Laura Lippman

Georgia Connections

• Atlanta, Fulton County

Notes of Interest

Laura Lippman has won almost every major literary award given specifically to writers of mystery novels in America. She is best known for a series of novels set in Baltimore, where she now lives, featuring Tess Monaghan, a newspaper reporter (like Lippman) turned private investigator. She has written 11 novels as of 2009 and been honored as the Maryland Author of the Year.

Laura Lippman was born January 31, 1959, in Atlanta and grew up in Columbia, Maryland. She worked as a reporter for several newspapers including 12 years at the Baltimore Sun. Inspired by the true crime stories she found and wrote about in Baltimore, she began writing a novel, "Baltimore Blues," which was published in 1997. Her second novel, "Charm City," won an Edgar Award and a Shamus Award in 1998. "Butchers Hill" received an Anthony Award and an Agatha Award in 1999, and "In Big Trouble" received an Anthony and a Shamus in 2000. She won the Nero Wolfe Award in 2001 for "The Sugar House" and an Anthony and a Barry Award in 2004 for "Every Secret Thing." "By a Spider's Thread" received the Edgar for Best Mystery in 2005, and "To the Power of Three" received the Gumshoe Award in 2006. Lippman won another Anthony Award in 2007 for "No Good Deeds" and a Quill Award in 2008 for "What the Dead Know." In addition, her books have been chosen among the best of the year by editors at The New York Times, The Washington Post and People magazine. A full-time writer, she lives in Baltimore and teaches writing at Goucher College.

Further Reading

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