num_pages: 348
description: Alternate cover edition of ISBN 0380810220 / 9780380810222.Since her debut in 1997, Laura Lippman has won every major mystery writing award for this remarkable series, in which reporter-turned-PI Tess Monaghan and her beloved-but-flawed Baltimore share top billing. Now, the acclaimed author achieves a new level of mastery with a murderous puzzle that centers on places Tess thinks she knows: her hometown and a moving target called...The Sugar House.Locals recognize the Sugar House as a stubborn and defiant legacy of the city's past that competes with Charm City's glitzy present. Tess thought she knew it, too--until she is forced to take on the most disturbing case of her accidental career.First there's her client, former barmaid Ruthie Dembrow, who seems to know Tess's father well, a little too well as far as his daughter is concerned. Then there's the nature of the crime she's asked to investigate--and its cast of characters."Ever heard of a Jane Doe murder?" Ruthie asks Tess, and with that question there's no turning back. Fourteen months ago, Ruthie's low-life brother, Henry, killed a runaway over a bottle of glue. His confession put him away, but no one ever learned the girl's name. A month into his prison term, Henry met the same grim fate as his victim. Now Ruthie wants Tess to find out why.With just a few tantalizing and elusive clues, Tess sets off on a path that takes her from Baltimore's exclusive Inner Harbor to the city's seediest neighborhoods. But it's the shocking discovery of the runaway's true identity that turns Tess's hunt deadly. Suddenly, her supposedly solved murder case keeps turning up newer, fresher corpses and newer, scarier versions of the Sugar House--places that look so sweet and safe, but only from the outside. And every time Tess thinks she's done what she has to do to protect her family, this decidedly sour case ends up back on her doorstep, ready to claim another life.
language: English
title: The Sugar House
titlecomplete: The Sugar House
characters: Patsy Schiller, Adam Moss, Arnold Vasso, Sarah Whittaker, Gene Fulton, Ellen Cade, Meyer Hammersmith, Sukey Brewer, Dorie Starnes, Whitney Talbot, Herman Peters, Judith Monaghan, Hank Mooney, Gwen Schiller, Kitty Gray, Kenneth Dahlgren, Sheila Hollinger, Jackie Weir, Tyner Gray, Ruthie Dembrow, Tess Monaghan, Dr. Blount, Martin Tull, Patrick Monaghan, Kevin Feeney, Nicola DeSanti, Dick Schiller, Henry Dembrow, Crow Ransome, Devon Whittaker, Dr. Olive Horvath
genres: Mystery, Fiction, Suspense, Thriller, Contemporary, Mystery Thriller, Crime, Detective, Adult, Audiobook
ratings_count: 4907
places: Maryland, Eastern Shore, Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland
series: Tess Monaghan
awards: awardedAt: 978336000000
name: Nero Award
publisher: Avon