Laura Lippman is known for her private investigator series where we follow the story of Tess Monaghan. Lippman has recently also written books apart from the series, books that are often based on something that truly happened. This book, The Most Dangerous Thing, is slightly different. The story is from the author's imagination, although the setting is based on her childhood neighborhood where houses bordered the edge of a woods. It is a story where Tess Monaghan has a minor, yet important role. It made me wonder: will there still be a Monaghan series or will Tess just pop up every now and again? I think it was my favorite part of the book, to think of how a writer can take their primary character and have her make an appearance in the final act. We can check in on her. Yes, she's had her baby now. She has adjusted her practice so that it would inherently less dangerous and more manageable for a new parent. But in this book, she is not the hub; she is a spoke in the wheel of a story, and it was interesting to view this fictional world in that way.
The story is about three families who lived in this neighorhood. It goes back and forth in time. Things happened. Trauma occurred. People died. There were questions around events. Tess Monaghan is needed in the end to help.
