Laura Lippman

Laura Lippman's new stand-alone, The Most Dangerous Thing, is set in Dickeyville, the Baltimore neighborhood where she grew up.

From her Q & A with Jordan Foster at Publishers Weekly:

You say this is your most autobiographical novel in terms of geography. Why now?

I've wanted to write a novel about where I grew up since the day I started writing novels. I made a decision early on not to make Tess Monaghan be from Dickeyville because I wanted to create a character who wouldn't be confused with me. This story came from a very simple idea about friends with a secret. But as the idea was fleshed out, I thought, "This is it, this is when I'm going to write about Dickeyville."

What about the wild versus the tame theme running through the book?

I was part of a generation where kids had a lot of freedom and aimless downtime. I had no scheduled after-school activities. As long as you came home for dinner, everything was fine. I had a great childhood, and I liked all the freedom I had, but, as I hope the book makes clear, there's a dark side to that, too.

You kill Go-Go, a major character, in the opening pages. Was this your intent from the beginning?

This was always...[read on]

Learn more about the book and author at Laura Lippman's website.

Laura Lippman's top 10 memorable memoirs.

The Page 69 Test: Another Thing to Fall.

The Page 69 Test: What the Dead Know.

The Page 69 Test/Page 99 Test: Life Sentences.

The Page 69 Test: I'd Know You Anywhere.

The Page 69 Test: The Most Dangerous Thing.

--Marshal Zeringue