Written by Laura Lippman

Narrated by Susan Bennett

SOON TO BE A SERIES FROM APPLE TV!

A New York Times Bestseller

2020 Audie Awards® Finalist - Thriller/Suspense

The revered New York Times bestselling author returns with a novel set in 1960s Baltimore that combines modern psychological insights with elements of classic noir, about a middle-aged housewife turned aspiring reporter who pursues the murder of a forgotten young woman. 

In 1966, Baltimore is a city of secrets that everyone seems to know—everyone, that is, except Madeline “Maddie” Schwartz. Last year, she was a happy, even pampered housewife. This year, she’s bolted from her marriage of almost twenty years, determined to make good on her youthful ambitions to live a passionate, meaningful life.

Maddie wants to matter, to leave her mark on a swiftly changing world. Drawing on her own secrets, she helps Baltimore police find a murdered girl—assistance that leads to a job at the city’s afternoon newspaper, the Star. Working at the newspaper offers Maddie the opportunity to make her name, and she has found just the story to do it: Cleo Sherwood, a missing woman whose body was discovered in the fountain of a city park lake.

If Cleo were white, every reporter in Baltimore would be clamoring to tell her story. Instead, her mysterious death receives only cursory mention in the daily newspapers, and no one cares when Maddie starts poking around in a young Black woman's life—except for Cleo's ghost, who is determined to keep her secrets and her dignity. Cleo scolds the ambitious Maddie: You're interested in my death, not my life. They're not the same thing.

Maddie’s investigation brings her into contact with people that used to be on the periphery of her life—a jewelry store clerk, a waitress, a rising star on the Baltimore Orioles, a patrol cop, a hardened female reporter, a lonely man in a movie theater. But for all her ambition and drive, Maddie often fails to see the people right in front of her. Her inability to look beyond her own needs will lead to tragedy and turmoil for all sorts of people—including Ferdie, the man who shares her bed, a police officer who is risking far more than Maddie can understand.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Jul 23, 2019
• ISBN: 9780062390134

Laura Lippman

Laura Lippman (Atlanta, 1959) creció en Baltimore y estudió periodismo en la Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. Trabajó durante dos décadas como reportera en Waco Tribune-Herald, San Antonio Light y The Baltimore Sun, y publicó varios libros sobre la «detective privada accidental» Tess Monaghan antes de dejar la prensa diaria en 2001 para dedicarse a la literatura. Su obra, publicada en más de veinte países, ha sido galardonada con los premios Edgar, Anthony, Agatha, Shamus, Nero Wolfe, Gumshoe y Barry. Entre sus novelas más recientes destacan Piel quemada (Salamandra, 2021) y La dama del lago, cuya miniserie homónima se estrenará este año en AppleTV+ con Natalie Portman y Lupita Nyong'o como protagonistas. Laura Lippman, la primera mujer en recibir el Mayor's Prize for Literary Excellence y la primera reconocida como Autora del Año por la Maryland Library Association, vive entre Baltimore, Nueva York y Nueva Orleans con su familia.

Reviews for Lady in the Lake

[tricia · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I tried to watch the series on Apple TV, but it was no match to the book. The narrator did an excellent job. I listen to the book almost straight through. I was so engaged.

[Emily Lassiter Branch · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

There's so much going on in this book. It's a mystery, but it's also about a woman having a mid-life crisis (back in the days before we had a name for it) and trying to forge a new life for herself. It's told from multiple points of view, and with flashbacks. As the central character, Maddie, works toward her goal of becoming a reporter (with no journalistic training), the multiple points of view show the things she's caught in her investigative efforts - as well as the things she's missed. For me there was also a nostalgia factor - set in 1966, I could relate to much of it as my mother was right around Maddie's age at that time, and I was about the age of Maddie's son. But it's not a sanitized version of the time, sexism and racism are both well-represented, as are the roots of changing attitudes. Overall I enjoyed this one - it isn't exactly a happy book, but it was well worth the read, both for the writing and for the story. (And as a sort of homage to Marjorie Morningstar, which I've read a couple of times but long ago - it's moved my planned re-read up my TBR list.)

[Madeline McDowell · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

They are filming this tv series in my neighborhood in Baltimore. I liked all the local references and thought the audio narration was enjoyable. The story was alright, pretty engaging but overall a lot of fluff. Twist in the story wasn’t very predictable which is good.

