The revered New York Times bestselling 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, the
Star. Working at the newspaper offers Maddie the
opportunity to make her name, and she has found just the
story to do it: a missing woman whose body was discovered
in the fountain of a city park lake.
Cleo Sherwood was a young African-American woman who
liked to have a good time. No one seems to know or care
why she was killed except Maddie—and the dead woman
herself. Maddie’s going to find the truth about Cleo’s
life and death. Cleo’s ghost, privy to Maddie’s poking
and prying, wants to be left alone.
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 the
Baltimore Orioles, a patrol cop, a hardened female
reporter, a lonely man in a movie theater. But for all
her ambition and drive, Maddie often fails to see the
people right in front of her. Her inability to look
beyond her own needs will lead to tragedy and turmoil for
all sorts of people—including the man who shares her bed,
a black police officer who cares for Maddie more than she
knows.
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