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. Print run 75,000. "In a suspenseful collection of stories featuring fierce women--including...

Everyone in small-town Bellville is talking about a series of mysterious fires disrupting the typically tranquil summer. The authorities attribute them to heat lightning, but some Belleville residents are not so sure...
High-school student Beth, like everyone else in Belleville, has been following the fires – she has plenty of time between her monotonous day job at the deli and solitary nights at home while her mom works late. The fires...

Laura Lippman has long been fascinated by the dangerous vulnerability of teenage girls. In "The Babysitter's Code"—the inspiration for her critically acclaimed novel, To the Power of Three—an adolescent girl decides to take a gun to school. In "Hardly Knew Her," Lippman's homage to Carson McCullers' The Member of the Wedding, a tomboy learns that growing up means learning how to lie and deceive. And in "Ice*"—a prequel to The

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Men in Laura Lippman's haunting and suspenseful stories can be terrified witnesses, unwitting victims, or bemused perpetrators. In "Pony Girl and Black-Eyed Susan", young African-American men find themselves bystanders to horrific crimes central to local celebrations. In "What He Needed", a happily married magazine editor recounts the end of her marriage to a depressed, possibly dangerous husband. "A Good Fuck Spoiled" reveals a man terrified by

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New York Times bestselling author Laura Lippman has been hailed as one of the best crime fiction writers in America today, winning virtually every major award in the genre. The author of the enormously popular series featuring Baltimore P.I. Tess Monaghan as well as three critically lauded stand-alone novels, Lippman now turns her attention to short stories-and reveals another level of mastery. Lippman sets many of the stories in this sterling anthology,...

New York Times bestselling author Laura Lippman has been hailed as one of the best crime fiction writers in America today, winning virtually every major award in the genre. The author of the enormously popular series featuring Baltimore P.I. Tess Monaghan as well as three critically lauded stand-alone novels, Lippman now turns her attention to short stories-and reveals another level of mastery. Lippman sets many of the stories in this sterling anthology,...

New York Times bestselling author Laura Lippman has been hailed as one of the best crime fiction writers in America today, winning virtually every major award in the genre. The author of the enormously popular series featuring Baltimore P.I. Tess Monaghan as well as three critically lauded stand-alone novels, Lippman now turns her attention to short stories-and reveals another level of mastery. Lippman sets many of the stories in this sterling anthology,...

New York Times bestselling author Laura Lippman has been hailed as one of the best crime fiction writers in America today, winning virtually every major award in the genre. The author of the enormously popular series featuring Baltimore P.I. Tess Monaghan as well as three critically lauded stand-alone novels, Lippman now turns her attention to short stories-and reveals another level of mastery. Lippman sets many of the stories in this sterling anthology,...

New York Times bestselling author Laura Lippman has been hailed as one of the best crime fiction writers in America today, winning virtually every major award in the genre. The author of the enormously popular series featuring Baltimore P.I. Tess Monaghan as well as three critically lauded stand-alone novels, Lippman now turns her attention to short stories-and reveals another level of mastery. Lippman sets many of the stories in this sterling anthology,...

New York Times bestselling author Laura Lippman has been hailed as one of the best crime fiction writers in America today, winning virtually every major award in the genre. The author of the enormously popular series featuring Baltimore P.I. Tess Monaghan as well as three critically lauded stand-alone novels, Lippman now turns her attention to short stories-and reveals another level of mastery. Lippman sets many of the stories in this sterling anthology,...