The female reporter Maddie reaches out to resents Maddie because she sees her as a woman who uses her beauty as a tool to move upward. It’s this setting that allows Lippman to develop Maddie’s character into one whose actions almost seem justified, and to advance the unfortunate notion of women in competition with each other. Good girls didn’t have babies out of wedlock. Women were encouraged to marry rather than have careers. Career opportunities for woman and minorities were limited. Lippman accurately describes life in the 60’s. Lock eyes, then look one another up and down. I saw you and you noticed me because you caught me looking at you, seeing you. She sees Maddie as not being unsimilar to herself. Cleo’s narrative is woven throughout the novel as she tells her own story, addressing Maddie in her thoughts. The novel starts off intriguingly with the thoughts of Cleo.

Both are beautiful woman who have learned to use their looks to their advantage. The novel parallels Cleo’s story with Maddie’s. In a field dominated by men, with few opportunities afforded to women, Maddie uses her intelligence and attractiveness to skillfully maneuver newsroom politics and to investigate the disappearance and murder of the Cleo. Determined to become a newspaper reporter she sees the underreported story of a murdered black woman, Cleo Sherwood, as an opportunity to make her mark. She manages to get a job as an assistant at the newspaper by leveraging information about a missing murdered girl.

Madeline “Maddie” Schwartz makes her own change by leaving a seemingly happy marriage to create an independent passion filled life. The setting is the city of Baltimore in 1966, a time of shifting societal norms around race and gender. The Lady in the Lake is a noir piece by Laura Lippman.

Lady in the lake laura lippman review