Just Jennifer

Hush Hush by Laura Lippman (William Morrow, February 2015)

Ten years ago, Melisandre Harris Dawes parked her car with her two-month-old daughter in it and sat on the shores of the Patapsco River to wait for her to die.  Melisandre, after a mistrial, was found not guilty by reason of criminal insanity; she left the country and relinquished custody of her two surviving daughters to their father who has subsequently remarried and has a new baby boy.  Melisandre has returned to Baltimore hoping to reunite with her estranged daughters, now fourteen and seventeen, and plans for the reunion to be part of the documentary she is making.  Former reporter, now private investigator, Tess Monaghan has been hired to Tyner Gray, Melisandre’s attorney and Tess’s new uncle through marriage, to help set up security for Melisandre.  Tess, a relatively new mother, finds Melisandre repulsive and disturbing and security really isn’t her bailiwick, but she can use the business so agrees to take the job with the help of her new partner, retired Baltimore PD homicide detective Sandy Sanchez.  As Melisandre is by association, Tess’s client, Tess tries to understand the woman so she can best assess her security needs, but Tess just can’t seem to figure Melisandre out: was she truly insane ten years ago or was she just, as Tess feels she is now, a master manipulator who feels she is entitled to everything just because she wants it.  Now Melisandre finds herself under suspicion of murder again, but is she insane this time or just cold and calculating?  At the same time, Tess finds herself being stalked by someone who is increasingly angry and begin to reassess her and her family’s safety as she is continuously amazed by how much she can love her three-year-old daughter, yet how quickly she can become frustrated by her.

Tess is a wonderfully complex character and has grown and changed throughout this long running series.  Her daughter has a personality all her own and adds another dimension to Tess as she frustrates and delights.  Tess is no nonsense, but always professional which makes this assignment very difficult for her as she does not like her client, nor can she even understand neither her motives for anything nor her actions.  Punctuated by the interviews being conducted for the documentary Melisandre is funding, the story of her daughter’s death, subsequent mistrial and trial are revealed with details that cast doubt on everything and form a kaleidoscopic puzzle whose pieces do not fall into place until the final interview with Melisandre who may just not be as much of a monster as Tess would have liked her to be.

Disturbing, but wholly absorbing, this latest Tess Monaghan novel is another satisfying read for long time fans of the series as well as for readers just discovering this dynamic character for the first time.