I'm way behind on my Tess Monaghan books and hadn't read one in a while. I love the character so much. I loved the psychiatrist. I loved Carl. The plot was a bit convoluted, but Lippman ties it all together quite nicely at the end. Not her best, but another good solid read. ( )

Tess gets a job working for a team of nonprofits who want to show that domestic violence cases are not getting the attention they deserve. Tess accepts the position somewhat reluctantly, as it involves interviewing detectives and victim families of five unsolved murders chosen from different agencies in the state of Maryland.

But wait. First, Tess and best friend Whitney Talbot decide to interfere with the activities of an apparent sex offender - a man who meets teen girls online and draws them into his web. When they find the offender they take considerable delight in humiliating him and making it clear that they are onto him. Their little scheme, however, backfires. As a result of their mischief, Tess ends up "sentenced" to spend six months with a therapist to work on anger management. This is something many of us believe could be helpful, having read other books in the series.

So Tess starts out hunting down info on these unsolveds and almost immediately runs into some odd coincidences and what looks like an error in the choice. She does not let go easily, and this is no exception. Although she was not hired to find the killers in these cases, she heads off on a bit of a tangent and ultimately discovers that she may have been set up.

There is a serial killer in this one, and we are treated to learning of his actions by way of separate chapters set in a different font. These sections reveal what the killer is thinking and doing. This is very like what many other mystery writers do: get inside the minds of their evil ones and show how their warped minds work. Unfortunately, as with the others, this one is pretty much standard fare. Nothing particularly interesting about him, and his interest in Tess means, of course, that ultimately they will face off. We could see this coming on page 1. I honestly wish our writers would endow the killers with a little more personality as long as we have to listen to them or watch them work. Give us something more interesting.

On another note, I rather enjoyed Tess's sessions with her therapist. Perhaps there is more of that to come. ( )

Wow. This was really good. We have Tess pulled into an investigation that has her in the crosshairs of someone that wants to show Tess how good he would be for her. That without him, she wouldn't be who she is now. This whole book is a wonderful look at so many things I don't even know where to start. With a case that lands Tess into mandatory anger management. With her realizing how great her relationship with her boyfriend is mostly because he's not there to tell her what to do, but support her. Her making friends with a down and out former cop who has a lot of ideas about how "women" are supposed to act. The ending was thrilling and I can't wait to see what Tess gets up to next.

"The Last Place" starts with Tess and Whitney (often her partner in crime) following a man that they know tried to solicit a family member of Whitney's online. At one point there is actually an argument from someone that the guy wasn't a pedophile because he was trying to date teen girls, and I maybe dry heaved a bit. Tess and Whitney want to get the guy's name and blackmail him, but the evening takes a turn when Tess realizes he was planning on drugging and raping her and Tess and Whitney get a little payback. Cue Tess being arrested for assault and the judge wanting to make an example of her by giving her probation but ordering her into anger management because the guy who was trying to solicit young girls online is the real victim here. No words you guys.

From there Tess starts therapy and is haunted still by the loss of her ex from book #1. She knows why he died and who was behind it, but Tess has kept that secret for a long time. Things get a bit worse for Tess when Whitney pulls her into a case investigation five deaths that Whitney and other foundations want to take a closer look at to see if the police investigating the deaths did all they could. The cases take Tess down a winding path and have her realizing that the deaths may possibly be connected to a potential serial killer.

Tess is great in this one. Feeling settled in her home with Crow and the dogs she is still working as an investigator. Though the anger management therapy is annoying, she has to do it for only 6 months. The therapist does pry some things loose from Tess, but honestly I didn't like the guy. Way too many men in this story seemed to think the case that involved Tess wasn't a miscarriage of justice. I am not saying a woman should Nair the hair off a potential rapist and draw on his terrible ass with a sharpie, but I am not saying you shouldn't do it either. I mean don't do it if you can get caught.

Tess has great instincts and her realizing the cases that she initially thought weren't an issue and circling back to realizing that they are connected was great.

Lippman introduces a character called Harry in this one who investigates one of the deaths that Tess was called into review. Harry has a total backwards view of women and a few times he exploded at Tess while they were working together and I didn't like the guy. I could see though why Tess ends up feeling sorry for him though and realizing that he does have good instincts. Both Tess and Harry are trying to prove something in this one and I liked how Lippman eventually leads us back to the first case that Tess was involved in.

The book also provides us with the killer's POV and then we switch back to Tess. I honestly don't think adding the killer's POV helped things and actually distracted from Tess figuring out what is going on. Also, even though I gave this five stars, it seems like in every mystery novel starring a strong female lead, we have a serial killer getting obsessed with the main character.

The writing was good and Lippman gives a great description of areas around Maryland and Virginia. One of the reasons why I like these books is I get a kick out of reading about places I have been to in real life.

The ending was a shocker and it does live Tess changed. I can't wait until the next book! ( )

Tess Monaghan, a PI in Baltimore, discovers a connection between five seemingly unreleated cases, teams up with a former cop, and tracks down the bad guy. Entertaining suspense without a lot of gore or romance garbage. ( )

the stories feel like they are getting a bit grittier and creepier as this series progresses. in this book, lippman gives 'tess' opportunities to show vulnerability, and brings in a couple of new supporting characters who are used really well. lippman is great at projecting mood and urgency with her writing. ( )