And When She Was Good

By: Laura Lippman

Narrated by: Linda Emond

“Laura Lippman’s stories aren’t just mysteries; they are deeply moving explorations of the human heart. She is quite simply one of the best crime novelists writing today.”
—Tess Gerritsen, author of The Mephisto Club

Already praised as “a writing powerhouse” (USA Today) and “among the select group of novelists who have invigorated the crime fiction arena with smart, innovative, and exciting work” (George Pelecanos), New York Times bestseller Laura Lippman is constantly sending reviewers back to their thesauruses in search of new and greater accolades. Her brilliant stand-alone novel, And When She Was Good, only reinforces the fact that she stands tall among today’s bestselling elite—including Kate Atkinson, Tana French, Jodi Picoult, and Harlan Coben (who raves, “I love her books!”) Based on her acclaimed, multi-award-nominated short story Scratch a Woman, And When She Was Good is the powerfully gripping, intensely emotional story of a suburban madam, a convicted murderer whose sentence is about to be overturned, and the child they will both do anything to keep. Lippman has already won virtually every prize the mystery genre has to offer—the Edgar®, Anthony, Agatha, and Nero Wolfe Awards, to name but a few. They’ll now have to invent a few new awards just to keep up with her.

A new stand-alone, wonderful as usual.

This is a stand-alone in which Helen, an abused highschool girl, leaves home and becomes part of an escort service. But when she finds she is pregnant, she turns in her handler/pimp for murder and he is convicted to life with no parole. Helen becomes Helloise and runs her own escort service with the cover of being a lobbyist. She does very well until a “madam” in the next county is murdered, and she realizes that it is someone who also worked for her handler. She begins to realize that she is in desperate danger, particularly to keep her son unknown to his pimp father. She has decided to get out of the game, but she has continued to pay money to her pimp in jail and he doesn’t want to lose the income. She wants out of the game, but will she live long enough to get out and bring her son with her? A gripping book which Linda Emond narrates with just the right amount of coolness to represent Helloise’s point of view. Very good, as usual.

excellent from start to finish!

this was a great and very thorough book. it's about scandalous issues and the pursuit of normality spun in a thrilling but somehow relatable way that keeps you interested in the entire time. best of all there's no cheap ambiguous ending, instead it's a complete and satisfying conclusion leaving me excited for the author's next books. very much well worth the credit.

Addictive

This is typical Lippman -- perhaps even a tad better than most. As usual, she entertains from beginning to end. Yes, the story is a little preposterous, but who cares? You are rooting for Heloise, even when she makes the politically incorrect decisions. (What's a girl gonna do?) The narrator is terrific, delivering the tone that I believe Lippman intended.

Great story and a great narrator!

The narration was absolutely on point. it was captivating and told the story with the correct tones and pace

Back & forth

Would you consider the audio edition of And When She Was Good to be better than the print version?

I did not read the print version so I don't know which would have been better. I would guess that for me, this time, the print version would have been better.

Who was your favorite character and why?

My favorite character was Scott. I think the innocence of him, in the midst of all this carnage and these self destructive adults gave me hope that Heloise could attain her goals.

What three words best describe Linda Emond’s voice?

Great Women's Characters

If you could take any character from And When She Was Good out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Heloise's mother would be my supper companion. I would want to know how she reconciled her life choices with the pain it caused her daughter. I think it would help me understand some of my own extended family better.

Any additional comments?

Male characters all sounded much the same, with the same blunt pauses. Not all guys are gorillas, and some change in accent and cadence would have helped with that a lot. I loved that Heloise chose the high road and did the right thing by her employees. While I don't agree with her position on prostitution, I did like that she would only hire those who knew what they were getting into and then treated them as professionals. It gave me respect for a character I thought I would only pity or dislike.