[bogopea · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

1960's Baltimore era noir about the murder of two females and the newspaper reporter who was determined to find their killers.

[Pprbkwrtr · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is terrific, timely, and compelling fiction and one of the best-narrated audiobooks I've ever heard. I was hooked right away and finished this in record-time, because I didn't want to put it down.

[d-fbuser-419021644 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Laura Lippman does not disappoint this was a great book!

[Leigh Linden · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent!! I enjoyed the setting and time period. There descriptions seemed real yet elegant.
The story comes together nicely, not too predictable. An excellent read!

[dandiercks · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A reasonably good mystery with enough twists to keep me reading. For the kind of book this is, the writing is impressive. I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t one of the better books I’ve read recently.

[ana2theresa · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved the story and loved the reader. The characters were so believable and intriguing. Sad it was done.

[Gabriela Prokopowicz · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great book . Many unexpected characters which aren’t obvious . Interesting read

[Kathy Flaming · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Too slow for me :(. Tried so hard to get into this book

[Dayna Ross · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I liked this book. It was an easy listen, and had some good twists in it.

[knittingmomof3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An exceptional work of literary prose and historical fiction.

[lisamccall-101957 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It was a bit hard to follow at first. Maddie is a bored housewife who leaves her husband and becomes an amateur detective to find out more about Cleo, a black lady who was found drowned in a fountain. Set in the 1960s. Nice twist in the end.

[booklover1801 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Laura Lippman's "Lady in the Lake" is a dark but occasionally humorous tale of two women. The first, Cleo Sherwood, an African-American single parent, is stunningly beautiful and eager for love, money, and excitement. The second, thirty-seven-year-old Maddie Schwartz, is an attractive and bored housewife who craves romance without commitment and wants to fulfill her dream to become a newspaper writer.

This complicated story involves a great many people whom Cleo and Maddie encounter during their adventures. Cleo uses her looks to snag a well-to-do beau, but her choice may lead to trouble. Maddie, meanwhile, embarks on a torrid affair with an African-American police officer. For practical reasons, Maddie and her partner are determined to keep their relationship under wraps. During the sixties, when most of this novel takes place, racism and sexism were pervasive in Baltimore. Lippman expertly captures the atmosphere of this era. There is a specificity to her writing that provides a window into the minds of her characters. Often, even those making cameo appearances are allotted a chapter in which they reveal their innermost thoughts and feelings.

There are murders to be solved, one involving a child and the other, an adult. In Maddie's eagerness to prove herself worthy to be a journalist, she insinuates herself into both cases. She practically forces her way into homes to get interviews, and at last manages to gain a foothold as a rookie reporter at the Baltimore Star. Lippman is a master at creating mood. She uses her setting to good effect and colorfully recreates a city newsroom of yesteryear. It is too bad that the plot of "Lady in the Lake" is so convoluted and drawn-out. There are quite a few tangential passages that add little to the proceedings, and there is a weird twist at the end that does not ring true. To her credit, the author realistically depicts Cleo and Maddie as shallow narcissists. These two believe that since society's strictures have held them back, they are justified in doing whatever is necessary to fulfill their dreams—no matter who gets hurt in the process.

[maydacat_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Maddie is a housewife and mother in the 60’s. But she is not a typical one. She had to do something with her life; she had to matter. To that end, she leaves her husband, manages to get a job with a newspaper, and lands some rather unusual interviews. She is clever, and lets nothing stop her from getting where she wants to go. It is not smooth sailing, not by a long shot, and some people are hurt in this process. The story is rather ingeniously told from several points of view. Characters come in sometimes for only one chapter, and while this may seen confusing, it is not. It adds depth to the setting of Baltimore in the 60’s and brings in several aspects of the history of that time. Still, it is a murder mystery, even if the characters’ lives and their actions force the mystery into the backseat. Like many good mysteries, the ending brings a twist. Readers of all genres will enjoy this tightly written book, but audio listeners will have the added pleasure of the wonderful performance of Susan Bennett whose narration brings much to the story.

[ahef1963 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Laura Lippman doesn't disappoint. This is, I think, the fourth novel of hers that I've read, and I've enjoyed all of them. Lippman's books are invariably set in her beloved home town of Baltimore, and that the city is full of crime and vice seems to be an integral part of the Baltimore she has lived in and adored her entire life.

