Laura Lippmann returned to the program to discuss her latest impressive mystery novel. This one, "Lady in the Lake," is set in Baltimore in 1966. Lippmann was inspired to write the novel after reading about two actual murder cases from the period. In one murder a young white girl vanished after stopping by a pet store. The police spared no efforts trying to solve that crime. In the other homicide a young black woman was discovered dead in a fountain out in the middle of a lake. Before this grisly discovery was made the missing woman had not really been missed by too many people besides her own relatives. The police were not looking for her. After she was found the police still showed little concern and barely made any effort to locate her killer.
Lippman was struck by the disparity between the two cases and how the police had dealt with them. She took those two true crimes and embroidered them into a work of the imagination. In her novel a woman named Maddie has decided to leave her marriage. She's bored and wants to lead a more exciting life. She finds it by becoming a journalist and working to try to solve both murders, the one the police cared about, and the one that they had ignored.
The Book Nook on WYSO is presented by the Greene County Public Library with additional support from Washington-Centerville Public Library, Clark County Public Library, Dayton Metro Library, Wright Memorial Public Library, and Microsun Lamps.
