cover image Hardly Knew Her: Stories

Hardly Knew Her: Stories

Laura Lippman, , read by Linda Emond and Francois Battiste. . HarperAudio, $34.99 ( , unabridged, eight CDs, 9.5 hrs., $34.99 ISBN p) ISBN 978-0-06-166159-4

It’s not Linda Emond’s fault that most of Lippman’s women who kill are white, middle-class and between the aged 30–40. Almost all live in the corridor between Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., and eradicate men who have it coming to them. No wonder they tend to speak alike. The talented Emond strives with some success to individualize these murderers’ first-person narratives. In the short story “My Baby Walks the Streets of Baltimore,” Emond, who has previously read Lippman’s Another Thing to Fall , performs Tess Monaghan as the crisp and efficient detective she is meant to be. While Francois Battiste is given comparatively little to do, he shines in his reading of “Pony Girl” as the too-smooth and confident man-on-the-make who is no match for two beautiful Mardi Gras celebrants. This collection is both entertaining and forgettable, but Lippman fans will not be disappointed by these talented performances. A Morrow hardcover (Reviews, Aug. 25). (Oct.)