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Laura Lippman is a big deal in mystery. She's won multiple awards, was the Bouchercon Guest of Honor in 2008 and recently was featured in the Sunday New York Times Magazine where her Tess Monaghan serialized story introduced her to thousands of readers who may never have read a mystery. She's hot stuff. She's also a long time friend of mine. But I've got lots of friends who write mystery fiction. And I've never praised a book I didn't like, even if a friend wrote it. So when I say HARDLY KNEW HER is a formidable collection of short stories, I mean it wholeheartedly. It's a true showcase for Lippman's talents, especially the harsher, edgier take she has on young women. Over the years, Lippman's series character Tess Monaghan has grown from a self-absorbed immature young woman who wants things to be the way she wants them so there, to a professional, to a caring committed woman. She still has her obsession that Baltimore is Shangri-la and holds grudges if you don't agree. She's not perfect. And the characters in Lippman's fantastic stand-alone novels, from EVERY SECRET THING TO THE POWER OF THREE and WHAT THE DEAD KNOW show an insight I've never found in other fiction. When that point of view is condensed as it is in many of her short stories, you don't even necessarily notice the acid with which they are written. And then you feel that frisson and you think "what was that?" Lippman writes stories from the point of view of often very creepy, real people. Women who hook up with a man for the ride, because they deserve something for nothing, because they don't want to have to exert any effort. They are shallow, brittle, pretty and voracious. They're amoral, sensation-driven very often, and very often use logical means to their ends. The means are creepy but hey, they work. Two stories in HARDLY KNEW HER (one was written specifically for the collection) feature a suburban single mom who happens to run a call girl outfit. The situation is so skilfully presented that I tended to forget that this is pretty morally repulsive. The young women who decide that the way to look hot means losing a few pounds, so they decide to go on "The Crack Cocaine Diet" and see nothing wrong with this idea. It's just, well darn, it's hard to find crack - after all that's what boyfriends are for and they'd just dumped the most recent incarnations. So time for a little field trip to the city to find a corner where they sell crack. Right. "Dear Penthouse Forum (a First Draft)" is a stellar throwback to the sort of mystery short story with a surprise ending. I don't see too many of those any more (Lawrence Block is a master of this form) and I very much appreciated the twists in this story of a man stranded at the airport and the woman who comes to his rescue. It slams you and it's not even ten pages long. Very few of the protagonists here are likable. Hell, likable would be a huge step up, because most of the stories feature women who are manipulative, crass, dangerous, and calculating. Maybe it's no surprise then that my favorite in all of these very well-written tales is one I read before entitled "The Shoeshine Man's Regrets" one of only two stories here where you encounter Tess Monaghan. But it's an almost elegant tale, or maybe that's in contrast to other stories here. William Harrison is a pretty fascinating guy, and the story is quietly successful. Laura Lippman is clearly one of the genre authors who can handle both full-length novels and short stories. We need more like her.
Reviewed by Andi Shechter, January 2009
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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