Rating: 
Summary: Great book...
Review: I enjoyed Baltimore Blues a little more, but this was still a great read. Looking forward to the rest of the series.
Rating:
Summary: an excellent sophmore effort
Review: I enjoyed BALTIMORE BLUES, the first volume in this series. I think it's here, though, that Lippman's heroine Tess Monaghan really comes into her own. Tess is a bright, underemployed woman on the cusp of 30, refreshingly free of personal demons or substance abuse problems that plague so many P.I.'s . The plot involves the death of a man trying to bring an expansion sports team to Baltimore and a mysterious racing greyhound belonging to Tess's uncle. In much of the book, Tess is placed in relief against what she thinks she wants: A successful journalism career (like her best friend), a promising boyfriend (instead of the young musician she's dating), etc. Lippman has written not just a good mystery, but also a novel of a young woman coming of age. I look forward to more of Tess. Recommended, along with BALTIMORE BLUES.
Rating: 
Summary: An Uneven Read
Review: I picked up Laura Lippman's "Charm City" because several of her mysteries had been nominated for awards and the locale was Baltimore--a city I have some knowledge about.Perhaps this book, the second in the Tess Monaghan series, is not up to the level of Lippman's other offerings. For me, the mystery didn't work that well for several reasons. One was that Tess, the ex-reporter, and now an aspiring P.I, though without a license, seemed to be living rather well for one without, one assumes, much of an income. Her youthful boyfriend/lover Crow, a rock star, just didn't come across as much of a personality--though I admit that perhaps due to age I have my biases toward rock stars and their lifestyles. Other points: the writing is sometimes ok, sometimes a graceful sentence; but mostly the prose seems jumpy and inconsistent. The plot holds some interest, though it takes most of the book to juice up interest. Mystery types also will be put out with the third-person narrator voice, and the lack of a logical ladder of evidence that would permit one to deduce the identity of the culprit. Ms. Lippman does have Tess trip around many familar Baltimore spots, and her descriptions of what Tess eats indicates that the author enjoys food. Perhaps another in the series might be a better read. But based on "Charm City," I think I'll look elsewhere.
Rating: 
Summary: Tess is a great new detective
Review: I've never been to Baltimore, so to me, the attraction of the series is not its loving depiction of the city, but Lippman's resourceful new P.I. and former reporter, Tess. Sometimes grumpy, sometimes naive, always complicated, Tess is one of the most fully-developed characters to inhabit mystery fiction in a long time. Lippman is an excellent writer-- don't be surprised if she becomes as big as Paretsky or Grafton.
Rating:
Summary: Great book...
Review: It's hard to express in words just what is missing in the Tess Monaghan series. I like Tess - I just don't love her. The writing is good - but not great enough to be noteworthy. The side characters are ok (they were more interesting in the first book) but certainly lack the pizazz of, say, the side characters in Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. There's some humor but somehow it only makes me chuckle, not laugh out loud. This is the second book in Lippman's series. It's probably not necessary to read the first in the series to understand this book. The first book, Baltimore Blues, is both better and worse. This book has much stronger plotting between the saga of the planted stories about the basketball promoter and the tale of Esskay, the retired greyhound. At the same time, Lippman's use of Baltimore as a setting is almost invisible. Baltimore was such an interesting part of the first book. I'll probably keep reading this series, but less out of affection for Tess than simply because all those critics and award committees must be seeing something worthwhile. Maybe with another episode, I'll see it too.
Rating: 
Summary: A good read but not the award winner I expected
Review: It's hard to express in words just what is missing in the Tess Monaghan series. I like Tess - I just don't love her. The writing is good - but not great enough to be noteworthy. The side characters are ok (they were more interesting in the first book) but certainly lack the pizazz of, say, the side characters in Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. There's some humor but somehow it only makes me chuckle, not laugh out loud. This is the second book in Lippman's series. It's probably not necessary to read the first in the series to understand this book. The first book, Baltimore Blues, is both better and worse. This book has much stronger plotting between the saga of the planted stories about the basketball promoter and the tale of Esskay, the retired greyhound. At the same time, Lippman's use of Baltimore as a setting is almost invisible. Baltimore was such an interesting part of the first book. I'll probably keep reading this series, but less out of affection for Tess than simply because all those critics and award committees must be seeing something worthwhile. Maybe with another episode, I'll see it too.
Rating: 
Summary: Setting the record straight
Review: Journalists are taught to avoid saying anything is a first: It's a lesson I should have heeded when I said I believed the Tess Monaghan series was one of the first set in Baltimore. Sean McGrady's series about a Baltimore postal inspector appeared in 1992 and has three titles in print. I'm glad to have a chance to set the record straight. I caught this one myself, but I hope readers will always feel free to e-mail me with corrections, questions and comments.
Rating:
Summary: Read this book! It is great.
Review: Laura Lippman's two new mysteries are great. I live in Baltimore, and she really captures the city. Her mysteries are clever, the characters interesting, and there is humor too, not to mention a bit of romance. Write faster, Laura - I read the first two in four days!!!
Rating:
Summary: great read for a fan of mystery, baltimore or urban america!
Review: Laura's done it again! With a mix of great writing, creative plotting and wonderful scene-setting, Laura has come up with a winner. Bravo!
Rating:
Summary: Great Read!!!!!
Review: Lippman has done the next to impossible--improve on Baltimore Blues. Not only is the story gripping and the details of Baltimore on the money (Hon), the lead, Tess, is further developed as a character by Lippman in Charm City. Strong and vulnerable at once, Tess is as rich and deep as they come. I can't wait for the next in the series.
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