When I was much, much younger, a young teen, my family's summer excursion to Myrtle Beach took us through Washington, DC, to the National Cemetery in Annapolis, and through Baltimore, where we got stuck in a late-afternoon traffic jam on the wrong side of town. There were women dressed oddly, skirts so short they barely existed, fishnet stockings and long boots despite the July heat, plunging shirts and too much lipstick. My father, when I asked, told me that they were prostitutes, and when I asked for a definiton of prostitute, he hedged and told me that they were women who sold their bodies. Unfortunately I thought that this meant they had bits of their bodies cut off - a finger here, a toe there, maybe an ear - and was terrified by this idea for years.

So in some way I've always felt kinship with the seedier sides of Baltimore, where Lippman's murders take place, where women are raped, where strippers peel off clothing and where prostitutes roam. It doesn't seem like a good place to be a woman, and that's the Baltimore that appears in Lippman's books.

Lady in the Lake is set in the mid-1960s, and is the tale of Madeline Schwartz, a well-off Jewish women dissatisfied with her life and her marriage. At the age of thirty-seven she leaves the suburbs and moves into the inner city, where she finds a murdered girl, and then a murdered woman. She joins a newspaper which is reluctant to hire her, lives in a neighbourhood where white women are a minority, and starts sleeping with a black police constable. Maddie always goes too far, and can't be stopped by reason or by the risk of danger, so her continued insistence on writing about a murdered black woman gets her noticed by the wrong people, gets her in trouble at the newspaper, and does, actually, put her life in peril. It's a good book, and it's insightful. It saddens me that so little has changed in racial relations in the United States. What happens in this 1960s scenario is still playing out across the nation.

Negatives about the book? I found it hard to get into, but that's me, anxious lately, and finding it difficult to settle into a story. I would like it if the Yiddish words that were used in the book were translated by means of a footnote or a glossary. Otherwise I am more than satisfied. I enjoyed the many narrators of the book, and I liked the twists and turns that lead to a wholly unexpected ending. Most importantly I liked Maddie. She has goals, she wants more than to take care of a man, she is driven, she is the woman of the future.

[ibkennedy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Terrific story, nicely told.

[thisisstephenbetts · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very enjoyable mystery novel, set in 1966. I thought that some of the portentousness that built up was not really justified by the ending, which I always find a trifle annoying, but that feels like nit-picking.

[hemlokgang · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Just did not appeal.

[Dayna Bennett · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Soooo, hmmm. The writing is excellent, obviously. But I just didn’t like the protagonist-
Not because of the choices she made. I celebrated her seeking freedom and seeking a voice of her own. But we never see any growth in her. We never see her move past the past,
Or do anything other than poke at other people’s lives as a way of dealing with her own mistakes.
She never expressed any emotion other than desire and maybe some guilt and even that was blasé. I just couldn’t find a reason to care about her. The character I found more interesting was Cleo, and her resolution was a tad unclear. So, not my favorite.

[patsymurray · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

She built the suspense up wonderfully and then it all ended in a dull, unrealistic muddle.

[IsraelRoca · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It reads very quickly. I would highlight the description of the characters and the era. (Translated from Spanish)

[hardlyhardy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Laura Lippman says in an author's note that she did not intend “Lady in the Lake” (2019) to be a newspaper novel, but sometimes you really do write what you know, even if you are an experienced novelist. And Lippman was a newspaper reporter in Baltimore before she became a bestselling author, so she knows the territory very well.

“Lady in the Lake” may be one of the best and most unusual murder mysteries you will find — unusual because virtually every character, no matter how insignificant, becomes one of the many narrators. Yet always at the center of the story is Maddie Schwartz, a beautiful 37-year-old Jewish housewife who feels her life rushing by, leaving all her potential behind her. Potential for what, exactly, she doesn't know because she has no obvious talent, other than wrapping most men around her finger. But she decides to leave her wealthy husband — and her teenage son — and strike out on her own.

The novel, set in 1966, has two murders that are unrelated except that they both happen in Baltimore and both draw Maddie to them. She finds the body of girl, then provides evidence leading to the murderer. And this she turns into a low-level newsroom position at a Baltimore paper. Struggling to become an actual reporter, she begins investigating another murder that nobody else either at the newspaper or the police department seems to care about.

