9780061710094
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Hardly Knew Her audiobook

  • By: Laura Lippman
  • Narrator: Linda Emond
  • Category: Contemporary Women, Fiction
  • Length: 9 hours 30 minutes
  • Publisher: HarperAudio
  • Publish date: October 07, 2008
  • Language: English
  • (1311 ratings)
(1311 ratings)
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Hardly Knew Her Audiobook Summary

“Lippman is a writing powerhouse.”

USA Today

New York Times bestselling author and winner of every major prize awarded for crime fiction–including the Edgar(r), Anthony, Shamus, Agatha, and Nero Wolfe Awards–Laura Lippman brilliantly demonstrates her astonishing agility as a short story writer with Hardly Knew Her. A sterling collection of sixteen suspenseful short fictions and novellas–most set in and around her beloved Baltimore and several featuring her popular series character private investigator Tess Monaghan–Hardly Knew Her was called, “Riveting…One of the best collections released in some time” by the Boston Globe. The Seattle Times says, “something in the short-story form brings out the wicked in Laura Lippman,” and this exceptional collection is indisputable proof that Lippman is without peer as she walks boldly on the dark and dangerous side.

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Hardly Knew Her Audiobook Narrator

Linda Emond is the narrator of Hardly Knew Her audiobook that was written by Laura Lippman

Linda Emond’s credits include The Sopranos, all four Law & Orders, and American Experience: John & Abigail Adams. On Broadway: 1776 and Life x 3 (Tony(r) nomination, Outer Critics Circle Award). Off-Broadway appearances include Tony Kushner’s Homebody/Kabul (Lucille Lortel Award, Obie Award).

About the Author(s) of Hardly Knew Her

Laura Lippman is the author of Hardly Knew Her

Hardly Knew Her Full Details

Narrator Linda Emond
Length 9 hours 30 minutes
Author Laura Lippman
Category
Publisher HarperAudio
Release date October 07, 2008
ISBN 9780061710094

Subjects

The publisher of the Hardly Knew Her is HarperAudio. includes the following subjects: The BISAC Subject Code is Contemporary Women, Fiction

Additional info

The publisher of the Hardly Knew Her is HarperAudio. The imprint is HarperAudio. It is supplied by HarperAudio. The ISBN-13 is 9780061710094.

Global Availability

This book is only available in the United States.

Goodreads Reviews

Krok Zero

August 26, 2010

Laura Lippman is Mrs. David Simon, which makes her the First Lady of The Wire, which is almost reason enough to check out her stuff -- but she's accumulated a fair amount of buzz in her own right, her status as a member of the crime fiction elite confirmed by George Pelecanos's fawning introduction to this short story collection. I picked this up as a first Lippman simply as a little vacation from novel overload, and I definitely plan to check out some of her longformers in the future.This wasn't really what I expected. It's is a tonal centaur, Pelecanos meets James M. Cain, half street-level realism and half gun-crazy melodrama. Clearest example of this mash-up is the first story, "The Crack Cocaine Diet," about a couple of white suburban ho-bags who go slumming in black Baltimore to procure material for the titular weight-loss plan. Then there are twists and the violence, when it comes, comes from an entirely unexpected place -- let's just say that Lippman's wry appropriation of "Girls Gone Wild" as the title of the book's first section proves apt. The impact is dulled in later stories when it becomes clear that Lippman is going for similar twists many times over -- sudden, often implausible acts of violence capping off otherwise basically realistic stories set mostly in and around Lippman's native Bodymore, Murdaland. It's a weird effect, and sometimes it completely fails, but at least it's different. Like her hubby, Lippman has an eye for details of both place and character (they were both journalists before turning to fiction), and a smooth, readable style.Best thing here is the novella, "Scratch a Woman," that concludes the collection -- revisiting a character from an earlier story, a high-class prostitute living a double life as a bourgeois soccer mom, and adding to the mix her fucked-up half-sister. It's an apotheosis of the bad-girl melodrama that has been running through the whole book. Whip-ass. (I wish there were a better word than melodrama, because it doesn't really get at Lippman's tone, which is more matter-of-fact -- but the content is melodramatic, so I dunno.) Also, you get a few nice breaks from the melodrama in the form of stories featuring Lippman's recurring P.I. Tess Monaghan -- I was particularly taken with "The Shoeshine Man's Regrets," a mini-mini-masterpiece in which Tess gets accidentally involved in a decades-old murder case. I'd also afford masterpiece status to "The Babysitter's Code," which might be the only story here in which Chekhov's gun goes unfired.Yeah, good stuff. The most engaging story collection I've read in a while, come to think of it.

