The Sugar House

A Tess Monaghan Mystery

By: Laura Lippman

Narrated by: Barbara Rosenblat

Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

Laura Lippman won the Nero Wolfe Award for this powerful mystery.

Former journalist turned P.I. Tess Monaghan thought she knew Baltimore like the back of her hand - but what she doesn't know just might kill her in this grim yet irresistible novel.

Solve another case with Tess Monaghan.

©2000 Laura Lippman (P)2008 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"A rare find: a puzzle so finely calibrated that each new disclosure brings revelation and deepening mystery at the same time." ( Kirkus Reviews)

Now this is a good reader

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Absolutely. Really good. it's 2:30am. I couldn't stop listening. Done in one sitting, standing, walking, bathing. Just couldn't stop.

What did you like best about this story?

Barbara is an excellent reader. She becomes the characters in the story and can be true to the characters to the end. Brava!!!

Which character – as performed by Barbara Rosenblat – was your favorite?

Tess. The reader made her so much stronger than the first four. So good.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Persistence makes it happen.

Any additional comments?

It's a shame that this reader wasn't chosen for the books that came before this one. She performs the book. The other reader just read the books. This is soooo much better.

Good story- but what ever happened to Barbara R?

From the very beginning, I could hardly believe my ears. Had Barbara Rosenblat been abducted by evil aliens who just wanted to mess with her voice? I was completely surprised - the voice was almost her, but kind of like she had something extra in her mouth.

Anyway, I listened to the story and just IMAGINED the voice I used to know. It is a good story, very well written and while not edge of your seat suspenseful, it did hold my interest throughout. This was only the second book I've listened to by this author- and I'll probably listen to more. There was only one thing that I didn't like about the story- it seemed to be filled with too much cute banter between Tess and Whitney--more than would be normal in the real world. I mean, do they have to find something witty to say every time they speak?

Overall, the story is worth it if you don't mind the narration being off somewhat,

Love series

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Good story - I really like the development of all the characters. Good depth.

What didn’t you like about Barbara Rosenblat’s performance?

Gave many characters a whiny quality that I didn't care for at all and didn't ring true to how I thought of them after listening to the other books in the series. Other characters just seemed way overdone - very distracting, particularly to start with before I got into the story.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No - not really.

Great Story :), Horrible Narration :(

Story was great, but getting use to the huge change in style by the narrator, was really really really hard. I don't know why the change in narrators was made, but this one beyond difficult to hear. For awhile, I had some success in increasing the playback speed, eventually though I settled for just dealing with it. I actually thought if I could just increase the pitch it might not be so bad. It's like listening to a bunch of old smokers who drink way too much and can't remember what accent they're supposed to have... Sometimes I thought Tess sounded like she'd been chain smoking since age 12. Anyways I suffered through it, and am now trying to decide if I can make it through the next... Good Luck!

One of Lippman's best

I adore this series and this might be my favorite. It is a perfectly woven mystery with layer upon layer. It unravels at a nice pace and kept me interested the entire time. Good ending too. Great character development all around.

Tess Monahan's making trouble again

Good story & Barbara Rosenblatt does a great job of telling Tess's tale (although sometimes the Balmer accent gets a little too thick to be understood). It's got a good plot, but a details of Maryland towns it's late 20th century political scandals bog down the story rather than enhance it.

Disappointing conclusion

The story is told from the point of view of the protagonist Tess Monaghan. There is substantial character development of her and of her father and friends. I liked the plot and sympathized with Tess as she experienced twists and turns, misdirection and progress, roadblocks and breakthroughs. The development of the plot is rather slow, but much of the work of a detective is painstaking, and I liked Tess's attention to detail,leaving no stone unturned. However, the unveiling of the villains and the discovery of the truth happens very quickly toward the end. Further, having followed Tess around living in her shoes day after day, I felt cheated in the end. The author chooses to omit a number of planning meetings with her closest compatriots in order to surprise the reader along with some of Tess's adversaries. No such omissions occurred earlier. To play such a trick on the reader is an insult to the style of the rest of the book. I must say that I did guess more or less how things would turn out, and I was not so surprised by the revelations, but I won't give anything away. I think Lippman's "In a Strange City" was a better story. I think Barbara Rosenblat gave a very good narration, almost a dramatization at times, giving different voices, accents, and flavor to the different characters.

I did not like the narration at all!

I really enjoy the Tess Monaghan books, but the narrator ruined this one for me.

Another great mystery

I love the style of Laura Lippmann's writing. Her characters are so entertaining. This was not my favorite narrator, however. It really threw me at first. It's nice when books keep the same narrator in a series. I felt like she was an imposter and wasn't very fond of her style.

Good book but . . . .

Would you listen to The Sugar House again? Why?

No, The narrator's voice made Tess sound like she was 70, not 30

Would you be willing to try another one of Barbara Rosenblat’s performances?

I like her mysteries. Yes, but not if it is narrated by Rosenblat. She just doesn't match the characters.