Girl in a Green Raincoat

I read Girl... as a galley from the publisher downloaded to my new IPad. There is something insubstantial about an ebook. No weight or heft or smell of the pages. No sense of closure when you close the book - and no trip back to the library or space to find on our crowded book shelves! As a devotee of books and libraries full of books I wasn't sure how I would feel about ebooks but reading on the iPad is a very pleasant experience. I still have regular books to read including the latest Tasha Alexander but the iPad is cool for reading in bed with the lights out, when the power goes out, traveling, spur of the moment reads, and for updating this blog. 

Girl, originally serialized in the New York Times, is a really enjoyable read. I usually enjoy Laura Lippman's moody but amusing books: http://www.lauralippman.com/

In this one, the redoubtable Tess Monaghan is on bed rest while pregnant. And I don't have to tell you what a bad patient she is. It has a Rear Window, Nero Wolfe, or Lincoln Rhyme kind of feeling -the shut in who sits and thinks (while longing for the weekly shower) and people come to her. The title character, the "girl" is, of course, not at all the person she seems to be or that Tess' fevered cogitation conjures. Crow and Whitney are along but no appearance by gorgeous Aunt Kitty or Uncle Spike or other eccentric friends we've come to appreciate. The plot was fun and moved along, the dialogue pretty snappy - I especially enjoyed the scene when Whitney was purse shopping - and Tess and Crow have a baby in the end. Fun book and I'm glad to have a new way to read. I'm on board for the next Laura Lippmann as Tess and Crow have all the fun of a new baby.

"Where Tess rows", according to Laura Lippman's blog: www.lauralippman.com