That's because Cleo Sherwood, called "the lady in the lake," was black. But Maddie does care, partly because she hopes the story will launch her career but also because of a hot affair she is having with a black police officer, Ferdie. At that time in Baltimore black officers, like women approaching middle age working for newspapers, have little chance of advancement. They aren't even trusted with patrol cars. Yet Ferdie learns things that provide valuable tips for Maddie. The rest of her success depends on her own gumption and her refusal to take no for an answer.

The novel describes how an amateur reporter solves two murders without even trying — she's after stories, not killers — yet in Lippman's hands this hardly seems unlikely at all. It is, in fact, highly entertaining. The final reveal, however, does seem like a stretch, not that it will spoil the reader's enjoyment.

[purple_pisces22 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book did not work for me. I’ve had to really think about this review and I am honestly at a loss and I had to go back and make sure it really was written by Laura Lippman. I’ve always enjoyed her work and I’m not exactly sure why it didn’t work. I realize the story takes place in the 1960s, but I don’t feel That many of the characters actions were typical of that time and they were not really explained. Maddie, the main character, left her family to be a reporter. Maybe I missed it, but I I don’t recall reading if this was a lifelong dream of hers or what her reasoning behind this was. I’m sure that were many women in the past who did things not typical of the time, but like I said this just didn’t work for me.
On top of this, this the suspense was completely lacking. Even in a basic fiction book there are moments that are suspenseful - not necessarily scary but still have you sitting on the edge of your seat. I did not come close to the edge of my seat throughout the whole book. Even the “scary” moments were odd to me. Nothing really seem to fit. I guess that’s my bottom line.

[rglossne · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Changing attitudes about women and race are at the core of this murder mystery set in 1960s Baltimore. Maddie Swartz is a privileged and sheltered housewife who ditches her marriage of 20 years to pursue a more passionate and meaningful life. Her curiosity and her instincts put her at the center of two murder investigations. The first results from the discovery of the body of a missing child. The second,The Lady in the Lake, refers to a body of a young black woman found in a fountain whose murder is not at the top of anyone’s priorities, because she is black. Maddie’s pursuit of answers is the core of the novel, and changes her life.

[romonko · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I have to admit I had high hopes for this book, and for the first 2/3 they were almost being met. i thought the book was a solid 4 stars, and I was eagerly turning pages. But when I got to the last third, the air was blowing out of the balloon. The book lost momentum for me, and I just couldn't wait to finish. I thought all had been explained and let's end it already. And then we got to the final two chapters, and wow! I did not like the way the book ended at all. It didn't help that I didn't like any of the characters and I certainly couldn't relate to any of them. Madeline especially was a total narcissist. Her behaviour was never explained satisfactorily either. By the end of the book I couldn't stand her. What I did enjoy at first were the many points of view that were used to tell the story. I found it was very thought provoking, and a cool way to move the plot along. That wore thin after awhile. This is the second book that I've read from this author and I was totally disappointed with both of them. I cannot recommend this book at all. Nor will I read another book by this particular author.

[shazjhb · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Enjoyable book. Interesting characters and twists.

[sjgirl-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

With Natalie Portman and Lupita Nyong’o signed on to star as Maddie and Cleo in an adaptation of this book, I wrongly went into this expecting the focus would be split evenly between those two characters.

Cleo is barely featured, her POV is lightly sprinkled through the book, necessarily brief I guess for plot reasons still it’s disappointing that she ultimately plays such a small role considering her connection to the title.

Maddie is the most prominent character in the book however the story is told from several points of view beyond hers. I don’t have a problem with multiple points of view when it feels like there’s a legitimate reason for them and if they’re moving the plot forward but far too often these POV’s (including Maddie’s) veered into territory that didn’t seem particularly relevant to the mystery of the lady in the lake.

The newspaper aspect of this as well as gender and race in the sixties held my interest, but for the most part the deep dives into (sometimes random) characters got in the way of this being the suspenseful page-turner I’d hoped to read.

[robertalea-223265 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

There were many, many plots and twists in this murder mystery. I did not even come close to figuring out the who done it and why. I sure enjoy Laura Lippman's style.