Review of LADY IN THE LAKE by Laura Lippman

3 Stars

The story is set in 1966 in Baltimore.  Feeling unfulfilled in her roles as housewife and mother, 37-year-old Madeline (Maddie) Schwartz leaves her almost-two-decades-long marriage to make a new life for herself.  She finds a small apartment, begins a relationship with a black policeman, and gets a low-level job at a newspaper.  When the body of Cleo Sherwood, a young black woman, is found in the fountain of a lake in an urban park, little attention is paid, but Maddie takes an interest because she feels a connection with Cleo and because she thinks Cleo’s story will help get her a proper reporting job at the newspaper.

The perspectives of both Maddie and Cleo are given.  Though Maddie does not hear, Cleo speaks to Maddie; she doesn’t appreciate Maddie’s snooping into her life and even wishes her body had not been found.  Though the focus is on these women, the voices of many other people are also heard.  After Maddie encounters someone, that person is given a brief chapter to reveal his/her thoughts and feelings.  Some of these peripheral characters are a bartender, a waitress, a policeman, a baseball player, a newspaper columnist, a store clerk, a psychic, and a television host.  Even children are given an opportunity to speak. 

Maddie is not perfect and not always likeable.  She is determined, ambitious, and self-centred.  In pursuit of Cleo’s story, Maddie’s approach to people is often insensitive.  Sometimes, she actually seems downright clueless.  She and Cleo are similar in that both are independent and headstrong, both wanting to build lives despite the barriers they face.  (Maddie has to battle sexism and Cleo has the additional problem of racism.)  Maddie also feels a kinship with Cleo because of similar life experiences.

The book can be seen as a crime novel, but its multiple secondary viewpoints and slow pace do not create a great deal of suspense.  The mystery of who killed Cleo is often in the background.  What does emerge is a picture of Baltimore in the 1960s, so this book might be better classified as historical fiction.  Personally, I found that it dragged at points; it was not the type of novel I expected from this author.