The Sugar House

September 4, 2000
Glue-sniffing teen Henry Dembrow goes to prison after confessing to killing a young Jane Doe found with a small rubber hose tied in a bow around her neck. A month later he, too, is dead. Coincidence? Ruthie Dembrow, Henry's sister, has her doubts and asks former Baltimore reporter Tess Monaghan, the heroine of this first (and first-rate) hardcover in a justly acclaimed series, to investigate. Tess agrees only because her father, Patrick, says he owes Ruthie one. Going over the facts of the crime, Tess realizes that she needs to identify the victim and to learn how the victim came to know her alleged killer. On the home front, Patrick's disapproval of her current love, Crow, strains their relationship. Edgar and Agatha winner Lippman (Charm City; In Big Trouble), a feature writer for the Baltimore Sun, really knows her town. She takes Tess far from the tourist stops into crumbling, neglected parts of the historic port city and beyond. Annapolis, a questionable clinic on the Eastern Shore and Philadelphia all figure in Tess's struggle to uncover the connections between a sordid killing and the pursuit of wealth and power in the state capital. As she digs deeper with assists from her wealthy pal, Whitney, major players begin to squirm and lives and reputations are in danger, including her own. Far from perfect, Tess finds she must carefully consider the compromises others have made for good or ill while not straying too far from her own principles. Nobody gets away clean, but some scores are settled, which at times has to be enough.

A feckless young Baltimore man, convicted of a Jane Doe murder, is himself killed in prison. His sister wants to know why. When Tess Monaghan, a tough but charming Baltimore P.I., takes the case, her investigation runs the gamut from the city's ruling classes to its lowlife and most of the notes in between. Compelling and satisfying, this is a tautly worked thriller with an awfully sweet ending (note the title.) Laurence Bouvard runs out of male voices; when she gets to the bottom of her barrel, some of the men sound more like cartoon mice or ducks than the thugs they are, but she does a great job otherwise. B.G. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine