Review of THE LAST PLACE by Laura Lippman (see her website)

William Morrow, 2002

It started out as a routine investigation for Baltimore private investigator Tess Monaghan. A nonprofit group hired her to look into several small-town unsolved murders as part of a study to determine whether the police had done a good job, and whether domestic violence was at the root. But soon she discovered something unexpected--a link between two of the cases, which were supposedly chosen at random.

Tess meets up with an unlikely ally--a former Toll Facilities cop, Carl Dewitt, who is obsessed with one of the murders. When they compare notes, they realize they're dealing with an extraordinarily clever serial killer--and that Tess is his real target, but for an unknown reason.

As Tess and Carl investigate, sometimes cooperating with the state police, sometimes defying it, they start to realize that they're following a script only the killer knows, and he's always one step ahead of them. As she struggles with the fear and the mind games, Tess is also battling her own demons, forced on her by a court-ordered anger-management psychiatrist.

Author Laura Lippman's (see more BooksForABuck.com reviews of novels by Lippman) novel has that rare combination of character, action, intellectual puzzle and flashes of humor that blend for a first-rate mystery. This is not a feel-good book, though. It made me a little sad.

Three Stars

Reviewed 1/27/04

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