Laura Lippmann - The Girl in the Green Raincoat

The Girl in the Green Raincoat

Laura Lippmann

Morrow, Jan 18 2011, $11.99

ISBN: 9780061938368

Baltimore private investigator Tess Monaghan requires plenty of bed rest due to her high risk pregnancy as she has signs of preeclampsia which can lead to life threatening seizures. Sleuthing is out of the question, but resting proves more difficult than a tedious surveillance for someone as hyper as Tess is. She needs something to occupy her mind, but finds nothing of interest.

That is until she watches from her window a female stranger in a green raincoat walking an Italian greyhound wearing green also. Playing a mental game about the woman helps pass time. However when Tess notices the woman's dog running loose, she fears something happened to the owner who has been very careful with walking her canine on a leash. Tess persuades her support crew - her boyfriend Crow, best friend Whitney Talbot, middle-aged assistant Mrs. Blossom, and researcher Dorie Starnes to seek clues as to what happened to The Girl in the Green Raincoat that they are to bring back to her to analyze.

With nods to the films Rear Window and the teen remake Disturbia, the latest Tess Monaghan mystery is a wonderful sort of family affair as she directs her team with assignments; some being comical. Tess is wonderful working the convoluted case through her agents who doubt there is any wrong doing but humors her as she struggles with prenatal trimester mental and physical issues; pity Crow with the postpartum blues. This is a great novella that has Tess at her best even at rest in this life changing novella.

Harriet Klausner