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 knowβeveryone, that is, except Madeline βMaddieβ Schwartz. Last year, she was a happy, even pampered housewife. This year, sheβs 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 girlβassistance that leads to a job at the cityβs 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 Maddieβand the dead woman herself. Maddieβs going to find the truth about Cleoβs life and death. Cleoβs ghost, privy to Maddieβs poking and prying, wants to be left alone.
Maddieβs investigation brings her into contact with people that used to be on the periphery of her lifeβa 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 peopleβincluding the man who shares her bed, a black police officer who cares for Maddie more than she knows.
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