What the Dead Know is a crime thriller by the American writer Laura Lippman, published in 2007.[1][2] The story, set in Baltimore in 2005, is about an investigation into a woman who claims to be Heather Bethany, a girl who had gone missing thirty years before. The book was critically acclaimed and it won the 2007 Quill Award in the mystery/suspense/thriller category and 2008 Anthony Award for Best Novel.
Main characters, as first introduced
The Bethany family: Dave and Miriam (née Toles); daughters Heather and Sunny
Penelope Jackson – registered owner of a car in a highway accident
Detective Kevin Infante – lead investigator
Harold Lenhardt – Infante's sergeant
Gloria Bustamante – lawyer
Nancy Porter – police researcher and Infante's former police partner
Kay Sullivan – social worker at St. Agnes Hospital; children Seth and Grace
Dr. Schumeier – psychiatrist at St. Agnes Hospital
Chester "Chet" V. Willoughby IV – retired detective
Stan Dunham – former Pennsylvania property owner
Irene – a foster mother
Tony Dunham – man killed in a Florida house fire
Roy Pincharelli – music teacher
Joe – art gallery owner
Javier – art gallery employee
Jeff and Thelma Baumgarten – couple in fidelity crisis
Ruth Leibig – Ohio school girl
Estelle and Herb Turner – practitioners of Fivefold Path spirituality
Priscilla "Syl" Browne – employee at "Swiss Colony" restaurant
Critical reception
Reviewers saw What the Dead Know as a success both as a well-crafted mystery and as an emotionally powerful novel.[3][4]The Guardian described the novel as a "realistic and poignant detailing of emotional hide-and-seek, ... an excellent mystery and a thoughtful exploration of the nature and effects of grief and loss."[5]Kirkus Reviews praised the novel, noting that "Lippman (To the Power of Three, 2005, etc.) crafts a tale that resonates long after the last page is turned."[6]Janet Maslin of The New York Times praised What the Dead Know as "an uncommonly clever imposter story", "three-dimensional", and worthy of reading a second time — "You read it once just to move breathlessly toward the finale. Then you revisit it to marvel at how well Ms. Lippman pulled the wool over your eyes."[7]
