Lady in the Lake: A Novel [Paperback]

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ANew York TimesBestseller

The reveredNew York Timesbestselling author returns with a novel set in
1960s Baltimore that combines modern psychological insights with elements of
classic noir, about a middle-aged housewife turned aspiring reporter who
pursues the murder of a forgotten young woman.

In 1966, Baltimore is a city of
secrets that everyone seems to know—everyone, that is, except Madeline “Maddie”
Schwartz. Last year, she was a happy, even pampered housewife. This year, she’s
bolted from her marriage of almost twenty years, determined to make good on her
youthful ambitions to live a passionate, meaningful life.

Maddie wants to matter, to
leave her mark on a swiftly changing world. Drawing on her own secrets, she
helps Baltimore police find a murdered girl—assistance that leads to a job at
the city’s afternoon newspaper, theStar.Working at the
newspaper offers Maddie the opportunity to make her name, and she has found
just the story to do it: Cleo Sherwood, a missing woman whose body was
discovered in the fountain of a city park lake.

If
Cleo were white, every reporter in Baltimore would be clamoring to tell her
story. Instead, her mysterious death receives only cursory mention in the daily
newspapers, and no one cares when Maddie starts poking around in a young Black woman's
life—except for Cleo's ghost, who is
determined to keep her secrets and her dignity. Cleo scolds the ambitious
Maddie:You're interested in my death, not my life. They're not the
same thing.

Maddie’s investigation brings her into contact with people that
used to be on the periphery of her life—a jewelry store clerk, a waitress, a
rising star on thelC7