Review of Lady in the Lake

Lady in the Lake is a historical mystery which will be adapted for Apple TV in July 2024! Check out my review of Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman!

Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman: Overview

• Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman
• Published on July 23, 2019 by William Morrow
• Thanks to the publisher for providing an advance review copy!
• More by this author: I’ve read most of her Tess Monaghan series, and also reviewed some of her standalone fiction, like Prom Mom and Dream Girl.

Lady in the Lake: Jen’s Quick Summary

• Historical (1960s) fiction with noir and mystery elements
• Multiple POVs, including one from a dead woman
• Looks at women’s rights and race relations in 1960s Baltimore
• Fairly low (3.5) Goodreads rating
• Some readers didn’t like the number of narrative POVs
• But others loved the narrative style and felt Lady in the Lake was one of Lippmann’s best. It was nominated for an Anthony award and an LA Times book prize.

Review of Lady in the Lake: Jen’s Analysis

I’m a big Laura Lippman fan – I read many of her Tess Monaghan series and really enjoyed some of her standalone books, like Prom Mom and Dream Girl.

Lady in the Lake is interesting and felt pretty different to me than Lippmann’s other books. It’s not really a traditional mystery or thriller, more like historical fiction with mystery elements.

The book takes place in the mid-1960s and centers around Maddie Schwartz, a Jewish housewife who leaves her husband in search of more freedom and excitement. Maddie gets a job at a newspaper office and gets interested in the case of Cleo Sherwood, a Black woman whose body was found in the lake of a local Baltimore park.

If this were a more traditional mystery, the narrative would center around Maddie doggedly pursuing the case, interviewing people and gathering clues.

But the narrative structure of Lady in the Lake is different, with almost every character – major and minor – getting a point of view. The dead woman also has a POV, a bit like The Lovely Bones.

So this story IS about the mystery of Cleo’s death, but also about a lot of other things, like women’s rights and race relations in 1960s Baltimore. It’s the story of two different women – Maddie and Cleo – and their struggles as women trying to follow a different path.

If you’re looking for a traditional page-turner or don’t like a lot of narrative POVs, this might not be for you, but if you like historical fiction and books that are more issue-driven, you might want to give Lady in the Lake a try!

Looking for other adult mysteries? Check out my reviews of The Death of Mrs. Westaway or The Whisper Network!

Are you a mystery reader? Talk to me in comments!