New York Times bestselling author Laura Lippman's Tess Monaghan must solve one of the most baffling murders in her PI career.

When Tess Monaghan agrees to talk to Ruthie Dembrow, she senses she'll regret it. If there's anything Tess has learned in her work both as a newspaper reporter and then as a PI, it's to trust your instincts. Still, she can't deny she's intrigued when Ruthie asks her to investigate the fatal stabbing of her brother,

Join the world of New York Times bestselling author Laura Lippman's Tess Monaghan in the Shamus and Anthony Award-winning fourth book in the acclaimed series

In Big Trouble

Tess Monaghan has learned the hard way how to survive on the streets of Baltimore—first as a fearless investigative reporter and lately as a PI. But a new case is about to take her way out of her element.

What begins with a tantalizing shard of a newspaper

Until her paper, the Baltimore Star, crashed and burned, Tess Monaghan was a damn good reporter who knew her hometown intimately — from historic Fort McHenry to the crumbling projects of Cherry Hill. Now gainfully unemployed at twenty-nine, she's willing to take any freelance job to pay the rent — including a bit of unorthodox snooping for her rowing buddy, Darryl "Rock" Paxton.

In a city where someone is murdered almost everyday,