Book Reviews of Baltimore Blues (Tess Monaghan, Bk 1)

I liked the characters; the plot was decent, but not great; but the writing felt very choppy in places. I'm from Baltimore, so I knew the places she was describing, but it still felt like there were some unwritten assumptions being made for us to fill in.

Lippman's books (Baltimore Blues, Butcher's Hill, The Sugar House) are well-written and entertaining. There are a lot of local references to Baltimore, and a lot of, apparently, local dialect that I had trouble understanding. Usually I like stories where the locale is part of the story, but did not enjoy these as much as some others.

Lippman is a very good writer and her Tess is a colorful and self sufficient woman. She's well rounded and has an interesting love life. On a par with Sue Grafton.

No spoilers. Being from Baltimore, the works of Ms. Lippman appeal to me (I recall reading her father's articles in the Baltimore Sun years back). The mystery here is average, but the local color puzzled me. Ms. Lippman is supposed to show how much she loves Baltimore in her Tess Monaghan books; the impression I get is not love, but a neutral (at best) feeling.

This is the first Tess Monaghan novel of the author's series. I enjoyed the character and all the twists and turns. Also good to learn more about Baltimore. :)

If you've never read a Tess Monaghan book, you have no idea what you are missing. This is a first rate hard-boiled mystery series.

Absolutely my favorite chick mystery series, although I hate to describe Tess as a chick.

The FIRST book in the series featuring Tess Monaghan, a private investigator in Baltimore, Maryland.

This book was hard for me to get into. I felt like half the time Lippman was just reciting a history of Baltimore buildings. It might seem that way to me because I grew up around Baltimore City, but her descriptions of the city were dry. The characters progressed slowly and I found myself not understanding a character's motivation for certain actions. I felt the characters were also dry, and realized a third of the way through that I didn't really care what happened to any of them. This might be because I couldn't relate to any of them. This book is probably great for a different type of person but I ended up unable to finish it.

I had to drag myself to finish this book. The characters are flat and the plot is choppy, not to mention it moves very slowly. I wish I hadn't wasted a credit and the time on it.

This is the first book by Lippman that I have read and I really did not care for it at all. I maybe got halfway through it. It thought it boring.

This is the first of Lippman's books I've read, and since I'm from the Baltimore area, I gave it a try. I thought the book was awfully slow, and I just couldn't work up a liking for Tess. I plan on reading the next one in the series to see if I like it any better than this first one.

What I did enjoy were some things that I had completely forgotten about. BWI Airport used to be Friendship Airport and that really jogged my memory on that. I knew the places and streets pretty well, but the overall story seemed to drag, and a few things were predictable. I thought the plot was a little weak. I'll try again, though, with this author. It's just the first in a series, so not reading another wouldn't be fair judgment.

A fun read for anyone from the "Bawlmer" area "hon".

Excellent story, suprise ending! First time I have read this author, I want to read more!

I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the rest of the books in the series.

Really good book. Interesting character/detective in Baltimore.

A fun mystery, true to the Baltimore setting, Tess Monaghan is one of my favorite literary detectives of all time!

First in the series. You will learn a lot about
Baltimore in these mysteries. Seven of the first
eight are listed here.

Until her paper, the BALTIMORE STAR, crashed and burned, Tess Monaghan was a damn good reporter who knew her hometown intimately--from historic Fort McHenry to the crumbling projects of Cherry Hill. Now gainfully unemployed at twenty-nine, she's willing to take any freelance job to pay the rent--including a bit of unorthodox snooping for her rowing buddy, Darryl "Rock" Paxton.

In a city where someone is murdered almost everyday, attorney Michael Abramowitz's death should be just another statistic. But the slain lawyer's notoriety--and his noontime trysts with Rock's fiancee--make the case front page news...and points to Rock as the likely murderer. But trying to prove her friend's innocence couls prove costly to Tess--and add her name to that infamous ever-growing list.

This book had you guessing to the end! Very well done and enjoyable!

i enjoyed the book. many characters, info on the sport of rowing.

Absolutely my favorite chick mystery series, although I hate to describe Tess as a chick.

I like the way she writes!

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