Hi everyone! Today's book is a great crime thriller by Laura Lippman, called What the Dead Know.

To tell you all about, we have Peta of Rosetta Books in Maleny (more about Peta at the end of the review)

Over to you Peta...

Deb Perry

What the Dead Know

It’s been a while since I read anything from the crime/ thriller genre and this was a refreshing re-introduction – I like a story that keeps me guessing!

A hit-and-run accident on a Baltimore freeway kicks off a chain of events, which eventually unravels the thirty-year-old mystery of the missing Bethany girls.

Two teenage sisters disappear from the local mall in 1975 and are never seen again, despite an intensive police hunt.

Kevin Infante, a cynical ex-New Yorker, is working the case now and is baffled. His witness, who is also the suspect in the hit-and-run, is making life hard for everyone by only revealing her story in tiny doses.

She seems to know too much but not quite enough, all her clues lead to dead ends and she still won’t tell them anything … except she insists she’s one of the missing Bethany girls.

Is it just an elaborate story to get out of possible charges?

Laura Lippman’s twelfth thriller alternates between past and present and multiple narratives: the seemingly separate stories gradually merge and twist until the final truth is revealed.

The text is peppered with clues, and the nature of grief in the aftermath of tragedy is finely detailed through the different perspectives of each well-drawn character.

Well known for her Tess Monaghan series, Lippman delivers a carefully crafted story of loss and the disintegration of a seemingly perfect family. It’s also a well-paced mystery – a good read for a leisurely weekend or to tuck in your bag for a trip!

About our guest reviewer:

Peta has been in the book trade for over 20 years, wearing hats in retail, publishing and education sales over the years.

She has wide-ranging taste and can be found tucking into anything from Australian literature to biographies, from crime to the young adult market.

After several years away from the Coast, Peta has settled at Rosetta Books in the lovely hinterland village of Maleny.

A vibrant town, which thrives on community and a love of the environment, Maleny has a main street full of treasures, not least of which is Rosetta Books.

Rosetta Books has been open for over 6 years and has garnered a loyal local following. Its wonderful range of upmarket literature, biographies and non-fiction, as well as gorgeous coffee table books on cooking, art, photography and architecture keeps people browsing and coming back.

It has a cosy Children’s Corner where you can always find a little person curled up on the couch reading.

Keep an eye out for news on upcoming author events also!