Shaved Meats, Piled High: July 2019
Coming to a City Near You
Lady in the Lake will be published July 23 in the United States July 25 in the UK. [Commence to 45 seconds of staring at my screen, hesitant to type the next sentence, which is not like me.] I am proud of this book. When I started it 17 months ago, my only thought was to survive it. Sunburn had enjoyed such a blissful publication -- good reviews, award nominations, excellent sales -- that all I wanted to do was get through the next book. And now, of course, I'm trying to survive the next next book.
I've always been fascinated with my parents' generation, the Depression-era kids who were married with kids when the 1960s came along. The Bethany parents in What the Dead Know are one example. Tally Robison (The Most Dangerous Thing) is another. And now I have done something else I seldom do -- opened up one of my books and started to read. I . . . like it?
I know I'm not supposed to. Our culture demands that creative people, especially if they're female, dig their toes in the dirt and mumble, with downcast eyes, that their books/paintings/poems are crude things, Frankensteins stitched together from a wide assortment of influences. But if I need people to buy my books (and I do) why would I disavow them? For years, when people asked me where to begin with my books, I cautioned those who started at the beginning of my series that: "Tess and I both get better." Which is true. (I was going to add "I hope," but, naw -- it's simply true.) However, that doesn't mean my early stuff is worthless. Just this week on Twitter, Levi Stahl, marketing director for University of Chicago press, has been posting lines from my second novel, Charm City -- and I'm surprised at how funny I can be!
(The recent novels have not been built for laughs, exactly. I hope the next one allows for a few, dark as it is.)
In a week, I'm going to announce a pretty nifty pre-order contest via all the social media platforms. Meanwhile, later today the Not-So-Mystery Box will appear, a cool 1960s memento that is connected to Lady in the Lake. As the old Maryland Lottery slogan had it, you gotta play to win.
On July 22, I begin touring. It's a tight window this year, not even four weeks. I always say book tours are for my true bosses, the readers. If you need some face time with me, drop by. If not, just know I'll continue working here in the one-woman Baltimore branch where I am always, always, Employee of the Month.
July 22 - The Ivy Bookshop, 6080 Falls Road, Baltimore, MD. 7pm
July 23 - That Bookstore, 446 Silas Deane Hwy, Wethersfield, CT. 7pm
July 24 - Books Are Magic, 225 Smith St, Brooklyn, NY. 7.30pm
July 25 - Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington DC. 7pm
July 26 - A Likely Story, 7566 Main Street, #113, Sykesville, MD. 6:30
July 29 - Mystery Loves Company at Doc's Sunset Grill, 104 West Pier Street, Oxford, MD. 5pm
July 31 - Browsesbout Books at The Crab, 19598 Coast Hwy, Rehoboth Beach, DE. 12pm
August 3 - BookHampton, 41 Main Street, East Hampton, NY. 5pm
August 5 - Page & Palette, 32 South Section Street, Fairhope, AL. 6pm
August 6 - Garden District Book Shop, 2727 Prytania Street, New Orleans, LA. 6pm
August 7 - Murder By The Book, 2342 Bissonnet Street, Houston TX. 6:30pm
August 9 - Reads & Co, 234 Bridge Street, Phoenixville, PA. 7pm
READ/READING: The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton, 1965-2010; All this Could Be Yours, Jami Attenberg; Mrs. Everywhere, Jennifer Weiner; I Like to Watch, Emily Nussbaum; Trick Mirror, Jia Tolentino; Television Rewired: The Rise of the Auteur Series, Martha P. Nochimson.
REREADING: Quartet in Autumn, Barbara Pym; Triple Platinum, Stephen Holder; and two novels I'm actually embarrassed to name, which almost never happens.
ME, ME, ME: Lo, and Lippman's name led all the rest. (This is actually a lie, they're alphabetical by title).
*Fine Print: I am coming to a city near you only if you live near a city where I'm coming.
Laura Lippman
July 2019