Charm City

The Delmarva (DelawareMarylandVirginia) accent, which twists "o"s as if they had "a"s in them, is particularly hard to get right, but Deborah Hazlett has it nailed and puts it to deliciously funny use in this new Tess Monaghan installment. Not that murder over a crooked developer's plan for a new baseball stadium is funny, nor is the fact that in a separate matter Tess's Uncle Spike, the bartender bookie, is nearly beaten to death (something to do with retired greyhounds), but Spike's gormless sidekick Tommy? who ends every phrase with a question mark? definitely is. In this series, subplots and minor characters are as diverting as the main event, which makes an accomplished character actor essential. Hazlett, who is that and more, does it all with panache. B.G. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

September 29, 1997
"Defrocked journalist" turned private investigator Tess Monaghan (from Baltimore Blues) is posing as a reporter for the Baltimore Beacon-Light, aka the Blight, in order to look into the apparent suicide of hometown hero and tycoon "Wink" Wynkowski. Political and journalistic corruption surrounds plans for a new basketball stadium for which Wink was a major dealmaker. But Tess's personal life is also being drawn in to the case: her Uncle Spike is in a coma as a result of a mugging that may be related, leaving Tess the reluctant caretaker of his lovable, if smelly, greyhound. A denouement from left field will startle some readers, but it is a small price to pay for shrewd observation, on-target descriptions, believable characters and hilarious one-liners. Baltimore Blues showed promise after a faltering start, and here Lippman displays a far surer, more even, hand.