Seasonal work : stories / Laura Lippman.

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Title:

Seasonal work : stories / Laura Lippman.

Author:

Lippman, Laura, 1959- author.

Lippman, Laura, 1959- Book thing.

Lippman, Laura, 1959- Everyday housewife.

Lippman, Laura, 1959- Cougar.

Lippman, Laura, 1959- Snowflake time.

Lippman, Laura, 1959- Tricks.

Lippman, Laura, 1959- Ice.

Lippman, Laura, 1959- Last of Sheila Locke-Holmes.

Lippman, Laura, 1959- Five fires.

Lippman, Laura, 1959- Waco 1982.

Lippman, Laura, 1959- Slow burner.

Lippman, Laura, 1959- Just one more.

ISBN:

9780063000032

Uniform Title:

Works. Selections. 2022

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

325 pages ; 22 cm

Contents:

Seasonal work -- The book thing -- The everyday housewife -- Cougar - Snowflake time -- Tricks -- Ice -- The last of Sheila Locke-Holmes -- Five fires -- Waco, 1982 -- Slow burner -- Just one more.

Abstract:

The award-winning master of psychological suspense is in top form in this collection of diverse and diabolically clever stories - including one never-before-published novella. These brilliantly crafted stories of deception, murder, dangerous games, and love gone wrong - irrefutable evidence that Laura Lippman's riveting fiction will more than satisfy any crime reader.

"In a suspenseful collection of stories featuring fierce women--including one never-before-published novella--New York Times bestseller Laura Lippman showcases why she is one of today's top crime writers"-- Provided by publisher.

Personal Subject:

Monaghan, Tess (Fictitious character)-Fiction.

Monaghan, Tess (Fictitious character) (OCoLC)fst01025043

Subject Term:

Women -- Fiction.

Murder -- Fiction.

Femmes -- Romans, nouvelles, etc.

Meurtre -- Romans, nouvelles, etc.

FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Collections & Anthologies.

FICTION / Short Stories (single author).

FICTION / Thrillers / Suspense.

Murder. (OCoLC)fst01029781

Women. (OCoLC)fst01176568

Genre:

Detective and mystery fiction. (OCoLC)fst01726581

Fiction. (OCoLC)fst01423787

Novellas. (OCoLC)fst01921741

Short stories. (OCoLC)fst01726740

Thrillers (Fiction) (OCoLC)fst01726755

Detective and mystery fiction.

Novellas.

Nouvelles.

Added Author:

Lippman, Laura, 1959- Book thing.

Lippman, Laura, 1959- Everyday housewife.

Lippman, Laura, 1959- Cougar.

Lippman, Laura, 1959- Snowflake time.

Lippman, Laura, 1959- Tricks.

Lippman, Laura, 1959- Ice.

Lippman, Laura, 1959- Last of Sheila Locke-Holmes.

Lippman, Laura, 1959- Five fires.

Lippman, Laura, 1959- Waco 1982.

Lippman, Laura, 1959- Slow burner.

Lippman, Laura, 1959- Just one more.

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Status
Searching... Avon-Washington Township Public Library	Adult Mystery Fiction Book Hardback	120791003022971	M LIP	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

New York Times bestseller Laura Lippman showcases why she is one of today's top crime writers in this acclaimed collection of suspenseful stories featuring fierce women--including one never-before-published novella.

"A first-rate collection, an obvious must for the legions of Lippman fans, but also great reading for anyone who savors short crime fiction." -- Booklist (starred review)

The award-winning master of psychological suspense is in top form in this collection of diverse and diabolically clever stories.

In the never-before-published "Just One More," a married couple--longing for that old romantic spark--creates a playful diversion that comes with unexpected consequences.

Lippman's beloved Baltimore PI Tess Monaghan keeps a watchful eye on a criminally resourceful single father in "Seasonal Work," while her mother, Judith, realizes that the life of "The Everyday Housewife" is an excellent cover for all kinds of secrets.

In "Slow Burner," a husband's secret cell phone proves to be a dicey temptation for a suspicious wife.

A father's hidden past piques the curiosity of a young snoop in "The Last of Sheila-Locke Holmes."

Plus seven other brilliantly crafted stories of deception, murder, dangerous games, and love gone wrong--irrefutable evidence that Laura Lippman's riveting fiction will more than satisfy any crime reader.

Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Bestseller Lippman (Dream Girl) displays her uncanny understanding of human nature and all its foibles in this worthy collection of 12 stories involving deceit, violence, and psychological mayhem. In the edgy "Slow Burner," a married couple, Liz and Phil, engage in metaphorical fisticuffs after healing from the husband's infidelity a year previously. Then Liz finds a burner phone in the laundry basket with incriminating texts on it. She tries to trivialize it as an example of Phil's "delight in being new to someone, anyone," but soon realizes this affair runs as deeply as the first. She takes matters into her own hands, with frightening results. Another standout is "Five Fires," in which a jealous small-town deli worker is determined to find the arsonist setting nearby fires, but her schizophrenia conceals the shocking truth about the crimes. Booksellers will relish "The Book Thing," in which PI Tess Monaghan, Lippman's series lead, catches the man stealing inventory from indie bookstores--and discovers his extraordinary use for the books. Not every entry is top-notch, but anything from Lippman is worth reading. Agent: Vicky Bijur, Vicky Bijur Literary. (Jan.)

Kirkus Review

Playful tales of misdeeds great and small from the prolific mystery author. Lippman fans will be glad to hear that the first two stories in her second collection of short fiction--after Hardly Knew Her (2008)--feature Tess Monaghan, now-retired private investigator and star of a dozen mystery novels. The first, the title story, is about a long con featuring the wise child of a grifter dad; the second is a very Baltimorean story set in a children's bookstore with an ongoing shoplifting problem. The third story features a couple that insiders will recognize as Tess' parents in the years before she was born. Though Judith Monaghan is "The Everyday Housewife," her powers of observation and interest in the lives of others presage her daughter's talents--as one character points out, "It's a thin line between gossip and espionage." The remaining nine stories take on a sparkling array of everyday cheaters, liars, egotists, and sexist pigs. In "Slow Burner," a perfectly pleasant high school teacher "has been spying on [her husband] for so long it's hard to remember what she might know and what she can't know." But as her students point out during their mythology unit, "Hades is a kidnapper, plain and simple. Why should Persephone be punished for eating a few seeds?...To teenagers, the gods are like adults, taking themselves much too seriously, demanding respect they have not earned, changing the rules as it suits them while torturing the puny mortals in their care." Oof. As the author explains in an interesting afterword, the stories--four of which, she proudly notes, do not a include a dead body--were written between 2007 and 2019 and had to be updated slightly to conform to current standards. Sensitivity, however, only goes so far with a crime novelist. When the pandemic comes along in the last story, "Just One More," it only makes murder more acceptable. "Hundreds of people were dying every day. What was one more body on the pile?" Clever, well-paced, laced with humor and insight--damn fine short stories. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

These 12 stories were written between 2007 and 2019 and appeared in various anthologies, except for "Just One More," a never-previously-published novella about a married couple in the midst of the pandemic who decide to sign up for a dating app just for fun--something to vary the routine of streaming Columbo. This excruciatingly timely story perfectly captures the quotidian sameness of life during lockdown until it corkscrews into something very different. Throughout the collection, Lippman showcases a pitch-perfect sense of how to end a short piece, surprising us with revelatory twists but never doing so in a formulaic, O. Henry way. Also on display is Lippman's ability to create compelling female characters of varying ages, from forty-somethings to teens and children, who combine resolute determination with sometimes-heartbreaking personal vulnerability. Fans will be pleased to find two Tess Monaghan stories here, along with one about the early lives of Tess' parents, Judith and Patrick. The outstanding title story has Tess, still a reporter before launching her PI business, exposing an audacious Christmas scam but being outmaneuvered by the teenager she attempts to rescue. (Lippman's great feel for teen characters inspires hope that a YA thriller might be in her future.) All in all, this is a first-rate collection, an obvious must for the legions of Lippman fans, but also great reading for anyone who savors short crime fiction.

Library Journal Review

This collection of a dozen delightful stories from Lippman ("Tess Monaghan" series; Dream Girl) feature resourceful women from many walks of life. In the title story, a 14-year-old relates her grifter stepfather's cunning Christmas con; the early 1960s-set "The Everyday Housewife" has Tess Monaghan's mother evading ennui by observing her neighbors; a "Cougar" mom contends with her meth-dealing, freeloading son and his girlfriend; a girl trapped in the "Ice" of a skating pond contemplates the real events of her drowning death while another girl skates on thin ice above. Lippman's heroines are not easily scorned or fooled, except occasionally by themselves. This is evident in the haunting "Five Fires," and in the only new novella in the collection, the COVID-tinged "Just One More," with a couple in lockdown trying to revive their marriage. Even when readers see the punchline coming, they will enjoy the intricate characterizations, excellent sense of place, and eagle-eyed cultural references. The last three stories in the collection are the strongest, especially "Slow Burner," about a cheating husband, a suspicious wife, and an extra cell phone. VERDICT A must for Lippman fans and devotees of female-empowerment crime fiction.--Liz French, Library Journal