Lippman derived her story from the real-life disappearance of a Baltimore crook and also bases Sandy on a real homicide detective, this novel’s murder case springs strictly from her own fecund imagination.Īnd it’s an unusual case since the story includes so many Brewer women, any and all of whom might have wanted to do away with Felix’s gloating girlfriend. Lippman’s regular Tess Monaghan series after doing an expert job of unraveling this stand-alone. But it is anchored in 2012 by Sandy Sanchez, a retired Baltimore detective who, on the evidence of a big hint dropped late in this book, may be turning up in Ms. “After I’m Gone” - deceptively titled, since none of it is narrated from Felix’s point of view - jumps easily back and forth through time to accommodate all of these events. “I guess you’d call him an impresario,” she would say euphemistically. Bambi took a wifely pride in his businesses, even in the strip club.
Felix promised to take care of her, even if he also liked taking care of any other good-looking woman who crossed his path. She was smart but undisciplined she never made it through a single semester at Bryn Mawr. “Mine is a nighttime business,” he told her while also promising to make her rich, and she found those prospects thrilling. But Felix never pretended to be an innocent: He crashed that high school dance accompanied by his future lawyer and bail bondsman, which gave Bambi an inkling of what kind of career he had in store. And they would have grown up as their daddy’s darlings if he, Felix Brewer, had not chosen to abandon the family in 1976, 16 years after the first baby arrived. She plays it to her best advantage, even after life hands her an exceedingly raw deal.īambi’s three daughters are also seen over a long time span. Even as a teenager at a high school dance, Bambi is aware of how valuable her allure can be. Almost all of them are strong, willful women, starting with this novel’s matriarch: Bambi Brewer, née Gottschalk, a raving beauty whose role in the story spans more than 50 years.
The characters in Laura Lippman’s “After I’m Gone” are so well drawn that it’s easy to forget why they happen to be connected.
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