Laura Lippman’s first foray into crime fiction, after more than a decade as a journalist, was the doubly punned title
Baltimore Blues, echoing a breakthrough, gritty television crime series,
Hill Street Blues(1991-1987) and the American musical genre. Its burden was to introduce a serial detective hero and her circle, to develop the theme of the journalist migrating into detective work, and to establish a local color version of Baltimore that would one day rival the Santa Theresa of Ross Macdonald, one of her literary mentors. The book would spin an intriguing crime story and create in her detective a figure interesting enough for readers to come back for more. In all these endeavors,
Baltimore Bluessucceeds admirably.
Although M. Dupin, Edgar Allan Poe’s serial detective, was a
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Citation: Dougherty, David C.. "Baltimore Blues". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 November 2023 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=34264, accessed 13 October 2024.]