Critical Mick

Anyone versed in their US geography knows that Maryland is a skinny little rat of a state gnawing on the eastern seaboard. One of the thirteen original colonies, Maryland is famous for crab cakes and being thin enough to pass through swiftly on a drive south to a proper city like Washington D.C. Several battles of the US Civil War stomped Maryland into mud. One hundred years later, a band called Crack the Sky tried to put Baltimore on the national map. They failed and boy, do their albums sound dated today! A chick I went to college with was from the farming part of Maryland and that TV program The Wire is notable. That's the extent of what Maryland is known for.

Until one reads Laura Lippman.

With its vivid, inspiring visits to interesting Maryland locales, The Last Place makes the best use of geography of any novel I can recall. It's like a Rough Guide, or one of those Lonely Planet books but without all the pushy plugs for vegan and vegetarian backpacker-friendly cafes. Instead, Lippman's seventh instalment in the Monaghan series tours the state in pursuit of an engaging mystery, encountering ever-quirky characters and a serving of snappy dialogue that is of Alaskan King Crab proportions.

The novel opens with a tough and independent Tess Monaghan getting the better of an internet sex predator- an inept and balding one, as it turns out, but one who still causes Tess's turn-about to backfire. The incident introduces the theme of identity theft (well before that danger became headline news- well done, Lippman!) and involves Tess in a court-ordered investigation of her own psyche. Lesser authors would have run with the goodie-baddie-psychiatrist triangle, but Laura Lippman has a more interesting course in mind. I don't want to spoil a single moment of this excellent novel: just trust me that the plot sets off across Maryland in an unexpected direction. It's fresh enough to bring new life to a genre as stale as serial killer fiction, and enticing enough to lure tourists to boring old Baltimore. Every page is original and fun, and in the end, boy! it works.

The Last Place is not only an example of how well a pro can use location, but how well she can construct a series. This novel features series characters, reviving past conflicts and carrying relationships one step forward. There is also no impediment to jumping right in with this instalment. The only drawback to reading The Last Place as a stand-alone crime novel is that it will inspire readers to seek out the other Tess Monaghan books.

Like John Connolly's Bad Men, The Last Place takes the reader to the old, isolated island communities that are overlooked by mainland Americans. Like Bad Men, the journey and destination are kick-ass enough to earn its place on Critical Mick's list of Best Books Read in 2007.

Critical Mick says: The Last Place is an unexpected delight of a buddy novel. Bootylicious braid-wearing heroines, interesting baddies, important warnings about identity theft, and at least one murder by crab cake. How class is that!