Patricia

October 27, 2008

Even if you are a reader that doesn’t enjoy reading short stories I think Hardly Knew Her will change your mind. The stories are so good that you will wish you were reading a book instead of just a short story.I didn’t find even one of the stories that I didn’t like but I did have my favorites. The story of Mona who increased her income by becoming a porn star was intriguing. Mona was not young and this just didn’t seem to be the occupation to take on late in life but the bills must be paid and Mona liked nice things.The story of Heloise who lives in two different worlds, her public world and her private world. She lives in a world where she has a son and is an outstanding mother. Then there is her business that her son knows nothing about. Heloise runs a very elite dating service. When Heloise’s half-sister gets herself in a bit of a bind it makes for a very entertaining story.There is a neat introduction written by George Pelecanos. The sections are entitled “Girls Gone Wild”, “Other Cities, Not My Own”, “My Baby Walks the Streets of Baltimore” and “Scratch a Woman”. There is something in Hardly Knew Her for everyone.Grab a copy and I feel sure you will enjoy it. I know I did.

Judy

January 20, 2009

I have always enjoyed Laura Lippman's novels--in part, I think, because they are set in Baltimore, Maryland and the city usually becomes a major character in each book. This book, however, proved that, in truth, I did hardly know her. In this collection of short stories, Lippman extends her range and her subject matter. While many of the stories are set either in Baltimore and its suburbs or at least in Maryland, some venture as far south as New Orleans and as far east as Dublin, Ireland. Some of the stories charmed, some shocked. I really wasn't prepared for two stories about a high end call girl who lives in a dual life--and one of them is as a single mother of a 9 year old son living a soccer mom life in an upscale suburb. Or how about the story of the 60 something woman who lives in Leisure World (which by the way is about 6 miles from where my parents live and I know people who live there. I will never be able to look at them again) and finds employment in slightly kinky sex tapes. Call me unprepared for that one. Laura Lippman, I like your novels, I love your short stories. Keep them coming.

Sabrina

December 13, 2019

Laura Lippman is such a master of writing women who aren’t especially likeable, doing morally questionable things, and making me root for them. Murderers aren’t criminal masterminds, they’re average people trying to get through the day without worrying too much about being “good” or “bad” in the eyes of others—or the law.These stories display Lippman’s talent and give some context to some of her novels (notably And When She Was Good). A solid collection of short stories.Read this if you like any Laura Lippman’s novels.

Jackie

October 21, 2008

I've never been a fan of short stories--I am generally of the mind that they do not have time to have enough depth of plot or character to make them interesting. Hardly Knew Her blew that opinion completely out of the water for me--each and every one of these stories immediately engaged me with characters that left lasting impressions. Lippman introduces some seriously off-kilter people who chose to do extraordinary things in completely matter of fact ways that surprise the reader again and again. The characters are diverse--a young black man, a suburban housewife, a working class contractor-- even her popular detective Tess Monaghan stars in two of the stories. My favorites are the two stories that involve the same high end madam leading a double life as, literally, a soccer mom--one is a short story and one is actually a novella (a nice cap to the collection originally written for the Mystery Writers of American annual anthology). It was fascinating to see the character development from one to the other (and to read Lippmans afterwords comments about that character). To quote George Pelecanos, who wrote the introduction to this book, "these stories tell actual stories. Laura, thankfully, is not afraid of plot." I HIGHLY recommend this book, though be warned it does contain some graphic violence and several sexual references.

Jacob Dzik

June 10, 2021

I’ve read a few books by Mrs. Lippman and liked most but this is by far my favorite thing I have read by her. The story “One True Love” was my favorite and the novella was one of the best I’ve read in a while. She takes what you believe are ordinary people and then shows you their deepest secrets and makes it so realistic. Highly recommended.

