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"The Last Place" has won the first-ever Mayor's Award for Literary Excellence, a prize set up to recognize those writers who celebrate Baltimore, whether in fiction, non-fiction or poetry. Honorable mentions went to Michael Olesker of The (Baltimore) Sun and Frank Deford, the Baltimore native best known for his work with Sports Illustrated and his National Public Radio commentaries.

Baltimore City Councilwoman Catherine Pugh presented Laura Lippman with the prize at the Baltimore Book Festival on Sept. 28th. Laura announced at the ceremony that the $1,000 check will be donated to Health Care for the Homeless.

Kirkus has given "The Last Place" a starred review that said, in part:

"Tess never stops searching -- for answers, for justice, and for self-perception -- and Lippman never quits until she's captured each breathtaking moment of her heroine's dizzying trip."

On July 14th, the Washington Post's Jonathan Yardley ran a 4,000-word overview on the last 125 years of American fiction. He was kind enough to mention my work, in an aside on crime fiction and regionalism.

"It also is worth noting that some of the most interesting novels being written these days are not self-consciously liteary but what are often commonly known (and often dismissed) as genre fiction. There is, for example, must first-rate writing in suspense fiction ... The power elite in Washington is knowingly and mordantly portrayed in the highbrow thrillersof Charles McCarry, while the city's underside gets gritty treatment from George P. Pelecanos. There is no one writing about Los Angeles today with the acuity of the singular Raymond Chandler, though Walter Mosely gives it a good shot, but Detroit has Elmore Leonard. Baltimore has Laura Lippman, Miami has Carl Hiaasen (as previously it had the late Charles Willeford) and of course Boston had the late George V. Higgins. This is fiction devoid of pretension, yet is steps out into the world -- not often the prettiest parts of it -- and describes that world with intelligence, wit and tough love."

I wish I could link to the entire essay, as it's a good, provocative starting point for those who love literature. You don't need to agree with Yardley book-for-book to enjoy the essay, which has the bracing, inspiring effect of the best essays. Unfortunately, the Washington Post archives are only free for two weeks, so the link has already expired. Instead, let me recommend Yardley's biography of Frederick Exley, which I consider the standard to meet in literary biography.

"Tart Noir," the bastard love child of Lauren Henderson and Stella Duffy, arrives in the U.K. in early August; its monstrous twin, spell-checked and copyedited by U.S. standards, will not appear here until October. Lauren forwarded this Guardian review to all the contributors:

"Chick lit meets crime in this innovative selection of new stories challenging all the basic tenets of feminism and political correctness. The two editors are themselves no strangers to the streets of noir, and this manifesto collection challenges the male rules of the crime story with a glorious assembly of heroines and characters you wouldn't like to meet in a dark alley, with stilettos at their sharpest and repartee at its bitchiest. All the leading British and American female crime authors of the post-Paretsky and Grafton generation are present and duly correct; there are also leading chick-lit stars such as Lisa Jewell, Jenny Colgan and Jessica Adams. All are on top form, with stand-out tales of sex and murder by Val McDermid, Martina Cole and Vicki Hendricks, and clever puzzlers from Liza Cody, Laura Lippman, Sparkle Hayter, Denise Mina, the editors and many others. Never has the rogue female been so appealing and threatening."

Lauren and Stella are owed the lioness's share of the credit for steering this project to publication. They were smart and patient editors.

Unauthorized, unsolicited (and hopefully unnoticed) webmistress comment:

Laura's newest book kicks much butt. I've been a fan of the Tess books for a long time, and I've read them all. My previous favorite waffled between "Butchers Hill" and "The Sugar House." Then I read an ARC of the newest Tess.

"The Last Place" was one of the best books I've read this year, maybe even for several years. I'm not even saying this because I'm "Tuckerized" into a location in the books (evidently "Tyndall Point" sounds more East-Coast-ish than "Tindallville" or "Tindallburg" -- we wacky Midwesterners are so unimaginative!). I'm saying it because I can put stuff on Laura's page behind her back, and so I'm exercising such power (muwahahahahaha) and hoping to get away with it.

I loved this book.

Beth Tindall "with an i", midwestern webmistress

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