--- title: What the Dead Know: The 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books description: Find out why 'What the Dead Know' by Laura Lippman made the list. canonical: https://time.com/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309223/what-the-dead-know/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-10-03T11:56:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-03T00:20:49.329Z og:title: What the Dead Know: The 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books og:description: Here’s why it made the list og:url: https://time.com/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309223/what-the-dead-know/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt987e2c84d99ba9d0/698a4079db2987235426959d/WhatTheDeadKnow.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: What the Dead Know: The 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: What the Dead Know: The 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books twitter:description: Here’s why it made the list twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt987e2c84d99ba9d0/698a4079db2987235426959d/WhatTheDeadKnow.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Oct 03, 2023 # What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff  Twenty years ago, the Bethany sisters—Heather, 12, and Sunny, 15—were kidnapped from the Security Square Mall near Baltimore, and never found. But now, a disoriented woman has appeared in the city after fleeing the scene of a hit-and-run accident. She claims to be Heather—and insists that she and her sister were abducted all those years ago by one of the city’s own cops. Detective Kevin Infante, rough around the edges, is assigned to interview the frazzled woman and begins to tug at the edges of her story, unraveling the decades-old mystery. Laura Lippman is no stranger to crime writing. A former reporter for the San Antonio _Light_ and the Baltimore _Sun_, she is perhaps best known for her Tess Monaghan novels, which follow a reporter turned private investigator. Many of her books, including that series, are [set in and around Baltimore](https://time.com/5629238/lady-in-the-lake-book-review/). _What the Dead Know_, published in 2007, in particular toggles masterfully between the past and the present, and echoes far beyond its final pages. Lippman has won the Agatha, Anthony, and Edgar awards. _What the Dead Know_ won a 2008 Anthony Award, and became a New York _Times_ best seller. —_Laura Zornosa_ **Buy Now:** _What the Dead Know_ on [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/4973/9780061771354) | [Amazon](https://amzn.to/45jJkZP) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309223/what-the-dead-know/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309223/what-the-dead-know/"},"headline":"What the Dead Know","datePublished":"2023-10-03T11:56:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:20:49.329Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309223/what-the-dead-know/","keywords":["Books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt987e2c84d99ba9d0/698a4079db2987235426959d/WhatTheDeadKnow.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt987e2c84d99ba9d0/698a4079db2987235426959d/WhatTheDeadKnow.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309223/what-the-dead-know/","name":"What the Dead Know"}}]}] ```