This book is probably a bit better than a straight 3.0 but I have a problem with the premise.

The story centers on Edgar Allen Poe's time in Baltimore and the well known Poe Toaster who drank a toast and placed roses on Poe's grave every year until 2009. This book was published in 2001 when the second Poe Toaster was still active.

Tess is approached by a potential client who wanted her to catch and reveal the identity of the Toaster and she refuses. She goes to the cemetery anyway because she had never gone before. Two caped figures appear and one is shot dead. The rest of the books untangles the murder while giving us a lot of Baltimore history.

I have ties to Baltimore and liked reading the history but I'm not sure that others will be as tickled by it. The murder at the gravesite is a bit of a stretch. There are only 2 possible killers dangled in front of us and the behavior of one gives the game away.

It's not a bad book, just not a favorite. It's perfectly acceptable for the beach or airplane. ( )

My love affair with Laura Lippman mysteries is over. “In a Strange City” within the Tess Monaghan series she takes an Edgar Alan Poe premise and obliterates believability, suspense, and involving characters. The novel sludges through to an unsatisfying ending. The dreary cat and mouse is a creaky plot device. It will take me some time before I forgive Laura and attempt another of her novels. It was fun while it lasted. ( )

Three stars because I liked the literary and library references—including a cameo by Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, back when she was head of Baltimore's Pratt Library—but the plot became more tiresome and less plausible as the novel progressed. ( )

The Baltimoriana was good, the plot was okay, the baddies did not convince me. Nice romance angle. Made me want to read some Poe. ( )

In other Tess Monaghan novels Edgar Allen Poe is mentioned, as he lived in Baltimore and his grave is there. In this one we explore Poe a little bit more.

Tess interviews a client who wants her to follow a man who has been visiting Poe's grave every year, on the author's birthday, carrying three roses and a half-bottle of cognac. He has been dubbed the "Poe Toaster". There has been someone doing this job since 1949, Lippman acknowledges in the front, but she skewed details deliberately. I find the term awkward because I think of toast.

Tess thinks the job would be an invasion of the privacy of the Toaster and that the would-be client is up to no good. Perhaps he wants to hurt him. He tells a tale of theft, just want to get back what belongs to him. Further disturbing Tess is the appearance and personality of this visitor. Short and round, he is abrupt and demanding. Tess refuses the job.

But that doesn't mean her brush with Poe is over. After talking to her boyfriend Crow, she decides to watch the gravesite, along with many others. What happens is not what anyone expects, and, again, Tess can't leave it alone.

As has become common in Tess Monaghan mysteries, nothing is direct and simple. Even right after I read this book I didn't hold all the answers in my head. Suffice to say it's worth the reading, as much for the Baltimore lore and the character growth of Tess and Crow as for the development of the plot itself.

**Side note: Lippman (or an editor) uses "gibe" incorrectly here. Should be "jibe". ( )