Mystery is a treat, without the usual tricks
Originally published 09:29 a.m., October 5, 2007
Updated 09:29 a.m., October 5, 2007
“What the Dead Know,” by Laura Lippman, William Morrow/HarperCollins, 2007, $24.95
“What the Dead Know” is an unusual sort of mystery. No one discovers a body in this intriguing Laura Lippman novel. The murder — if there was a murder — could have taken place 30 years ago.
The novel begins with an accident on an oil-slickened road outside Baltimore. One of the drivers refuses to identify herself to police, intimating only that she might be one of the Bethany sisters, two girls who disappeared one Saturday in March 1975 on a visit to a nearby shopping mall. The case headlined local news for a time before settling, nearly forgotten, into a cold-case file.
Who is this woman who may, or may not, be Heather Bethany? She insists that she has a job and health insurance, but she adamantly declines to give that information, even in the face of threats to jail her. If she is the missing girl, long presumed dead, where has she been all these years? And what happened to her older sister, Sunny?
Lippman, whose Tess Mongahan mysteries have been winning awards and readers since their debut, returns to Baltimore, her hometown, for “What the Dead Know.” In this outing, Lippman has created the best kind of mystery: a puzzle so cleverly devised that the reader can gather all the clues as the plot develops, but will be hard-pressed to put them together until the end. At that point, marveling at Lippman’s skill, readers will probably be tempted to read the book again, this time to appreciate the elements of the mystery.
The Bethany girls were the daughters of a somewhat unlikely couple: a free-spirited mother who was also a top real-estate agent and a hippie father who doubled as a store-owner. Sunny, short for Sunshine, was 15; sister Heather was just shy of her 12th birthday when they disappeared. The story slips easily from 1975 to the present day, telling the story from a variety of vantage points, filling in gaps that may answer the question of the mystery woman’s identity.
Meanwhile, the possible Heather Bethany remains guarded. She provides real clues and red herrings in grudgingly equal measure, involving a cast of supporting characters: a police detective and his partner, a social worker, a lawyer, the retired cop who has never really let go of the Bethany case.
But always at the center is the woman who has no past, or a series of pasts — different names, different personal histories, different stories. Is any of them true? And, if so, which one?
The questions are answered by the end of the novel. Lippman isn’t given to playing games, as some mystery writers are. Instead, she opens the door, invites readers to come in and solve the mystery along with the detectives. The result is a novel that is as satisfying as it is involving. “What the Dead Know” is a great October treat, with no tricks at all.
On the Net:
Laura Lippman: www.lauralippman.com.
• Emporia Public Library staff and volunteers write “On the Shelf.”