What the Dead Know

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. 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

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