A breathtaking stand-alone thriller from the acclaimed, award-winning author of the Tess Monaghan series and LADY IN THE LAKE.
Made into a major film starring Dakota Fanning and Diane Lane

It is early evening, summer time and hot. Two eleven-year-old girls, Alice and Ronnie, are on their way home from a swimming party when they happen to see a baby's stroller, with baby girl sleeping inside, left unattended on the top step of a house. Ronnie says to Alice: 'We have to take care of this baby.' But what exactly does she mean?

Four days later the body of little Olivia Barnes is discovered in a hut in Baltimore's rambling Leakin Park by a young rookie detective, Nancy Porter. What can have happened in those four days to bring about this appalling crime? The girls are arrested and found guilty. Seven years later Ronnie and Alice, now eighteen, are released from their separate prisons, back into their old neighbourhood where the mother of baby Olivia still lives. Another child goes missing, and Nancy Porter and her partner get the case ...

A breathtaking stand-alone thriller from the acclaimed, award-winning author of the Tess Monaghan series.

About the Author
Before becoming a full-time novelist, Laura Lippman was a newspaper reporter for many years. She has won just about every crime writing award going, including the Anthony Award and non genre awards for Literary Excellence. She lives in Baltimore with her partner, the writer David Simon, and their daughter.

Reviews
Exquisite as fine jewellery -- Lee Child * DAILY EXPRESS *
A book full of rich, complex characters coupled with a gripping plot that's always one step ahead of the reader. And as with real life, it's the reader who's left to work out just who is the real victim in the this emotionally charged tale * CRIME TIME *
Solidifies her position in the upper tier of today's suspense novelists ... With this book, much darker than any in her past series, Lippman shows she is an author willing to take risks in both writing and storytelling. Her deft handling of this disturbing material is sure to increase the breadth of her readership * PUBLISHERS WEEKLY *
A chilling study of mothers, daughters, love, and murder ... Lucid, tight, and compelling * KIRKUS *
Laura Lippman is among the select group of novelists who have invigorated the crime fiction arena with smart, innovative, and exciting work -- George Pelecanos
[Lippman] only seems to be getting better * ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY *
Lippman is the closest writer America has to Ruth Rendell -- Stephen King
One of the best novelists around, period * WASHINGTON POST *
Lippman has enriched literature as a whole * CHICAGO SUN-TIMES *
Every time Laura Lippman comes out with a new book, I get chills because I know I am back in the hands of the master. She is simply a brilliant novelist, an unflinching chronicler of life in America right now -- Gillian Flynn
"A book full of rich, complex characters coupled with a gripping plot that's always one step ahead of the reader. And as with real life, it's the reader who's left to work out just who is the real victim in the this emotionally charged tale." -- Michael Carlson * CRIMETIME 2005 *
Exquisite as fine jewellery. -- Lee Child * DAILY EXPRESS, 7 Jul 06 *


Awards
Winner of Anthony Award for Best Paperback Original 2004 (UK) and The Barry Award 2004 (UK).



Book Information
ISBN 9780752863894
Author Laura Lippman
Format Paperback
Page Count 432
Imprint Orion (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd )
Publisher Orion Publishing Co
Weight(grams) 316g
Dimensions(mm) 179mm * 160mm * 33mm