Tracy

October 04, 2012

I'm halfway through and liking it a lot. I'm a fan of short stories with twisted characters, and this is up my alley.

Susan

February 14, 2018

Laura Lippman is a master of the mystery/crime fiction genre, and in this collection of short stories she shows off her range of skill and imagination. In 17 stories, we meet almost every type of female, from the beleaguered housewife to the high-end prostitute, the baby sitter and the disabled woman protected by her brother. The range is great, and the stories snappy, sharp, and engaging.The first in the collection, "The Crack Cocaine Diet," sets the standard for voice and twists when two high school girls set out to lose weight before the prom, to show the boys who've dumped them just how much they gave up. In the second story, "What He Needed," a wife who lives with a tight-fisted husband decides to take action. In the second half of the collection, in "Honor Bar," a young woman not quite certain of her age is taken on a trip to Dublin, where she is dumped by her lover. She takes her revenge. In the last story, and the longest of the collection, "Scratch a Woman," a professional prostitute finds herself in close proximity to her half sister, who is everything the protagonist didn't want to be. But the half-sister's life gets complicated when she acts on impulse and finds her shocking behavior has been witnessed by an unknown person. She turns to her professional sister for help.

Tiffany

September 18, 2022

Prepare to be shocked and entertained in this collection of short stories by Laura Lippman. The stories are organized under 4 headings: Girls Gone Wild; Other Cities, Not My Own; My Baby Walks the Streets of Baltimore (not about prostitutes); and a 50-page story, Scratch a Woman. Probably my favorite stories were those that included characters from other novels: Tess Monaghan makes an appearance in three of the stories, as well as Heloise Lewis from And When She Was Good. I loved getting snapshots of different times in their lives, and learning more backstory. The protagonists range from upper middle-class white women (the usual focus) to black and working-class men, and a 50ish executive who reluctantly enters into an affair. Some of my favorite stories include "Hardly Knew Her," "One True Love," "Scratch a Woman," and "Ropa Vieja." The only thing that dimmed my enjoyment was how dark many of the stories were; several of the women didn't care about anything except their comfort, and it seemed like someone was murdered in nearly every story. Not that this is unusual, but for some reason I got tired of sociopathic characters killing someone merely because he or she got in their way. Still, Lippman's writing is excellent as always, and the book is hard to put down.

Kendra

January 05, 2021

A good book for the days when you’re feeling dark. I liked the first two parts better than the last one. They were more enjoyable because they were nearly always about women behaving badly and getting one over on the world at large. The last part focused much more on the men although Scratch a Woman was thoroughly good and featured the return of a character from earlier in the book that I had been keen to know more about. You are going to like this book if you enjoy stories about misbehaving women and enjoy the idea of reading about them getting revenge.

Rebecca

April 16, 2019

A collection of short stories. I have read most of Lippman's books. I like her writing a lot. This did not disappoint, in fact I found myself wanting more from some of the stories, more time with the characters. Not always the most comfortable of subjects: sex, murder, deceit - but woven into almost mundane lives. Probably a good intro to Lippman's writign and voice if you have never read her. Evena couple of Tess stories which would be a good intro to her mysteries of that series, albeit out of order.

Jh

September 10, 2018

I listnend to these stories on tape and found the narration very good. As others said, the endings were not necessarily a surprise, nonetheless I enjoyed the storytelling. The thing that was consistent almost to the point of annoyance was that most, (if not) all of them were sexualized. Not sure if this was coincidence or intent but I know that Lippman can tell good stories without this theme.

Norman

December 27, 2022

I enjoyed the stories in this collection. But it’s a dark view of the world in which people around you may be murderers or prostitutes and neighbors always make a hard wrong choice to get out of a bad situation. Lippman’s stories provide a different take on criminals and crime fiction and, while I may not want to live in her Baltimore, I’m glad I read these stories.

Jacob

June 14, 2022

So good, I really enjoyed this collection of short stories. Absolutely fantastic. I didn’t really know what I was walking into and I picked this book up at a book sale on the off chance that it would be good. Better than good, 10/10 recommend.

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