My 17-year-old daughter tells me that my blogs are "long". She's a good kid and never hurts anyone's feelings on purpose and she says that if I'm saying what I want to say then they're OK. I'm sure that by the blogging world's standards they are too wordy. But I don't know how to talk about books without using words! At any rate I'll try to keep them a little shorter. No promises just a try!

Here's the book of the week. What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman. She has a series with a continuing character by the name of Tess Monaghan. I have not read any of those and picked this one up-where? Books do that sometimes-they just appear on my bookshelf and I have no recollection of having bought (or heaven forbid!) borrowed them from anyone. Do they migrate here knowing it's a safe haven? Do I go into a book fugue state where I pick them up unconsciously? I don't know but this one showed up on the shelf next to my bed and I read it.

This would probably be classified as a crime novel, although not true crime which I don't read. I get enough true crime from the nightly news and the newspaper. When I read for fun I want fiction. But it could also be classified as a mystery, a thiller, a police procedural, a psychological thriller, and perhaps even a touch of women's fiction (whatever that is) although there is no romance, no white night, no dark and brooding stranger, or any of the other cliches.

There are two sisters, young teens, who disappear from the local mall-and are never found. Decades later, as a result of a traffic accident, a woman announces that she is one of the girls. She knows the details but cannot or will not provide any concrete proof for the police. Lippman does a good job of weaving today and previous years together without getting lost. She tells the story of both the family which is left after the girls disappear and the life the girls led-or at least this woman claims to have led.

I enjoyed this. It was a good puzzle with a good surprise. I will probably keep my eyes open for more Lippman-or maybe they will recognize a friendly home and just find their way here!