New York Times bestselling author Laura Lippman’s Tess Monaghan must solve one of the most baffling murders in her PI career. When Tess Monaghan agrees to talk to Ruthie Dembrow, she senses she’ll regret it. If there’s anything Tess has learned in her work both as a newspaper reporter and then as a PI, it’s to trust your instincts. Still, she can’t deny she’s intrigued when Ruthie asks her to investigate the fatal stabbing of her brother, Henry, while he was locked away for murdering a teenage runaway over a bottle of glue. Henry’s death at the hands of fellow convicts doesn’t surprise Tess, but what does is that he was convicted for murdering a “Jane Doe”—something that rarely happens in the judicial system. No ID was found on the victim’s body, and her fingerprints didn’t match up to any in the national database. How could anyone escape all the identity nets of the modern world? Ruthie is convinced if she learns the identity of her brother’s victim, maybe she can also find out why he was killed. Tess’s search takes her on a harrowing journey from Baltimore’s exclusive Inner Harbor to the seedy neighborhood of Locust Point. 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 scarier versions of the Sugar House—places that look so sweet and safe, but only from the outside. If you haven't encountered Tess Monaghan, the strong-willed former reporter turned PI who stars in Laura Lippman's increasingly popular series, it may be because this is her first appearance in hardcover. But this deftly plotted mystery may change all that and bring Lippman, herself a Baltimore journalist, and Tess, her curious and likable heroine, the attention they deserve. When Tess's dad asks her to do a favor for a friend, Tess gets involved in tracking down the identity of a nameless girl whose killer, the friend's brother, was murdered himself shortly after he went to prison for the crime. Her search leads Tess in and out of parts of the Atlantic coast that tourists, and many natives, never see: to a clinic for the rich, young and anorexic on Maryland's Eastern Shore; to the Philadelphia Main Line; and inside the corrupt and clandestine corners of the Maryland state capitol in Annapolis. The more Tess learns, the more questions she has, and the most important ones have to do with her father's involvement in the mystery of the anonymous victim and how she died. The subtext of this well-written, richly rendered thriller is Tess's confrontation with her own values and her struggle to accept her father's compromises with his. There's also a sexy love story with Tess's boyfriend, who's nearly too good to be true, and a lively gal pal, the wealthy and loyal Whitney, whose own talents are equally impressive. The author is good at developing multidimensional characters, the minor ones as well as the majors. And once your appetite is whetted by The Sugar House , you'll want to track down Tess's earlier adventures in Lippman's (paper) backlist, beginning with Baltimore Blues . -- Jane Adams For mystery fans who have read every book by Sue Grafton, Sara Paretsky, and Patricia Cornwell and who are longing for something new, Lippman's first hardcover (and her fifth novel) will be a refreshing surprise. Since her 1997 paperback debut (Baltimore Blues), Lippman's series about Tess Monaghan, the former reporter turned private investigator, has won all the major mystery awards. Her latest is sure to be nominated for more prizes. At the annual parish dinner celebrating Sour Beef Day, a Baltimore tradition, Tess's father asks her to help their waitress, Ruthie Dembrow; a year earlier her glue-sniffing brother, having confessed to a "Jane Doe" murder, was stabbed to death in prison. Convinced that the two killings are connected, Ruthie wants Tess to find the true identity of the girl buried in a pauper's grave. Tess's search leads her on a serpentine trail of political corruption and murder through Baltimore's varied and colorful neighborhoods. Indeed, Charm City is as memorable and sassy a character as Tess Monaghan herself. While the ending is a bit contrived (as in most mysteries), readers will enjoy Lippman's humor and keen eye for local color. For all collections.DWilda Williams, "Library Journal" Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. If anyone knows about Baltimore politics, it's private detective Tess Weinstein Monaghan, who grew up riding her tricycle around the Stonewall Democratic Club. Still, she can't quite figure out why her dad, a 30-year veteran of the state liquor control board, wants her to investigate a Jane Doe case that was laid to rest over a year ago when confessed killer Henry Dembrow, a glue-sniffing delinquent from downscale Locust Point, was knifed to death after a month in prison. But Henry's sister Ruthie is clearly under Patrick Monaghan's patronage, so Tess agrees to make a brie